Performance – Page 6

WONG DUO COMBINE FOR FOUR TEAM RECORDS AT MIKE SNYDER

Jun 062017

Nine TNT swimmers were event champions at the Mike Snyder Memorial Meet that took place over the Memorial Day weekend, and these gold medal performances were led by ten year old Alexa Wong who entered five events, and won four of them. Alexa took home a first place in the 100 meter freestyle (1:10.82), 200 IM (2:52.08), 50 fly (36.24), and 50 free (33.32). Of these events, she set new team records in two of them. Her 100 meter freestyle time of 1:10.82 currently stands as the 52^nd fastest nationally for girls at age 10, and falls under Skylar Ford’s previous record of 1:11.31 that was set five years ago while competing at the Junior Olympics in 2012. Alexa’s 200 IM swim of 2:52.08 is nearly two and half seconds under Danielle Albright’s previous team record set at JO’s in 2013 and stands as the 31^st fastest nationally for girls at her age. Her only second place was in the 400 meter freestyle, where her time of 5:22.23 slides under Danielle’s previous tem record of 5:24.37 set at the Fresno meet in 2013 and maintains her highest current national ranking at 29^th.

The only other team record set at the Mike Snyder meet was from brother, Bryan Wong, who returned from a stellar performance at the Speedo Grand Challenge with the sole purpose of winning, and breaking the team record, at the Mike Snyder meet in the 11-12 400 freestyle, an apparent goal when watching his first 25 meters of his swim. Bryan did just that, and swam over ten seconds under Jackson Huckabay’s previous record of 4:44.10 set at JO’s two years ago in 2015. Bryan’s new team record of 4:34.32 is currently posted as the 8^th fastest time nationally for boys at age 12, and we’ll see if it maintains the top-10 in the current reporting cycle that ends at the close of August. USA Swimming recognizes the top-10 age group swimmers who are 12 to 16 years old annually.

Besides Alexa Wong and Bryan Wong, our team had seven additional event champions who included Visalia’s Layla Flores, our current team record holder in the 11-12 100 meter backstroke, who won the 100 meter backstroke with a time of 1:13.60, and also took home the win in the 200 IM with a time of 2:42.56 for the 13-14 girls division. Our only other double winner was Layla’s previous training partner, now training in Selma, Kylie Walker, who currently holds six 10-under team records, and she won the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:09.32, and the 100 free with a time of 1:04.48 also in the 13-14 division. Drew Black was the winner of the 10-under 50 back with a time of 39.00 and improving over four seconds, while Peyton Costa continues a characteristic 100% improvement rate as he won the 400 free for the 13-14 division with a time of 4:40.35. Jillian Gaines was the winner of the 15-16 mile (1500 free) event with a time of 23.02.24 after improving over a minute in the event, and Katherine Mendyk took home the gold in the 15-16 200 breaststroke with a time of 3:03.98. Finally, 11-year old Ava Olson was the winner of the 12-under 400 IM after posting a time of 6:21.58.

Forty-three TNT swimmers competed at the meet, and forty-one of them had previously recorded times with the team and as a group, they maintained an astounding improvement percentage that exceeded 70%. Fourteen of our swimmers improved 100% of their times, and these included: Visalia’s Ella Bettencourt (improving 7 of 7 events), Peyton Costa (8 of 8), Riley Duffy (4 of 4), Diego Gutierrez (6 of 6), Ashton King (2 of 2), Hanford’s Genoveve Mcilwaine (5 of 5), Visalia’s Tyson Phillips (2 of 2), Visalia’s Emelia Rasner (4 of 4), Selma’s Delbert Salvadalena (1 of 1), Blake Sifton (1 of 1), Selma’s Chesney Watson (6 of 6), Bryan Wong (1 of 1), and Bryce Wong (1 of 1). The following nineteen swimmers maintained an improvement rate at or above 50%: Caroline Mendyk (88%), Daniel Haley (86%), Sienna Abernathy (83%), Drew Black (83%), Isabella Klawitter (83%), Jade Perez (80%), Duncan Champagne (75%), Laney Cox (75%), Xavier Gutierrez (75%), Benjamin Wheeler (75%), Aidan Champagne (71%), Addison Mccullough (71%), Emma Bettencourt (67%), Ciena Clarke (67%), Connor Bruton (60%), Alexa Wong (60%), Nathan Hunt (57%), Ava Olson (56%), and Jacob Wheeler (50%).

A warm welcome goes to sisters Amy Murphy and Michelle Murphy who posted new times with the club.

THREE FINAL AT SPEEDO GRAND CHALLENGE

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Jun 062017

Six TNT swimmers traveled to the Irvine pool over the Memorial Day weekend to compete at a venue that has played host to Team USA selection meets such as US Nationals, and this weekend played host to swimmers representing programs such as USC, Stanford, Cal Berkley, and Auburn University to name only a few.

Three of our swimmers earned second swims, and these were led by twelve year old Bryan Wong who competed in the 12-under division of the senior-level meet, raced in three events, and earned three championship final swims. Bryan finished 2^nd in the 50 meter breaststroke, where he posted a time of 34.10 improving nearly three seconds in the event, and swimming a full two seconds under the pre-existing team record that was set by Preston Niayesh at Junior Olympics in 2013. His time currently stands as the fourth fastest nationally for boys at age 12, with the top time in the nation being posted by the individual who won the event at Speedo Grand Challenge. Bryan’s next event was the 100 breaststroke, and once again he finished second, and with a time of 1:13.98 in the championship final that followed an improvement from his preliminary swim. He was once again well under Preston Niayesh’s previous team record of 1:18.33 set at the same JO’s in 2013. Bryan’s time ties for the third spot nationally in the reporting cycle that will close at the end of August. The top 10 swimmers will be recognized by USA Swimming. His final championship swam was in the 200 IM, where once again he improved his time twice, and this time to a 2:25.62 falling under Peyton Costa’s previous team record of 2:31.24 set at the Junior Olympic meet last year. His current time ranks 10^th among 12-year old boys.

Fourteen year old Danielle Albright had been competing at the meet since she was in the 11-12 age division, and earned a championship final swim when she first arrived at age 11. She continues earning that second swim, this time by making it to the A-consolation final of the 200 meter breaststroke and finishing 11^th with a time of 2:42.85 which was nearly a three second improvement. Danielle also swam to a 15^th place finish in the B-consolation on day 1 in the 100 meter breaststroke with a time of 1:15.70 which was an improvement over her preliminary swim. Preston Niayesh was our only other finalist, moving from 26^th in the preliminary heats to finish 17^th in the B-consolation final of his 200 breaststroke with a time improvement of nearly two seconds to a 2:30.02.

Alonso Escobedo earned his highest finish as 38^th in the 200 IM (2:17.34), while Sierra Jett returned from Auburn University to join us, and finished 47^th in her top event of the 50 free (28.20). JD Koster had his highest finish as 30^th in the 400 IM (4:48.94) after improving over five seconds there.

FOUR FINAL AT SMOC

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May 052017

Five TNT swimmers competed at the 2017 Swim Meet of Champions, this year held at the Irvine complex opposed to the traditional Mission Viejo venue due to re-construction of the Mission Viejo pool, and our swimmers came away with three time improvements, a rate that was led by Visalia’s Lauren Geiger who improved one of her three events, but improved it twice: once as a time trial event, and then again in the actual event. Lauren’s highest place was in the 100 meter butterfly, where her improvement to 1:08.05 finished 70th there.

Four of our swimmers performed well enough in the preliminary heats to either earn a spot in one of three final heats outright, or close enough to be scratched into a C-final heat. Danielle Albright was the top seed in the C-final of the 200 breaststroke after swimming a 2:46.64 in the preliminary heats, and then her time of 2:47.96 in the C-final was enough for a 21st place finish in the event. She also swam 1:18.88 in the preliminary heats of the 100 breaststroke, enough for a 31st place finish, and then scratches left her at the 1st alternate position (25th) where she was able to compete in lane 1 of the C-final, swim a full two seconds faster than the morning swim to a time of 1:16.89, and finished 18th overall.

Alonso Escobedo competed in the 200 meter backstroke, and swam a 2:25.45 in the preliminary heats to also finish 31st, and then was scratched into finals where he didn’t compete. However, he did finish 37th in preliminary heats of the 200 IM on the last day of the meet with a time of 2:18.56, which was close enough to scratch him into the C-finals where his time of 2:19.47 finished 23rd in the event.

JD Koster earned a final swim in three of his six total events that he competed in for the meet, and all three of his finals took place on day one and two. He swam 2:14.46 in his strongest event, 200 fly, during the preliminary heats to finish 24th, and then improved his preliminary time to 2:13.19 and finished 18th overall. On day two he posted a time of 2:36.33 in the preliminary heats of the 200 breaststroke to place 28th going into finals, and then swam 2:39.96 to actually move up to 22nd overall. His last final was also on day two, but in the 400 IM where he posted a lifetime best of 4:54.34 to finish 25th in the morning, one place out of finals, and then scratched into the C-final where he swam a time of 5:00.34 to finish 24th overall.

Our last finalist was Preston Niayesh who competed in two events, and swam two finals, first by posting a time of 2:36.98 in the 200 meter breaststroke to finish 29th, but close enough to scratch into the C-final where he posted a time of 2:37.20, and finished 21st in the event. His last final was in the 100 meter breaststroke, where his preliminary time of 1:10.03 was 28th, and again close enough to scratch into the C-finals where he posted a time of 1:09.33 to again finish 21st in the event.

WONGS ENTER ONTO LONG COURSE RECORD BOARDS

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Apr 272017

The sister-brother duo of 10-year old Alexa Wong and 12-year old brother Bryan Wong had previously made their initial marks on the short course team record board for TNT, and as a result of the Reedley meet that took place over the last weekend of April, are now beginning their impact onto the long course realm. Each of the two marked this early season long course meet with two new team records, the accumulation of their efforts over time being a notable reflection on the level of commitment considering a two-hour commute from Coalinga and back (one hour each way) to make it to practice nightly.

Ten year old Alexa Wong started her meet with a bang, improving nearly two seconds in the 200 meter freestyle, finishing 2^nd in the event, but swimming a time of 2:33.85, falling just over a second and a half under Daniel Albright’s previous team record of 2:35.42 that was set at Junior Olympics in the summer of 2013, and posting the 10^th fastest time in the nation for girls at age 10 to date. Her second team record came in the 100 meter backstroke, placing her as the owner now of both the 100 yard and 100 meter record in the stroke. Her first-place finish in the 100 meter backstroke, and time of 1:21.79 slides under Layla Flores’s previous record of 1:22.24 that was set at Junior Olympics in 2014. This time now stands as the 18^th fastest nationally, in a reporting period that extends through August.

Brother Bryan Wong posted a new team record, also in the 200 meter freestyle, but in the 11-12 age division. His 2:14.05 just slides under Jonas Huckabay’s previous record of 2:14.70 that was set two years ago at Junior Olympics, and Bryan’s new record currently stands as the 11^th fastest nationally for boys at age 12. There are currently only four California swimmers who are 12 years old among the top 10 in the nation. Bryan also set a new team record in the 100 meter freestyle, where his time of 1:02.68 edges under Peyton Costa’s previous record of 1:02.94 set just last year at JO’s. Bryan’s time currently stands as the 22^nd fastest nationally for boys at age 12, in this early phase of the long course season.

Two of our Visalia swimmers were uncontested at the meet, winning all four events they entered. These two include 13-year old Layla Flores who won the 200 breast (3:07.14), 400 IM (5:44.56), 100 breast (1:26.25), and 200 IM (2:41.33) events, along with her 13-year old training partner, Kylie Walker, who won the 100 fly (1:09.48), 50 free (29.26), 100 free (1:06.47), and 100 breast (1:27.44). Other event champions included: Sienna Abernathy (age 10 – winning 1 event), Danielle Albright (14 – winning 3 events), Ella Bettencourt (11 – 1), Drew Black (10 – 1), Connor Bruton (14 – 1), Riley Carpenter (13 – 1), Aidan Champagne (12 – 2), Ciara Clarke (11 – 1), Peyton Costa (13 – 5), Riley Duffy (12 – 1), Diego Gutierrez (13 – 3), Daniel Haley (13 – 3), Nathan Hunt (12 – 1), JD Koster (16 – 3), Addison Mccullough (10 – 2), Genoveve Mcilwaine (13 – 1), Caroline Mendyk (12 – 1), Katherine Mendyk (16 – 1), Axel Miller (10 – 3), Preston Niayesh (16 – 1), Tyson Phillips (8 – 2), Chesney Watson (12 – 2), Benjamin Wheeler (13 – 3), Jacob Wheeler (8 – 1), Alexa Wong (10 – 5), and Bryan Wong (12 – 5).

With an improvement rate of 50% or greater as an indicator of successful improvement, our team maintained a 54% improvement rate, with eleven swimmers improving 100% of their events that had been previously recorded with our team. Congratulations to: Emma Bettencourt (improving 2 of 2 events), Paulina Cemo (1 of 1), Riley Duffy (2 of 2), Diego Gutierrez (4 of 4), Xavier Gutierrez (3 of 3), Addison Mccullough (7 of 7), Jojo Mecum (3 of 3), Marcus Mecum (3 of 3), Finnlee Morgan (3 of 3), Luke Vanwoudenberg (1 of 1), and Maryan Vanwoudenberg (1 of 1). The following 22 swimmers improved 50% or more of their times. Congratulations also go to: Isabel Burrough (86%), Sydney King (83%), Rylee Noronha (83%), Ella Bettencourt (80%), Madalynn Lady (80%), Genoveve Mcilwaine (80%), Bryan Wong (80%), Kate Geiger (75%), Chesney Watson (75%), Drew Black (71%), Carlos Garcia-Lemus (67%), Daniel Haley (67%), Isabella Klawitter (67%), Raquel Mecum (67%), Addia Watson (60%), Benjamin Wheeler (57%), Alexa Wong (57%), John Cemo (50%), Aidan Champagne (50%), Peyton Costa (50%), Nathan Hunt (50%), and Luke Pena (50%).

The following nine swimmers entered only new events. A long course welcome to: Connor Bruton, Riley Carpenter, Brayden Coppola, Morgan Darpli, Axel Miller, Tyson Phillips, Mackenzie Sepeda, Arya Shrestha, and Avani Shrestha.

5 EVENT CHAMPIONS AT MERCED

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Apr 142017

At a swim meet where only about a third of all events that had been previously recorded on the team were improved, six TNT swimmers still were able to manage an improvement rate at 50% or better, and these swimmers were led by ten year old Raquel Mecum who improved two events that had been previously recorded with the team, and swam the 100 meter breaststroke for the first time. Our next highest improvement rates went to Peyton Costa and Hanford’s Nathan Hunt who each improved four of their seven events. The remaining three swimmers maintained a 50% improvement rate, and these three included: Adian Champagne (improving 3 of 6), Jillian Gaines (2 of 4), and Carlos Garcia-Lemus (1 of 2).

Five of our swimmers were event champions in in their respective A, B or C divisions, and these were led by Katherine Mendyk who won all three events she competed in on Sunday within the B-division. These events included the 100 meter freestyle (1:09.24), 100 breaststroke (1:26.79), and 200 IM (2:44.44). Peyton Costa competed primarily in the A-division, and he won both the 200 meter breaststroke (2:54.71), and 200 butterfly (2:44.42) events. Jillian Gaines was the B-division winner of the 200 fly (3:16.72), while Ava Olson was the A-division winner of the 400 IM (6:18.90). Our only other event champion was Benjamin Wheeler who improved over 40 seconds in the 800 free to win the B-division with a time of 10:06.69.

BRYAN WONG – 4 TEAM RECORDS & 3 FINALS AT FAR WESTERNS

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Apr 142017

Eight TNT swimmers traveled to Pleasanton over the last weekend of March to compete at one of the most competitive age group championship meets in the nation. Pacific Swimming’s Far Western Championships has an international history that dates back to 1925 where the inaugural meet was held at the San Francisco Fleishhacker Municipal heated salt-water swimming pool that played host to the likes of Johnny Weissmuller. More recently the meet has played host to the likes of Michel Phelps, Janet Evans, Pablo Moreales, Summer Sanders, Natalie Coughlin and Missy Franklyn.

This year, 12-year old Bryan Wong competed at the meet along with his teammates, and began the meet with a near miss to finals, finishing 11^th in the preliminary heats of the 200 breaststroke, but with a new team record of 2:30.33 which currently stands as the 178^th fastest nationally. He came away with earning a final swim in three events later in the meet that resulted in three new team records. He started his championship performance with a 3^rd place finish in the 50 breaststroke, where his time of 30.59 fell over a second under his pre-existing team record of 31.71 that he set at the Age Group Championships in San Diego last December. His new record stands as the 78^th fastest nationally for boys at age 12. He improved nearly ten seconds in the 400 IM to post a new record of 4:44.85 in the events to finish 5^th, and once again went under his previous record of 4:54.35 that he set last December at the Tulare meet. His new records now stand as the 167^th fastest nationally for his age and gender. His final championship swim was in the 100 breaststroke where his time of 1:07.40 was nearly a two second drop, and again went under his San Diego swim, and previous record, of 1:09.22, and currently stands as the 118^th fastest nationally.

Our team had two additional finalists, and one of the remaining two included a new team record. Sister, ten-year old Alexa Wong, also set a new team record, but in the preliminary heats of the 10-under 100 backstroke. She improved her lifetime best by swimming 1:08.90 in the event, and finished 9^th in a field of 10 swimmers in finals. Alexa is the 111^th fastest nationally for girls of age 10. Fourteen year old Danielle Albright was our team’s only other finalist, swimming a time of 1:06.72, and finishing 8^th in the 100 yard breaststroke event for the 13-14 year old girls.

Selma’s 10-year old Sienna Abernathy had her highest finish as 36^th in the 200 free (2:21.42), while 10-year old Drew Black was the only TNT swimmer to improve 100% of times, and finished 27^th in the 100 back (1:13.34) as her highest place. Visalia’s 11-year old Layla Flores topped her performance with a 50^th place finish in the 100 breast (1:10.65) while competing at the bottom of the 11-12 division, while Preston Niayesh finished 16^th in his 100 breaststroke event (1:01.76) for the 15-16 division. Swimming her newly qualified event from the previous weekend, 11-year old Ava Olson finished 28^th in the 11-12 200 fly (2:29.99).

LAYLA FLORES WINS AT SWAGR

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Apr 142017

Six TNT swimmers competed at the second annual South West Age Group Regional (SWAGR) swim meet hosted by California Capital Aquatics in Roseville over the March 16-19 weekend which afforded finals for single-age divisions for the top ten performers from the preliminary heats, and four of our six came away earning a spot in no fewer than three finals within their respective age divisions. Visalia’s thirteen year old Layla Flores came away as the only event champion for TNT, and she did this in the 400 yard IM by improving her preliminary swim by over 20 seconds to a lifetime best of 4:46.53, and moving from 8^th to 1^st in the event. Layla was also the top overall scoring individual for TNT, earning finals in five of her seven events, thereby also maintaining the largest number of earned finals for the team. Besides the first place finish in the 400 IM, Layla scored 41 points from individual events by also finishing 2^nd in the 200 breast (2:33.74) and 2^nd in the 200 IM (2:16.38), as well as finishing 4^th in the 200 back (2:17.84), and 6^th in the 100 breast (1:11.71).

Layla’s training partner in Visalia, Rylee Lord, also earned five second swims for the 13-year old division among her six events entered, her highest finish being a 3^rd place in the 100 free where she posted her lifetime best of 56.26. Rylee also improved her 200 freestyle time to a 2:03.87 to finish 4^th in that event. She improved four of her six swims, and the improvements included the 6^th place finish in the 100 fly after swimming 1:02.66 in the preliminary heats. Rylee finished 7^th in the 200 fly (2:22.42), and topped out her finals with a 9^th place finish, and time improvement, in the 50 free (26.19).

Our next finalist was Ava Olson who competed in the 11-year old division, and she had top-9 finishes in four of her seven events, earning 29 points in the scoring final, and having her highest place as 4^th in the 100 fly where she posted a lifetime best of 1:07.42 in the event. She followed that with a pair of 8^th place finishes that included an improvement that exceeded 10 seconds in the 400 IM (5:14.77), and a near four second improvement in the 200 fly (2:25.44) where she posted a new Far Wester cut while on the bottom of the 11-12 age group. Her Sunday held a busy schedule that included the preliminary and final in the 200 fly, but also the 1000 freestyle where her nearly 17-second improvement was enough for a 9^th place finish there.

Our remaining finalist was Selma’s 10-year old Sienna Abernathy who posted three final events among her six that she competed in. Sienna’s highest place was in the 100 yard freestyle event where a nearly half second improvement was enough for an 8^th place finish there. She followed that swim with a 9^th place in the 200 IM where she improved her preliminary swim by over two seconds to a 2:48.35. Her remaining final was in the 50 fly, where she posted a time of 33.28, which was once again faster than her preliminary swim, and enough for a 10^th place finish there.

Visalia swimmers Ciara Clarke had her highest finish as 13^th in the 50 back (33.56) for the 11-year old division, while Visalia’s Daniel Haley competed in the 13-year old boy’s division and his highest finish was 17^th in the 500 free where he posted his lifetime best of 5:30.47.

23 IMPROVE 100% AT RCA LONG COURSE MEET

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Apr 132017

Twenty-three TNT swimmers led our team to an improvement rate that exceeded 66% at the first long course meet held in Central California Swimming to kick of the next season in preparation for achieving time standards for the upcoming summer’s long course championship meets that include: Junior Olympics, June Age Group Invitational, Speedo Grand Challenge, Swim Meet of Champions, LA Invitational, Sectionals, Futures, and Junior Nationals. Our top performing swimmers in terms of 100% time improvement of their events include: Isabel Burrough (improving 2 of 2 events), Aaron Butts (2 of 2), John Cemo (2 of 2), Aidan Champagne (7 of 7), Duncan Champagne (6 of 6), Ciena Clarke (3 of 3), Jullian Gaines (4 of 4), Nadia Garabedian (4 of 4), Logan Huckabay (2 of 2), Lucas Huckabay (8 of 8), Drew Johnston (3 of 3), Sydney King (3 of 3), Isabella Klawitter (7 of 7), Addison Mccullough (3 of 3), Luke Pena (3 of 3), Jade Perez (4 of 4), Delbert Salvadalena (2 of 2), Shoji Shinkawa (4 of 4), Blake Sifton (2 of 2), Nicholas Vassylenko (6 of 6), Kylie Walker (4 of 4), Alexa Wong (3 of 3), and Bryan Wong (3 of 3).

Twenty-three event champions among TNT swimmers were a result of the meet, and our highest number of first place finishes came from the performances of Selma’s Lucas Huckabay who took home the gold in the 10-under division by winning the 200 free (2:45.46), 50 free (34.04), 100 free (1:15.96), and 200 IM (3:15.56) events. Three of our swimmers remained undefeated in the small number of events they did enter. Danielle Albright competed in three events for the 13-over division, and won all three. These included the 100 breast (1:22.17), 200 back (2:47.19), and 200 IM (2:47.00). Her training partner, Alonso Escobedo, also won three events, and his included the 200 free (2:07.17), 100 free (58.67), and 200 IM (2:20.21) events. Our only other uncontested swimmers, also winning three events, was Bryan Wong in the 11-12 division, winning the 100 free (1:03.21), 100 breast (1:19.95), and 200 IM (2:35.45) events. Other event champions included Sienna Abernathy (200 free), Libby Adriaansen (800 free), Drew Black (50 breast), Aidan Champagne (100 fly & 50 fly), Ciara Clarke (50 fly & 50 back), Layla Flores (100 back), Mackenzie Garza (50 free), Jonas Huckabay (400 IM), Caroline Mendyk (100 breast), Preston Niayesh (100 fly & 100 breast), Ava Olson (100 fly & 400 IM), Madison Pallares (200 breast), Mckenna Pressley (200 fly), Micah Ruiz (100 back), Satoshi Shinkawa (200 fly & 200 back), Kylie Walker (100 fly & 100 free), Wyatt Ward (200 breast), Sydnee Wilson (50 breast), and Alexa Wong (50 back & 200 IM).

Forty-nine TNT swimmers posted long course times in events for their first time. A warm welcome to the long course season goes to: Sienna Abernathy, Drew Black, Aaron Butts, Audrena Butts, William Butts, Paulina Cemo, Duncan Champagne, Ciara Clarke, Cabrielia Costamagna, Laney Cox, Riley Duffy, Isaak Ensz, Koen Ensz, Carlos Garcia-Lemus, Kate Geiger, Sophia Guzman, Caolinn Hardy, Annlyn Haworth, Daren Hess, Lily Hodges, Sarah Hourigan, Logan Huckabay, Nathan Hunt, Ashton King, Madalynn Lady, Mark Marroquin, Addison Mccullough, Jojo Mecum, Raquel Mecum, Joshua Mitchell, Madison Pallares, Luke Pena, Jade Perez, Mckenna Pressley, Emelia Rasner, Delbert Salvadalena, Seiji Shinkawa, Shoji Shinkawa, Clara Shinn, Liam Shinn, Blake Sifton, Jake Surratt, Jenna Surratt, Bianca Sweidy, Nicholas Vassylenko, Addia Watson, Chesney Watson, and Jacob Wheeler.

ALBRIGHT, KOSTER & NIAYESH FINAL AT SPRING SECTIONALS

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Mar 082017

Five TNT swimmers competed at an inaugural Spring Sectional Championships held in Carlsbad over the first weekend in March, and our finalists were led by our top point-getter, Danielle Albright who earned second swims in two of the four events she competed in, and improved her times in those two of four events. An improvement of over a second in the 100 yard breaststroke to a 1:05.29 placed 16^th in the second of three heats that fielded ten contestants. Danielle is a veteran Futures qualifier in the event, and her improvement of over three seconds in the 200 breaststroke took her to a time of 2:22.68, a 19^th place finish in a second consolation heat, and a second Futures cut.

Our second finalist was JD Koster who improved his time by over a half second to a 1:55.15 in the 200 yard butterfly, improving one of his three events that included a time trial, and finishing 30^th in the bonus final. Preston Niayesh improved one of his four events that also included a time trial event, and his second swim came in a consolation final heat where his time improvement of over a second to a 58.34 was enough to win that heat, place 21^st, and set the only team record at the meet. Preston had previously set the record as a 59.49 prior to the close of the year while competing at the Kevin Perry meet in November, and his new record stands as the 124^th fastest male swimmer at age 16; however, he is one of only two swimmers in the history of our team to swim under on minute in the event. Preston’s time is a new Futures cut.

Visalia’s Mackenzie Garza maintained the highest improvement rate, bettering two of three events that included one time trial. Her highest place was 43^rd in the 50 yard freestyle (24.53), while Alonso Escobedo swam to a second alternate position (32^nd) in the 400 IM (4:16.27).

FOUR SCORE AT JUANITA ALLINGTON

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Mar 082017

Twelve TNT swimmers competed at the Juanita Allington Memorial meet over the last weekend of January, and four of our swimmers earned second swims in a scoring final, highlighted by the championship, top-8, swim by Selma’s Jonas Huckabay. Jonas maintained the highest finish of any TNT swimmer by placing 8^th with a time of 17:04.26 in the 1650 freestyle. Jonas also finished 21^st in the 1000 free (10:16.31), and 25^th in the 500 free (4:54.26). Our top point-getter was JD Koster who scored in three events, where a nearly 10 second improvement in the 400 IM to a 4:16.40 set him up for a 9^th place finish in the championship final that fielded 10 swimmers. He also won the consolation heat of the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:12.84, and then went on to score in the B final of the 200 IM where his 2:01.68 was enough for a 17^th place finish there. JD had two additional finals that included a 26^th place finish in the 100 fly (53.72), and 22^nd place in the 100 breast (1:01.85). Two other swimmers earned a scoring finish by winning their respective consolation heats, and these two included Danielle Albright who swam 1:06.45 in the 100 breaststroke to finish 11^th there, and Selma’s Morgan Coddington who improved her 400 IM by five seconds to a 4:37.69 to finish 11^th in that event. Danielle also finished 22^nd in the 200 breast (2:27.10), 36^th in the 100 fly (1:01.62), and 24^th in the 200 IM (2:13.95), while Morgan earned additional second swims by finishing 21^st in the 200 breast (2:26.36), 31^st in the 100 back (1:02.32), and 31^st in the 200 IM (2:12.40).

A total of eight swimmers earned a second swim in one of four heats of ten finalists, and our remaining finalists included Libby Adriaansen who finished 40^th in the 100 breast (1:15.69), Katherine Mendyk who finished 30^th in the 100 breast (1:13.36), Selma’s Emma Pena who finished 32^nd in the 50 free (25.29), and Selma’s Satoshi Shinkawa who finished 22^nd in the 200 back (2:02.30), 33^rd in the 50 free (22.79), and 27^th in the 100 fly (54.23).

Only three swimmers managed to improve 100% of their times at this senior-level of competition, and the three included Libby Adriaansen who competed in two events and improved both, Selma’s Morgan Coddington who improved all four of her events, and Selma’s Maya Herrera who competed in five events, and improved all five, and who, by improving over 27 seconds, maintains the largest net improvement among any of our team members.

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