Five TNT swimmers competed in the second long course meet scheduled on our senior meet calendar for the year, and our top performer is recognized as fourteen year old Danielle Albright who swam a time of 1:18.28 in the 100 meter breaststroke to come away with the only first place finish on our team. The next highest finish was the 2nd place performance of JD Koster, swimming a time of 2:35.65 in the 200 meter breaststroke, and he was followed by the 3rd place swim in the 500 IM of Alonso Escobedo who posted 5:07.56 in the event. Fourteen year old Katherine Sullivan had an 8th place finish in the 400 meter IM with a time of 5:48.93, while Preston Niayesh came home with a 10th place finish in the 200 breaststroke (2:51.45) as his highest finish.
Eleven TNT swimmers traveled to Chandler, Arizona over the third weekend of February and competed in the 2017 Lost Dutchman, and two of our team members earned second swims in no fewer than three of their events. Our highest finish came from Visalia’s Lauren Geiger who scored in the championship final of the 50 yard butterfly event, swimming a time of 27.69 in the event to finish seventh in the sprint. Lauren also finished 10th in the 50 backstroke (29.13), and 14th in the 100 back after posting a time of 1:02.86 in the preliminary heats. Competing at the bottom of the 13-14 age division, Peyton Costa was the only other finalist for the team, scoring in the championship final of the 100 breaststroke event with a time of 1:08.76, and then swimming in the consolation heat of the 100 back (9th – 1:01.37), 50 back (11th – 28.68), and 200 breaststroke (13th – 2:27.56) events.
Our remaining swimmers, along with their highest finish, include: Micha Ruiz (100 free – 23rd), Janessa Bringe (500 free – 25th), Marcus Mecum (50 breast – 33rd), Raquel Mecum (50 breast – 54th), Carlos Garcia-Lemus (50 free – 62nd), Jillian Gaines (100 breast – 77th), Kate Geiger (50 back – 80th), Ashton King (100 back – 85th), and Isabella Klawitter (100 breast – 88th).
Four team records fell during the short course Junior Olympic meet, and these were reset by three different swimmers. Fourteen year old Alex Roberts took home the gold medal in the 100 yard backstroke with a time of 58.27 which topped the previous team record held by Samantha Goates, and set in 2005 while competing at Sectionals while earning a final swim in the event. The previous record stood at 58.42, and now Alex’s time stands as the 151st fastest in the nation for girls at age 14. Alex’s time is also a qualifying time for Futures.
Alexa Wong set her first team record, and in the same 100 yard backstroke event, but for the 10-under girls division while placing 2nd. Alexa’s time of 1:10.30 is currently the 142nd fastest in the nation for girls at age 10, and she set a record that was established back in April of 1990 as 1:11.16 by Jill Edminster while competing at Far Westerns, and was therefore one of the longest standing records on the books.
Bryan Wong continues his record breaking performances in the age division by setting two new records for the 11-12 boys. His time of 1:03.20 finished 3rd in the 100 IM, and slid under Satoshi Shinkawa’s Far Western time of 1:03.64 set as the previous record four years earlier. Bryan’s time is the 285th fastest nationally for boys at age twelve in the event. His second record came in the 200 IM, where his time of 2:15.74 finished 2nd, and broke Coach Jason Ricablanca’s team record of 2:16.88 that was set in 1994 while competing at the Merced meet. The new record ranks 311th nationally for boys at the same age. Bryan now holds six of the eighteen short course team records, and they include: 50 breast, 100 breast, 200 breast, 100 IM, 200 IM and 400 IM events.
Forty-four TNT swimmers competed at this year’s sort course Junior Olympic meet over the February 17-20 weekend, resulting in an accumulation of 1423 points, and a fourth place finish as a team, behind Clovis (4791 points), CCAT (2193), Bakersfield Aquatics (1802), and just ahead of Las Vegas Swim Club (1365). Twenty-nine teams scored at the meet. A total of 1,146 points resulted from our 26 swimmers who scored during individual events, and these points were led by five swimmers who scored in the triple digits: Alexa Wong (120 points), Selma’s Sydnee Wilson (110), Bryan Wong (106), Visalia’s Layla Flores (103), and Selma’s Sienna Abernathy (100). Our remaining points from individual events came from: Lucas Huckabay (98), Jillian Duffy (81), Bryce Wong (72), Kylie Walker (62), Drew Black (55), Alex Roberts (51), Rylee Lord (41), Daniel Haley (35), Wyatt Ward (25), Addison Mccullough (14), Isaac Gutierrez (13), Nathan Boudreaux (13), Ava Olson (9), Diego Gutierrez (9), Tyson Phillips (8), Nadia Garabedian (6), Claire Welborn (5), Nicholas Vassylenko (4), Meghan Adams (3), Logan Huckabay (2), and Annlyn Haworth (1).
Our overall team improvement percentage exceeded an astounding 73% with nineteen of our swimmers maintaining a 100% improvement rate. Congratulations to: Sienna Abernathy (improving 8 of 8 events), Meghan Adams (1 of 1), Libby Adriaansen (1 of 1), Maquire Barteau (1 of 1), Drew Black (7 of 7), Aidan Champagne (3 of 3), Ciena Clarke (1 of 1), Collin Duffy (1 of 1), Isaac Gutierrez (4 of 4), Madalynn Lady (3 of 3), Genoveve Mcilwaine (1 of 1), Ava Olson (3 of 3), Alex Roberts (3 of 3), Luke Vanwoudenberg (2 of 2), Kylie Walker (4 of 4), Wyatt Ward (2 of 2), Claire Welborn (4 of 4), Sydnee Wilson (8 of 8), and Alexa Wong (7 of 7).
Although 17 of our 19 TNT swimmers who competed at the Fresno Senior meet over the third weekend of January earned a final swim in one of three heats, only one TNT swimmer came away as an event champion, and it was in the only event where TNT had a 1-2 finish. Danielle Albright came away as the event champion in the 200 breaststroke, followed by a second place finish from Katherine Mendyk in the event. Danielle had four final swims at the meet that included the 200 breast (1st– 2:34.15), 200 IM (5th– 2:18.56), 100 breast (3rd – 1:09.75), and 50 free (9th – 26.87), while Katherine Mendyk maintained the busiest schedule of any TNT swimmer, earning a final swim in all six events that she competed in. Her finals included the 200 breast (2nd – 2:37.37), 200 IM (11th – 2:23.78), 100 free (13th – 1:00.00), 200 free (7th – 2:07.63), 100 breast (6th – 1:16.02), and 50 free (12th – 27.36).
Other top-24 finishers in finals included Libby Adriaansen (100 back – 23rd, 200 breast – 7th); Layla Flores (100 back – 9th, 200 breast 4th); Jillian Gaines (100 breast – 17th, 100 fly – 17th); Mackenzie Garza (100 back – 7th, 100 free – 2nd); Lauren Geiger (100 back – 4th, 100 free – 9th); Diego Gutierrez (100 back – 8th, 100 free – 8th, 200 free – 8th, 100 breast – 7th, 50 free – 11th); Isaac Gutierrez (100 back – 9th, 100 free – 12th, 200 free – 14th, 100 breast – 9th, 50 free – 11th); Xavier Gutierrez (100 back – 17th, 100 breast – 11th, 50 free – 20th); Preston Niayesh (100 breast – 3rd, 100 fly – 3rd); Ava Olson (200 fly – 3rd, 200 breast – 13th, 100 breast – 16th, 100 fly 10th); Satoshi Shinkawa (200 IM – 4th, 100 back – 3rd, 100 free – 3rd); Seiji Shinkawa (100 back – 18th, 100 free – 15th); Shoji Shinkawa (100 back – 21st); and Katherine Sullivan (200 IM – 12th, 100 back – 15th, 100 free – 15th).
The top performances in terms of improvements unquestionably belong to two swimmers: Diego Gutierrez and Selma’s Shoji Shinkawa. Despite another rain-drenched swim meet, and a team improvement rate that only reached 37%, Diego and Shoji still managed to improve all events entered, and by very large margins. Diego competed in, earned a final swim in, and improved five of five events with his largest improvement of over six seconds being from his final swim in the 100 backstroke where he earned a top-8 finish. Twelve year old Shoji competed in four events, and improved all four with a margin of no less than approximately three seconds. His largest improvements were also over six seconds, and in two separate events that included the 100 back (his final swim), and the 100 free.
What may be arguably the worst weather for a swim meet in the last two or more years, six of our 30 TNT swimmers who competed at the Clovis meet in January, primarily from the Selma and Visalia programs, still managed to improve 100% of their times in events 50 yards or longer that had been previously recorded with the team. Seven year old Meghan Adams (improving 1 of 1 event), along with Selma swimmers Sydney King (age 11 – 4 of 4), Jade Perez (age 8 – 2 of 2) and Delbert Salvadalena (age 9 – 3 of 3), and Visalia swimmers Luke Vanwoudenberg (age 14 – 3 of 3) and Kylie Walker (age 13 – 4 of 4), all improved 100% of their times despite the inclement weather. The team’s overall improvement percentage was only 39%.
Sixteen year old JD Koster was one of two swimmers who remained undefeated at the meet within their age and time divisions, winning all seven of his events entered for the 15-over division, while 12-year old Gage Price entered two events, and won both of those within his divisions. JD had a time drop in the 100 back, swimming 58.86 reflecting a three and a half second improvement. Selma’s ten year old, Sienna Abernathy, took home two first place finishes that included the 200 MI (2:53.10), and 100 IM (1:16.42), while her training partner, ten year old Sydnee Wilson, went home as the champion in both the 50 fly (33.79), and 100 breaststroke (1:24.27) events. Our only other double winner was Preston Niayesh who won the 100 free (50.98), and 50 free (23.79) events for the 15-over division. Other event champions included Meghan Adams (25 breast), Jillian Duffy (7-8 25 fly), Nathan Hunt (11-12 200 breast), and Tyson Phillips (7-8 50 free).
Fifteen TNT swimmers traveled to Lewisville, Texas for the second time to compete at the 2016 Pro-Am Classic over the third weekend of December, and two thirds of our team earned a second swim in one of four final heats provided. Six of those ten moved into one of two scoring heats, placing among the top 16 at the meet within their respective events.
Our only championship swim (placing in the top-8) was Visalia’s Megan Ridenour who swam 1:07.15 in the championship finals to successfully defend her 7th place seeding going into that heat. Megan also earned a 2nd swim in the C-final of the 200 breast, finishing 22nd there (2:31.84). Our team had only one swimmer that scored in two individual events, and that honor goes to Selma’s Jonas Huckabay who finished 10th in the 1650 freestyle on the final day where he swam a lifetime best time of 16:52.23, and had the largest improvement from any TNT swimmer of nearly 22 seconds. Jonas must have known he would be among the top performers since he started the meet with the 1000 freestyle, and already earned a scoring performance by finishing 16th in that event with is lifetime best of 10:05.20. At an 83%, Jonas maintained one of the highest improvement rates for the team by improving five of his six swims.
Selma’s Satoshi Shinkawa was the busiest on the team, earning second swims in four of his six events. He scored in the 100 backstroke where is lifetime best of 55.44 in the preliminary heats took him to a spot in the consolation final where he nearly repeated the time and finished 15th. Satoshi also earned 2nd swims in the 100 breast (1:02.61), 100 fly (52.98), and 200 IM (2:01.59) events. With an overall team improvement percentage only at 38%, Satoshi was one of seven who improved at or over 50% of their times.
Visalia’s Mackenzie Garza earned the next highest number of second swims at three, and she scored in her specialty event, the 50 freestyle, with a lifetime best time of 24.55 posted in the finals and placing 14th there. Mackenzie also earned a second swim in the 100 freestyle, finishing 28th after swimming a time of 55.25 in the preliminary heats. Her final second swim was in the 50 backstroke where her time of 28.19 finished 17th. At a 60% improvement rate, Mackenzie was among our best improved swimmers. Another scoring swim came from one of our four 13-year olds who competed at the meet. Danielle Albright was within a second of her best time in the 100 breaststroke with a 1:07.71 in the preliminary heats which was fast enough to get her into the B-final where she finished 13th. Her second final resulted from her 4:47.29 in the preliminary heats of the 400 IM where she ultimately finished 23rd in the C-final. Our final scoring swim came from Visalia’s Lauren Geiger who swam a time of 28.39 in the preliminary heats of the 50 backstroke to make it into the consolation final, where she finished 15th.
Our top performer in terms of time improvement was unquestionably Visalia’s Layla Flores, who at age 13 wouldn’t back down to the senior-level of competition. She competed in six events, and improved all six, by margins that well exceeded two and a half seconds at times. Layla also earned second swims in two events that included the 200 breaststroke (2:33.19 – 26th), and 50 back (30.20 – 29th). Selma’s Morgan Coddington is a veteran at the meet, and she also earned second swims in two events that included the 100 breast (1:10.29), and the 400 IM (4:47.66). Two additional swimmers earned a top-32 finish, and they include Visalia’s Janessa Bringe who finished 26th in the 1000 free (11:13.40), and Peyton Costa who earned a second swim, and finished 29th in the 50 back (28.36).
Our remaining swimmers, along with their highest placed event, included: Visalia’s Rylee Lord (55th in the 100 fly), Priscilla Niayesh (85th in the 100 breast), Selma’s Emma Pena (39th in the 50 free), Katherine Sullivan (65th in the 50 back), and Libby Adriaansen (78th in the 100 breast).
Twenty TNT swimmers competed at the 2016 Winter Age Group Championships held on Coronado Island in San Diego over the December 17-19 weekend with 559 of the total 753 points generated from individual events led by twelve year old Bryan Wong who was not only the teams sole event champion, but took home the gold in three of his eight events, placing second in the 500 free (5:22.18), and third in three additional events (100 free – 57.16; 200 IM – 2:19.47 & 200 free – 2:02.40). Rounding out a sixth place finish in the 100 fly (1:04.54), Bryan was a championship (top-8) finalist in all events that he participated in, and thereby contributed a total of 138 points to the team total. His three first place events were also new team records, beginning with the 31.71 that he swam in the 50 breaststroke event. His time slid under Preston Niayesh’s 31.98 that stood as the previous team record set at the Tulare meet three years earlier in 2013. Bryan’s new record stands as the 95th fastest nationally for swimmers at age 12. Establishing himself as a breaststroker, Bryan went on to set the team record in his next gold medal event, the 100 breast where his time of 1:09.22 ranks 120th nationally, and shaved .05 seconds off of Preston’s previous record of 1:09.27, being the only two TNT male swimmers to go under the 1:10 mark. Bryan previously held the 200 breaststroke record, most recently setting it at the Tulare meet earlier in the month as a 2:36.64, but now in his final gold-medal performance, falls well under that time to a 2:30.99, and placing himself as the 83rd fastest 12-year old male in the nation for the event to date.
Our next highest point contributor was Alexa Wong who also placed in the championship (top-8) heat for nine events that she participated in, scoring a total of 131 points. Her highest finish was the 2nd place in the 100 butterfly (1:11.69), and she followed that with a pair of 3rd place finishes that included the 50 fly (32.09), and 50 free (29.17) events, as well as a pair of 4th place finishes that included the 200 IM (2:36.14), and 100 back (1:12.19), and a pair of 5th place finishes that included the 100 free (1:04.22), and 200 free (2:19.55). Her final two events paired up for 6th place finishes, and included the 50 back (34.73), and 100 IM (1:13.16).
Gage Price was the next highest point getter at 77 points generated by championship swims in four of his events. Gage’s top place was 5th in the 200 back (2:23.04), and he followed that performance with a pair of sixth place finishes that included the 50 back, (31.32) and 100 back (1:06.33) events. His final top-8 finish was 7th in the 100 fly (1:05.45). Additionally, Gage finished top-16 in three other events that included the 100 free (10th), 50 fly (9th), and 500 free (9th) events. Selma’s Sydnee Wilson was one of three swimmers to improve 100% of their times, and she also had three championship swims that included a pair of 4th place finishes for both the 50 fly (32.51) and 100 breaststroke (1:23.35) events, and a 5th place finish in the 50 breast (37.78). Her remaining top-16 scoring swims include the 200 IM (14th), 100 IM (15th) and 50 free (9th). Selma’s Sienna Abernathy was our next highest point contributor with 54, and she did this with three top-8 finishes that included a pair of 6th places for the 100 free (1:06.83), and the 50 free (29.96), and a 7th place finish in the 200 free (2:25.52). Sienna also finished 10th in the 50 fly, and 9th in the 100 fly. Visalia’s Daniel Haley would be next in points at 41, while finishing 6th in the 12-under 200 butterfly event with a time of 2:35.76. Daniel had five additional scoring events that included the 200 back (13th), 100 free (16th), 50 back (9th), 100 back (10th) and 500 free (10th) events. Drew Black made her first appearance at the meet, and had a top-8 finish with a 7th place in the 50 fly (33.56), and also scored in the 100 free (16th), 50 back (13th), and 100 back (12th). Another double digit scorer was Selma’s Lucas Huckabay who scored in four individual events that included the 100 free (15th), 200 free (11th), 100 back (12th) and 50 free (10th). Bryce Wong was one of three 100% improvement swimmers, and our only other double digit winner, scoring in the 100 fly (11th) and 100 back (12th). Our remaining scorer in individual events was Ava Olson who finished 10th in the 200 fly.
Our remaining swimmers, along with their highest placed event, includes Aidan Champagne (50 breast – 30th), Duncan Champagne (50 breast – 20th), Ciara Clarke (50 breast – 29th), Diego Gutierrez (100 free – 30th), Isaac Gutierrez (100 breast – 43rd), Xavier Gutierrez (200 breast – 29th), Addison Mccullough (100 fly – 17th), Micah Ruiz (200 back – 23rd), Benjamin Wheeler (200 back – 25th), and Brett Wong (200 back – 31st). Addison Mccullough was one of only three individuals to improve 100% of their times.
JD Koster tops the performance list for the three TNT swimmers who competed at the December Sectional meet at East LA College. He swam to the highest finish of the three, and improved three of four swims that included two time trial events. JD’s top finish was 31st in the 200 fly in a meet where the top 24 swimmers advance to a final heat. His 1:55.68 was nearly a two second improvement, and slides under the short course Sectional time standard for his first time in the event where he maintained a long course qualifying time. During time trials, JD also improved his 200 IM to a 1:57.40, and 200 breaststroke to a 2:11.98.
Preston Niayesh was our only swimmer who was eligible to swim three events in the meet, and he had the next highest finish of our team of three, placing 40th in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:15.77 which is his second fastest meet performance in the event. Alsonso Escobedo was entered into two events, and his highest finish was 54th in the 400 IM after swimming a time of 4:17.63 in the preliminary heats, and posting his second fastest time on record.
Bryan Wong began the Tulare meet with a record breaking swim in the 400 IM, swimming the event only the second time in his career, and coming in at a time of 4:54.35, being only the second 11-12 boy in the history of the team to go under five minutes, and improving on his first effort by nearly seven seconds from only two months prior. Bryan holds the record that Peyton Costa set one year earlier as a 4:56.39 while competing at the Age Group Championships in San Diego. His time stands as the 141st fastest nationally for 12-year old boys. Bryan began breaking team records only two months ago during the Visalia meet where he swam 2:38.02 in the 200 breaststroke, and continues to improve on that record, this time swimming 2:36.64 in the event at the Tulare meet shaving nearly a second and a half off the time in just two months. His improved record now stands at the 161st fastest in the nation for boys at age 12.
Bryan also swam undefeated at the meet within his respective A, B or C divisions, winning all five events that he competed in for the 11-12 boys division, including the 400 IM (4:54.35), 200 breast (2:36.64), 200 back (2:33.90), 50 free (26.76), and 100 free (57.97) events. Keeping success in the family, sister Alexa Wong was the event champion for four of her five events in the 9-10 division, and these included the 100 breast (1:27.86), 100 back (1:14.31), 50 free (29.15), and 500 free (6:09.57). Another near sweep came from Visalia’s Layla Flores who just arrived into the 13-14 age division, and she won five of her six events, winning the 200 free (2:09.13), 400 IM (5:05.79), 200 breast (2:36.87), 200 back (2:20.94), and 200 IM (2:20.81). The only other 4-event champion was Mckenna Pressley who took home the gold in her respective divisions in the 200 breast (3:10.18), 200 fly (3:05.26), 200 IM (2:55.27) and 100 breast (1:28.66) events.
Other event champions included: Sienna Abernathy (50 back & 50 breast), Libby Adriaansen (50 free), Maquire Barteau (100 IM), Ella Bettencourt (50 free), Drew Black (100 fly), Isabel Burrough (50 breast), Riley Carpenter (100 free), Aidan Champagne (100 breast, 100 back & 100 fly), Ciara Clarke (100 fly), Peyton Costa (100 back & 200 fly), Colin Duffy (50 back), Gabriela Dutra (100 free), Yasmin Erteza (25 free & 25 breast), Alonso Escobedo (400 IM), Jillian Gaines (200 free & 400 IM), Diego Gutierrez (100 breast), Isaac Gutierrez (200 free & 100 free), Xavier Gutierrez (100 back), Maya Herrera (200 back), Logan Huckabay (50 free & 100 IM), Lucas Huckabay (200 free & 100 breast), Nathan Hunt (200 free & 200 breast), Sydney King (200 free), Isabella Klawitter (200 fly), JD Koster (100 fly, 200 breast & 200 IM), Rylee Lord (200 fly), Landon Mauge (50 breast), Genoveve Mcilwaine (100 fly & 100 free), Caroline Mendyk (200 IM), Ava Olson (50 fly, 50 back & 200 fly), Levi Porter (50 free & 25 back), Gage Price (400 IM), Alex Roberts (100 back), Micah Ruiz (200 back), Fynn Stadtherr (50 free & 50 breast), Jenna Surratt (50 breast), Stuart Torres (50 free, 100 breast & 100 free), Kennedi Warren (50 fly), Benjamin Wheeler (200 back, 200 IM & 500 free), and Jacob Wheeler (25 fly, 25 free & 100 free).
Seventy-three TNT swimmers competed at the meet, maintaining a 44% improvement rate, lead by seven swimmers who improved 100% of their times. Swimmers who improved pre-recorded times in events 50 yards or longer include: Wyatt Edwards (improving 2 of 2), Yasmin Erteza (1 of 1), Rylee Norohna (4 of 4), Jade Perez (2 of 2), Tyson Phillips (1 of 1), Allyson Wheeler (2 of 2), and Alexa Wong (5 of 5).
Seventy-three TNT swimmers competed at the TNT Veterans ABC meet held over the first weekend of November, and 12-year old Bryan Wong seems intent on ensuring that no one too soon breaks his record he set at the previous meet at Visalia in the 200 yard breaststroke event. Bryan swam 2:38.02 in Visalia to improve the pre-existing record by four one-hundredths of a second, and now at the Veteran’s Day meet improved his record to a 2:37.07, a time that now stands as the 99th fastest nationally for boys at age 12. Bryan is one of nine TNT swimmers who remained undefeated at the meet, winning all five of his events.
Other swimmers who were undefeated included Eric Amador who won all four of his events in the 11-12 boys division, along with Selma’s Morgan Coddington who won her four in the 15-over division, and Visalia’s Layla Flores who took home eight first place finishes for the 11-12 division. Selma’s Satoshi Shinkawa also won both of his 15-over events, and Visalia’s Jake Surratt won all four of his 6-under events. Jacob Wheeler blazed to first place finishes in four events in the 7-8 division, while Alexa Wong swept all six of her events in the 9-10 group, along with her brother, Bryce Wong, who came home winning all six 13-14 division events.
Fifteen of our swimmers improved 100% of their times that had been pre-recorded with the team, and these performances were led by Gabriela Dutra who improved all six of her events. The largest improvement came from Clarie Welborn who dropped a whopping 23.98 seconds in the 100 yard breaststroke event, which marked the largest time drop by any TNT swimmer at the meet, and she too improved 100% of her times. Our remaining 100% improvement rates were generated by: Meghan Adams (improving 1 event), Eric Amador (improving 3), Briar Briggs (1), Gabrielia Costamagna (1), Peyton Costa (3), Elias Dean (2), Jackson Huckabay (2), Carlos Lopez (3), Jade Perez (2), Seiji Shinkawa (4), Shoji Shinkawa (2), Jake Surratt (4), Kennedi Warren (1), Kate Welborn (1), and Jacob Wheeler (3).








