Performance – Page 8

DANIEL HALEY LEADS TNT TO 2nd PLACE FINISH IN FRESNO

Dec 012016

Visalia’s Daniel Haley was one of six TNT swimmers who were event champions at the Fresno ABC meet held in mid-November at the Bullard High School facility, swimming eight events, and scoring in all eight. He took home the gold in the 11-12 boys 500 freestyle event with a time of 5:45.68, placed 3^rd in four events, and was among the top 6 in all other events that he competed in. Our other event champions included his Visalia training partner, Janessa Bringe, who won the 15-over 400 IM with a time of 4:59.76, 8-year old and Jillian Duffy who was the champion of the 8-under 100 IM after swimming a life-time best of 1:36.97. JD Koster was the event champion in three of his four 15-over events, winning the 100 fly (55.42), 200 breast (2:17.83), and 200 IM (2:05.13), while Visalia’s Megan Ridenour entered two 15-over events, and won both: 100 free (56.08) & 200 free (2:03.96). Our only other event champion was Katherine Sullivan, who won two of her four events that included the 400 IM (5:05.33), and the 200 free (2:14.54) for the 13-14 division.

The team’s overall improvement percentage was established at 44%, and improvements were led by six individuals who improved 100% of their times. These swimmers included: Joemar Abad (improving 2 of 2), Drew Black (2 of 2), Jillian Duffy (3 of 3), Isaac Gutierrez (5 of 5), Landon Mauge (1 of 1), and Brayden Souza (2 of 2). Congratulations to these six, along with Jacob Barber, Megan Bairstow, Ciara Clarke, Ciena Clarke, Elias Dean, Lorelei Dean, Colin Duffy, Evan Dutra, Wyatt Edwards, Ashton King, Landon Mauge, Genoveve Mcilwaine, and Brayden Souza for posting times for new events.

MORGAN CODDINGTON & LAUREN GEIGER COMMIT TO FRESNO PACIFIC

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Dec 012016

Two TNT swimers are completing their senior year of high school, and are preparing to make the transition to collegiate swimming. Early signing for the sport of swimming occurs in November, and Selma’s Morgan Coddington has signed the National Letter of Intent to represent the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds for the following year. Morgan is a graduating senior from Kingsburg High School, and is coached by Gary Ota.

Joining Morgan will be Visalia’s graduating senior, Lauren Geiger, who will be graduating from Immanuel High School in Reedley. Lauren gave her verbal committment to Fresno Pacific earlier in the year be come a Sunbird next year, and she is coahced by Jason Ricablanca. Early signing is offered only to those athletes across sports that are highly desired by the college of their choice, and our two athletes are no exception to that reality. Both Morgan and Lauren have consistently finished in the top 2 places at the CIF High School Valley Championships year after year, and both swimmers qualify for our team’s senior circuit of swim meets that include the Los Angeles Invitational, Speedo Grand Challenge, and Swim Meet of Champions, swim meets that typically field international level Olympians.

Our two athletes will be following a long list of TNT swimmers who competed for Fresno Pacific, including Bre Abell, Thomas Brown, Wesley Coles, Justin Lopez-Lamb, Matlyn Morris, Jordan Stotts, as well as our coaches Alicia Cleveland, Kendall Swanson and Joclyn Thiessen.

Fresno Pacific is an NCAA Division 2 program that competes in the Pacific Collegiate Swim Conference along with the University of Alaska, Arizona Christian University, Azusa Pacific, Biola, East Bay, Concordia, Dixie State College, Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine, Soka University, UC San Diego, and UC Santa Cruz.

44 COMPETE AT CONEJO SIMI INVITATIONAL

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Dec 012016

Tule Nation Tritons traveled with its largest group to date for the Conejo Simi Invitational which is a closed meet intended for only a select number of teams. Our group traveled by bus to Simi Valley to compete on the first day of the two day meet, and then went on to Disneyland for Sunday. Eighteen of our athletes were event champions at the meet, and these performances were led by three individuals who remained undefeated. Selma’s Lucas Huckabay led the way be competing in, and winning, all five events – the maximum number allowable, for the 9-10 division, and he was followed by Visalia’s Layla Flores who has proven herself hard to beat, meet after meet, as she wins her four events. Alonso Escobedo competed in two events, and won both.

Other events champions included Selma’s Sienna Abernathy (winning 4 events for the 9-10 division), Danielle Albright (winning 3 for 13-over), Aidan Champagne (1, 11-12), Selma’s Morgan Coddington (2, 15-over), Jackson Huckabay (1, 13-over), Jonas Huckabay (1, 13-over), Drew Johnston (1, 11-12), Selma’s Tanner Kelm (1, 9-10), JD Koster (1, 13-over), Preston Niayesh (1, 13-over), Ava Olson (1, 11-12), Gage Price (3, 11-12), Katherine Sullivan (1, 13-over), Addia Watson (2, 5-8), and Selma’s Sydnee Wilson (2, 9-10).

Sydnee Wilson was also one of only five swimmers to improve 100% of their times. She improved over nine seconds combined over five events. Chesney Watson had one of the largest time improvements, dropping over seven seconds in the 100 breaststroke event, and also improved 100% of her times for four events. Maquire Barteau improved two of two, while Dante Carrasco improve all three previously recorded times with the team. Our only other 100% improvement came from Marisal Howeth who improved two events, and added the 100 IM as a newly recorded event.

MEGAN RIDENOUR & DANIELLE ALBRIGHT FINAL AT KEVIN PERRY

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Dec 012016

Nine senior TNT swimmers traveled to Huntington Beach over the first weekend of November to compete alongside swimmers such as former University of Florida, and Colombian Olympic backstroke swimmer, Omar Pinzon. The meet took the place of the “Terrapin” meet that we typically travel to on the same weekend in Pacific Swimming.

Our team came away with only two finalists, each earning a spot in the C-final, and both swimmers being two of only three remaining Futures qualifiers on our team. Visalia’s Megan Ridenour is our most veteran swimmer, competing at Futures for the past two years, and is the only swimmer to earn two final swims at the Kevin Perry meet. Megan finished 22nd in the 100 yard breaststroke after swimming a 1:06.53 in the preliminary heats. She teamed up with 13-year old Danielle Albright in the C-final of the 200 yard breaststroke, where both swimmers improved nearly three seconds in the preliminary heats to earn their second swims. Danielle and Megan finished 20th and 22nd respectively with Danielle swimming a time of 2:25.72 in finals, and Megan posting a time of 2:25.65 in the preliminary heats.

One team record was set at the meet, and that was from 15-year old Preston Niayesh who has now established himself among the ranks of only a few TNT swimmers in our history as holding a team record in each age division from the 10-under, to the 15-18 and Senior divisions. Highlighting an impressive birthday swim, Preston swam a personal best of 59.59 in the 100 yard breaststroke to finish 28th in the event, and sliding under Nathan Rhea’s team record of 59.75 that was set at the Clovis meet in March of 2012. Preston’s time currently stands as the 14th fastest nationally for boys at age 15 in an annual reporting period that began two months ago.

Two TNT swimmers led the 57% improvement rate (considered considerably high for a senior-level meet) at the meet with Alonso Escobedo improving all five of his events, averaging an improvement of over two and a half seconds each time he hit the water. Alonso’s top finish was 36th in the 200 back (1:57.81). Garrison Price maintained the only other 100% improvement rate, and he maintained the largest drop by improving nearly eight and a half seconds in the 200 yard butterfly event (1:59.69), swimming under the 2-minute mark for the first time. His highest finish was 51st in the 100 fly (53.06).

The highest finish for our remaining swimmers included 45th in the 1000 freestyle for Visalia’s Janessa Bringe (10:51.66), 35th in the 50 free for Visalia’s Mackenzie Garza (24.59), 95th in the 100 back for Visalia’s Lauren Geiger (1:01.52), and 45th in the 200 fly by JD Koster (1:57.62).

BRYAN WONG SETS TEAM RECORD AT VISALIA

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Oct 132016

Bryan Wong was one of over 100 TNT swimmers who competed at the Visalia TNT Fall Meet over the second weekend of October, and he puts on the first of what is surely to be only the beginning of an upcoming series of team record-breaking performances within this new training and competition cycle entering the short course season. Bryan swam the 200 yard breaststroke event for the very first time, and clocked a time of 2:38.02 in the event to take home the win, and slid under Preston Niayesh’s team record of 2:38.06 that was set at Far Westerns three years ago. Bryan’s time currently stands as the 37^th fastest nationally for boys at age 12. The new national reporting cycle began at the beginning of last month, and there are currently 250 times posted nationally for this gender and age.

Our team maintained an improvement rate of 48%, and Bryan also maintained one of the highest improvement rates by improving five of his six events. Sixteen TNT swimmers improved 100% of their times as they perform in the early phase of this next short course season, and they include: Megan Bairstow (improving 2 of her 2 events), Isabel Burrough (4 of 4), Jacob Chambers (2 of 2), Tomas Contreras (6 of 6), Gabrielia Costamagna (1 of 1), Sarah Do-Reynoso (2 of 2), Colin Duffy (2 of 2), Jillian Duffy (1 of 1), Xavier Gutierrez (5 of 5), Jackson Huckabay (2 of 2), Jonas Huckabay (2 of 2), Marlene Mansour (1 of 1), Levi Porter (2 of 2), Ivan Rodriguez (2 of 2), Josh Wee (5 of 5), and Benjamin Wheeler (3 of 3).

A few of our swimmer remained uncontested in the few events that they competed in. Alonso Escobedo was undefeated in both the 15-over 200 back (2:01.90), and 200 IM (2:02.42) events, while Selma’s Logan Huckabay won each of his four events in the 6-under division, including the 25 free (19.56), 50 breast (1:08.01), 50 fly (59.08), and 100 IM (2:00.53) events. JD Koster came in on Sunday to win his three events that included the 200 breast (2:16.23), 200 fly (2:06.98), and 400 IM (4:25.50) for the 15-over division, while Alex Roberts also came in on Sunday where she won the 13-14 100 back (1:02.79) and 400 IM (5:00.42) events. Visalia’s Tyson Phillips took home the gold in the 7-8 50 free (42.30), 25 breast (28.79), and 50 back (50.34) events. Other event champions included: Libby Adriaansen (winning two events), Nathan Boudreaux (2 events), Janessa Bringe (2), Ciara Clarke (1), Layla Flores (6), Mackenzie Garza (4), Lauren Geiger (1), Diego Gutierrez (1), Toby Jones (1), Rylee Lord (3), Mia Nelsen (1), Karuna Perry (1), Gage Price (3), Garrison Price (1), Micah Ruiz (3), Katherine Sullivan (1), Jake Surratt (3), Jacob Wheeler (1), Alexa Wong (2), Bryan Wong (6), and Bryce Wong (7).

MISSY LESTRANGE & AJ REID COMPETE AT IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

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Oct 132016

The Ironman World Championships took place on Saturday, October 8th, and while our swimmers were competing at the Visalia meet, two current and past TNT athletes were among over 2,000 who competed at the Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. The competition involves a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run, all as one 140.6 mile event. Our own Missy LeStrange clocked an overall time of 12 hours, 56 minutes and 13 second to finish 3rd in her division that consisted of 35 contestants, splitting 1 hour 8 minutes and 30 seconds for the swim 6h 24m 38s for the bike, and 5h 11m 21s for the run. Her swim time was the fastest in the field by three seconds over Brazil’s Marise Nunes who finished 8th overall with a time of 14h6m5s.

AJ Reid competed in the 18-24 division, and finished 20th in his field of 38 athletes. AJ’s time was 11:02:17, and he was the 4th fastest American to finish in the division. AJ swam 57:57, and then followed that with a bike split of 5:30.57, and finally the run of 4:22.33. This was AJ’s firs Ironman World Championships.

24 COMPETE AT CLOVIS MEET

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Sep 302016

Twenty-four TNT swimmers competed at the Clovis Fall Classic on September 24th and maintained a 50% overall team improvement rate. This improvement rate was led by six swimmers who improved 100% of their times over the one-day meet. Tegan Hunt had the highest number of swims, improving 3 of 3 events, followed by her training partner, Addison McCullough who improved two of her two events. Xavier Gutierrez of Porterville, along with Alex Roberts, each improved both of their two events that had previously been recorded with the team. Both John Bailey and Laney Cox of Porterville each improved the one event which was previously recorded. Ten of our 24 swimmers swam a combined total of 18 new events at the meet, setting the foundation for their future. Our next highest improvement rates came from Visalia’s Layla Flores , Hanford’s Nathan Hunt , and Caroline Mendyk, all 75% of their times.

Five of our swimmers came away as event champions in their respective events. Danielle Albright won both the 200 butterfly (2:24.08), and the 400 IM (5:00.08) events for the 13-14 girls division, while Visalia’s Layla Flores took home the gold in both the 11-12 girls 200 breaststroke (2:40.59) and 200 freestyle (2:12.15) events. Alex Roberts doubled up wins in the 13-14 girls 100 free (57.75), and 100 back (1:01.35) events, while Porterville’s Fynn Stadtherr went uncontested in both the 7-8 25 breaststroke (24.13), and 25 butterfly (22.89) events. Fifteen year old Preston Niayesh was our only other event champion, as he won the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:00.63.

LAYLA FLORES, LUCAS HUCKABAY & ALEXA WONG UNDEFEATED AT RAISIN AGE GROUP INVITE

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Sep 232016

One hundred nineteen TNT swimmers were among the total 193 who competed at the Raisin Age Group Invitational at Selma High School over the third weekend of September, marking the second short course swim meet of the new season, and three swimmers came away winning all events they competed in.

Visalia’s 12-year old, Layla Flores, competed in eight events, and came away unchallenged in all eight. Layla is our premier 100 meter backstroker who established herself as the fastest long course swimmer in the event for the history of the team when she competed in Utah this last summer where she set the team record for the 11-12 age division. She continues to prove herself as not only the fastest on the team, but the fastest at the meet, and not only in backstroke, but also establishing herself as a well-rounded athlete by winning all eight events.

Selma’s eight-year old Lucas Huckabay also competed in eight total events, two of them for the very first time (100 back & 200 IM), and one of those in the 10-under division (200 IM), and he still managed gold-medal performances in all events. Lucas also improved over 13 seconds in the 200 freestyle, swimming a time of 2:31.07 as an 8-year old. He is one of the few 8-under swimmers fast enough to post times on our TNT All-Time Top 100 lists for the 10-under division.

Our final sweeping performance came from 10-year old Alexa Wong who also competed in a full slate of events, and established her dominance, winning all eight. She also improved 7 of her 8 swims, the largest being over 11 seconds in the 200 IM, marking what could be a pivotal, or break-through, meet for her. Alexa has a summer birthday (June), and she is already posting times that rank among the top 10 for the team, sitting within three to four seconds from some of our team records.

Ten-year old Nicholas Vassylenko came away winning seven of his eight events, and earned a second place in his remaining one, and Nicholas was one of 25 swimmers to improve 100% of their times; his largest improvement being over 11 seconds in the 100 IM. Bryan Wong came home with the next highest number of wins, swimming to a first place finish in five of his eight, and improving over 42 seconds in the 200 IM. Other event champions included: Sienna Abernathy (winning the 100 back), Danielle Albright (100 & 200 breast), Alonso Escobedo (200 back), Noah Haworth (100 fly), Logan Huckabay (50 fly), Tanner Kelm (50 breast & 200 free), JD Koster (200 fly), Cody Nash (100 & 200 breast), Jade Perez (100 back), and Sydnee Wilson (50 breast & 100 fly).

The top 8 swimmers scored in each event, and besides those who were event champions, these included: Eric Amador, Maguire Barteau, Ella Bettencourt, Drew Black, Nathan Boudreaux, Dylan Burr, Jonna-Lee Bush, Devon Cardoza, Duncan Champagne, Ciara Clarke, Ciena Clarke, Morgan Coddington, Dante Corasco, Jasmine Corpuz, Elias Dean, Colin Duffy, Jillian Duffy, Gabriela Durtra, Nadia Garabedian, Mackenzie Garza, Lauren Geiger, Noah Gutierrez, Daniel Haley, Caolinn Hardy, Noah Haworth, Jackson Huckabay, Jonas Huckabay, Sydney King, Isabella Klawitter, Carlos Lopez, Rylee Lord, Makayla McGuire, Michael Mendoza, Bella Navarretti, Sophie Nelsen, Preston Niayesh, Ava Olson, Tyson Phillips, Joshua Ramirez, Megan Ridenour, Alex Roberts, Ivan Rodriguez, Micah Ruiz, Delbert Salvadalena, Satoshi Shinkawa, Clara Shinn, Ethan Unruh, Addia Watson, Chesney Watson, and Jacob Wheeler.

Congratulations also go to the following swimmers who improved 100% of their times: Edmond Aguinaldo, Precious Aguinaldo, Ella Betencourt, Ella Bettencourt (yes – two different swimmers), Connor Bruton, Devon Cardoza, Ciara Clarke, Elias Dean, Lorelei Dean, Colin Duffy, Kate Geiger, Toby Jones, Genoveve Mcilwaine, Jaden O’Bosky, Edward Miguel Ong, Taylor Phillips, Tyson Phillips, Parker Princewill, Ivan Rodriguez, Edward Rodriquez, Luke Vanwoudenberg, Maryn Vanwoudenberg, Nicholas Vassylenko, Matthew Wheeler, and Bryan Wong.

41 NEW TNT SWIMMERS COMPETE AT HANFORD MEET

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Sep 232016

A total of 178 swimmers competed at the Hanford meet held at the Tulare Western pool on the second weekend of September, marking the first short course meet following this past summer’s long course season. Of these, 107 were TNT swimmers, and of the 107 TNT swimmers 41 swam in a club swim meet for their very first time, establishing baseline times that will mark the beginning of their move toward Junior Olympics, Winter and June Age Group Championships, Far Westerns, Western Zones, and well beyond. Congratulations to the following 41 swimmers for taking their first step to achieving their future dreams:

A total of 59 additional swimmers competed who had previously recorded times with the team, and well over half of them improved 100% of their times, leading the team to a 76% improvement rate. The following 34 swimmers had a perfect meet starting off the short course season as they move into the winter championship meets:

Although having competed for TNT sometime in the past, the following seven swimmers expanded their repertoire by competing in events that they had never experienced in the past. These included:

Noah Gutierrez (age 10): 50 free & 50 breast
Mckenna Pressley (15): 50 free, 200 fly, 200 IM & 1650 free
Delbert Salvadalena (8): 50 free
Erika Vandermaarl (11): 50 free, 50 breast, 50 back & 100 IM
Haley Vandermaarl (10): 50 breast, 50 back & 100 IM
Kate Welborn (7): 50 free
Bryce Wong (14): 200 fly

FIVE OF FIVE FINAL AT AGE GROUP ZONES

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Sep 142016

One month ago, five TNT swimmers competed at the 2016 Western Zone Age Group Championships held in Salt Lake City, Utah with CCS Head Zone Coach, Joclyn Thiessen while representing Team CCS, the All Star team that represents Central California Swimming. Our five include Visalia’s Janessa Bringe (13-14), Peyton Costa (11-12), Visalia’s Layla Flores (11-12), Ava Olson (10-under), and Alexa Wong (10-under).

Layla Flores was our first finalist, swimming to the championship finals in the 100 meter backstroke on day 1, and improved nearly three seconds to a 1:11.61 in the preliminary heats, swimming well under Samantha Goates team record of 1:12.24 set at the Senior Q meet in 2002. Samantha Goates is among our all-time top performers, becoming nationally ranked, competing for LSU at the D1 NCAA Championships. On day 1, Janessa Bringe earned a scoring top-16 finish swimming 10:21.83 in the time based 800 meter freestyle, and finishing 15th in the event.

Day 2 was Thursday; Alexa Wong swam to a consolation final in the 100 meter freestyle after swimming 1:13.13 in the preliminary heats on that day, and also qualified for the consolation heat in the 200 IM. Peyton Costa also made the consolation heat, swimming a 2:36.03 in the preliminary heats, and then winning the consolation heat with a time of 2:33.48.

On day 3, Ava Olson advances to the consolation final of the 100 meter breaststroke, improving her time by nearly two seconds to a 1:34.80, and finishing 15th in that final heat. Layla Flores sat in the 1st alternate position of the same event after swimming her best time of 1:24.28, and then went on to place 10th in the 50 meter backstroke improving her preliminary swim to a 33.54, after swimming her fastest time of 33.82 in the prelims.

Day 4 resulted in Layla Flores not only being the only TNT swimmer to improve 100% of her times, the only TNT swimmer to advance to a championship top-8 final heat, but also earned the most second swims for any TNT swimmer as she competed in the 11-12 200 meter breaststroke event, and improved her time by over two seconds to a 3:01.74, and finished 15^th in the event. Layla was joined as a finalist for the day by Ava Olson, competing in her first Zone meet, and second final event, where her time of 1:20.21 was enough for a 14^th place finish there, and an improvement from her preliminary swim.

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