Performance – Page 9

MALLORY KORENWINDER – ONE OF THREE ACADMIC ALL AMERICA SWIMMERS FOR CCS

Sep 112016

Swimmers who are eligible annually submit their information for consideration as a USA Swimming Scholastic All America athlete. Swimmers are eligible beginning their sophomore year in high school, and must maintain a 3.5 grade point average, in addition to achieving a challenging time standard in at least one event. Mallory Korenwinder is one of three swimmers throughout all of Central California Swimming who are on the list for this past academic year, and she remained on the list for all three years of eligibility. Mallory had posted the eighth fastest time in the nation for the 100 yard breaststroke during this past high school year with her time of 1:01.14. She is the most recent of the three TNT swimmers in the history of the team who achieved the USA Swimming Academic All-America recognition all three years, joining Kyle Grissom, Nathan Rhae and Chris Nolan as those who had reached the milestone all three years to date. For the 2013-2014 academic year, TNT alone fielded four swimmers onto the list, and included: Owen Ansel, Lauren Davis, Kyle Grissom, and Mallory Korenwinder. In the 2012-2013 school year, TNT alone presented six swimmers that included: Lauren Davis, Emily Goodbar, Kyle Grissom, Jillian Hatch, Mallory Korenwinder, and Chris Nolan, establishing TNT swimmers as balancing their focus on both academic and athletic accomplishments to a degree beyond any other team within Central California Swimming in most recent years. Annually, swimmers from Central California Swimming represent only a handful of recipients, and this year totals only three throughout CCS, a geographical region that spans Bakersfield in the south, to Merced in the north, and from Ridgecrest in the east to Coalinga in the west. Past TNT recipients also included: Colin Landweer, Bradley Matsumoto, Patrick Ota, and Kellie West.

Swimmers should contact their coach, or Phil, on qualifying criteria, and application timelines in case of questions. Time standards can be found in the TNT Swimmer Handbook, and at www.tritonswim.org.

THREE COMPETE AT FUTURES IN STANFORD

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Aug 192016

Two of three swimmers competing at Futures made their first appearance at the meet, qualifying only weeks prior to the swim meet. Visalia’s Mackenzie Garza qualified for the meet while competing at Sectionals the previous weekend, and came away with the team’s only time improvement by swimming a time of 2:24.84 in the event. She achieved her Futures cut in the 50 meter freestyle while at Sectionals.

Attending her second Futures meet is Visalia’s veteran, Megan Ridenour who swam to the highest place of any TNT swimmer at the meet, placing 71st in the 100 meter breaststroke with a time of 1:17.42. Megan attended the inaugural Futures meet in Oregon last summer.

Our youngest qualifier was 13-year old Danielle Albright, and her highest finish was 74th in the 200 meter breaststroke where she swam a time of 2:51.13. Danielle qualified for the meet in the 100 meter breaststroke while competing at the LA Invitational in mid-July.

As a result of their performances over the summer, all three swimmers qualify for travel funding.

TNT PLACES 2nd AT JUNIOR OLYMPICS

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Aug 192016

Fifty-one TNT swimmers and were among the 500 who competed at the 2016 Central California Swimming Long Course Junior Olympic Championships over the last weekend of July, and the team came away with a second-place finish scoring 2,560 points behind Clovis whose team of 110 athletes scored 6,319 points. Thirty-one teams scored at the meet.

Points from individual events were led by our highest scoring individual in each age and gender division, and these included:

8-under girls: none scoring
8-under boys: Lucas Huckabay ranked 2^nd 97 points
10-under girls: Ava Olson ranked 6^th 93 points
10-under boys: none scoring
11-12 girls: Layla Flores ranking 6^th 110 points
11-12 boys: Peyton Costa ranks 4^th 128 points
13-14 girls: Janessa Bringe ranks 8^th 90 points
13-14 boys: Bryce Wong ranks 12^th 76 points
15-18 girls: Maddie Pallares ranks 17^th 32 points
15-18 boys: Satoshi Shinkawa ranks 12^th 49 points

Our event champions were led by Selma’s 8-year old Lucas Huckabay who swam to first place finishes in four of his five events, and placed 2^nd in the final one. His wins included the 50 back (42.34), 50 free (35.54), 50 fly (41.97), and 100 free (1:17.90). Our only other event champions came from one age division and gender (13-14 girls), and included: Danielle Albright (100 back – 1:13.85), Visalia’s Janessa Bringe (400 free – 4:45.89), and Visalia’s Mackenzie Garza (50 free – 28.48).

A premium is placed on swimmers who advance to a championship final from the preliminary heats in any event, and our team representation was plentiful. Championship finalists included:

Sienna Abernathy (age 9): 7^th in the 200 free
Libby Adriaansen (14): 3^rd in the 200 breast & 100 breast, 4^th in the 200 IM
Danielle Albright (13): 2^nd in the 1500 free
Tristin Bennett (16): 7^th in the 100 breast
Janessa Bringe (14): 2^nd in the 800 & 200 free, 5^th in the 1500 free, 6^th in the 100 fly
Dylan Burr (17): 2^nd 100 back & 3^rd 200 back
Ciara Clarke (10): 3^rd 50 back, 5^th 100 back & 100 free, 6^th 50 free & 7^th 50 breast
Peyton Costa (12): 2^nd 50 back, 200 IM & 100 free; 3^rd 50 free & 100 back; 4^th 400 free, 100 fly & 50 fly
Layla Flores (12): 2^nd 50 back; 3^rd 100 & 200 breast, 200 IM, 100 back & 50 fly. Layla also competed in the 11-14 age division as a 12-year old and finished 4^th in the 200 breast, and 5^th in the 200 back.
Daniel Haley (12): 8^th in the 400 free & 100 back
Jackson Huckabay (13): 8^th in the 800 free
Drew Johnston (10): 5^th in the 50 back & 50 free
Rylee Lord (13): 5^th in the 100 fly, 200 IM & 50 free; 6^th 100 free; & 7^th 200 free
Ava Olson (10): 4^th 100 fly & 200 IM; 6^th 100 breast & 200 free; & 7^th in the 50 fly
Madison Pallares (15): 2^nd in the 100 breast & 4^th in the 200 breast
Emma Pena (15): 4^th in the 100 back
Gage Price (12): 7^th in the 100 back & 8^th in the 100 fly
Garrison Price (15): 4^th in the 200 fly
Micah Ruiz (16): 6^th in the 100 back & 100 free
Satoshi Shinkawa (16): 2^nd in the 200 back, and 3^rd in the 200 free & 200 fly
Katherine Sullivan (14): 2^nd in the 400 IM and 200 back; 3^rd 200 IM; & 6^th 200 fly
Sydnee Wilson (10) 3^rd in the 50 breast & 8^th in the 100 breast
Alexa Wong (10): 4^th in the 50, 100 & 200 free, and 6^th in the 50 & 100 fly
Bryan Wong (12): 3^rd in the 50 & 100 breast, 5^th 200 free, 6^th 200 IM & 7^th 100 free
Bryce Wong (14): 3^rd 100 back, 6^th 200 IM & 200 back; 7^th 100 breast; and 8^th 100 free

Individuals whose top performance took them to a consolation heat included: Drew Black, Isaac Gutierrez, Xavier Gutierrez, Maya Herrera, Logan Huckabay, Dylan Hunt, Addison Mccullough, Caroline Mendyk, Priscilla Niayesh, and Benjamin Wheeler.

Two of our swimmers set new team records at the meet, and these record-breaking performances were led by Peyton Costa who is continuing to improve the records he has set earlier in the year. His improvements include the 50 back, dropping his 33.11 to a 32.73 and now ranking 139^th nationally, dropping his 200 IM from 2:31.84 to 2:31.24 and ranking 135^th, improving his 100 back from 1:12.36 to 1:12.26 and ranking 274^th, and improving his 100 free from a 1:03.03 to a 1:02.94 and ranking 315^th in that event. Peyton also set a new team record for himself, and this was in the 50 freestyle where his time of 28.71 fell under Jackson Huckabay’s 29.13 that was set last year at the very same swim meet. Peyton’s new record now stands as the 307^th fastest time posted in the nation for boys at age 12.

Our only other record breaking performance came from Visalia’s Ciara Clarke as she led off the 10-under girls 200 medley relay that finished 2^nd in the event. Her lead-off split of 38.22 in the backstroke leg is a tenth of a second under one of the longest standing remaining records on our team. Brook Wilson set the record as a 38.32 in Bakersfield twenty-two years ago in 1994. Ciara’s time places her as the 284^th fastest 10-year old girl in the nation for the event.

An astounding 80% of times were improved at this championship-level swim meet, which is significant considering that many of these swimmers are not relatively new to the sport, and have already achieved time standards for much higher-level swim meets prior to their performance at Junior Olympics. Swimmers who improved 100% of their times at the meet included: Sienna Abernathy, Bridget Benegar, Tristin Bennett, Dylan Burr, Ciara Clarke, Ciena Clarke, Peyton Costa, Isaac Gutierrez, Xavier Gutierrez, Logan Huckabay, Lucas Huckabay, Drew Johnston, Rylee Lord, Corinne Maxfield, Addison Mccullough, Madison Pallares, Satoshi Shinkawa, Seiji Shinkawa, Benjamin Wheeler, Sydnee Wilson, Brett Wong, and Bryce Wong.

Our 29 relays generated 948 points of the total team score for the second place team finish and four of our relays came away as Gold Medal finishes. Three of the first place relay finishes were captured by the 13-14 girls. The 13-14 girls team of Katie Sullivan, Danielle Albright, Janessa Bringe and Mackenzie Garza led the first & third place finish of the 400 meter medley relay with a time of 4:53.75, while Katie Sullivan, Danielle Albright, Rylee Lord and Mackenzie Garza took home the gold in the 200 meter medley relay with a time of 2:11.49. Mackenzie Garza, Danielle Albirght, and Rylee Lord teamed up with Janessa Bringe to win the 200 meter freestyle relay with a time of 1:57.01. Our final winning relay was from the 15-18 girls team, and Emma Pena, Tristin Bennett, Megan Ridenour and Maddie Pallares teamed up to swim 5:06.61 to win the 400 meter medley relay.

Four team relay records were broken at the Junior Olympic Championships, beginning with the 11-12 boys 200 meter medley relay led off by Peyton Costa, then Bryan Wong, Gage Price and Danielle Haley. They swam 2:15.72, swimming under their own June Age Group Invitational time of 2:16.05. The 10-under girls’ team of Ciara Clarke, Sienna Abernathy, Ava Olson and Alexa Wong swam 2:13.42 in the 200 meter freestyle relay, swimming again under a June Age Group relay time of 2:15.55 established by Ciara Clark, Ella Bettencourt, Ava Olson and Alexa Wong. The 10-under girls posted a time that currently stands as the 21^st fastest nationally for the age and gender division. Our 15-16 boys team of Micah Ruiz, Satoshi Shinkawa, Garrison Price and Brett Wong set a new team record in the 200 medley relay with a time of 2:00.65, swimming well under a previous team record of 2:09.72 set in 2008 by Brian Brown, Nathan Rhea, Alex Hansen and Thomas Brown at that year’s Junior Olympics. The final team record was set by the 11-12 boys 200 freestyle team of Bryan Wong, Daniel Haley, Gage Price and Peyton Costa as a 2:02.69, swimming under the 2:04.57 set in 2013 by JD Koster, Preston Niayesh, Bryan Wong and Quinton Davis at the Junior Olympics that year.

HOLBERT & NIAYESH FINAL AT SENIOR ZONES

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Aug 122016

Five TNT swimmers represented our program at the Senior Zone meet held in Clovis over the August 2nd weekend, and Selma’s Aubrey Holbert, along with Preston Niayesh, both earned second swims in their respective events. Preston earned his final swim in the 100 meter breaststroke event after swimming a time of 1:10.49 in the preliminary heats to earn a 5th place spot in the C-final. Preston finished sixth in the heat, placing 22nd overall in the event after improving his preliminary swim to a 1:10.05.

Two swimmers improved one time each, and both improved events were the 100 meter backstroke. Selma’s Aubrey Holbert swam a lifetime best of 1:10.10 to finish 27th overall during the preliminary heats of the event, fast enough to scratch into the C-final where she finished 24th overall. Fourteen year old Alex Roberts was our youngest contender at age fourteen, and she improved her 100 meter backstroke over a second to a 1:11.30, and finishing 57th in the event.

Visalia’s Lauren Geiger finished 88th as her highest place, and this was in the 100 meter backstroke (1:12.86), while Micah Ruiz’s highest finish was 173rd in the 50 meter freestyle (27.32) event.

MACKENZIE GARZA BREAKS 28-SECOND BARRIER AT AGE 14

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Aug 032016

Seven TNT swimmers competed at 2016 Summer California-Nevada Sectional Championships over the fourth weekend of July at the Roseville Aquatics Complex, and intent on achieving the time standard to move on to the USA Swimming’s Futures meet, Visalia’s fourteen year old Mackenzie Garza did just that. Mackenzie recently broke the team record in the 13-14 girls 50 meter freestyle event with a 28.06 at the LA Invitational meet only one week earlier, just missing being the first 14-under girl in the history of our team to swim under 28 seconds in the event; however, well exceeded that milestone, not just once, but twice, while competing at Sectionals. Mackenzie’s first attempt left her with a time of 27.92, under the 28-second mark, but just shy of the Futures cut of 27.49. Her second effort would not disappoint. She swam her lifetime best of 27.28 during her second attempt, well under the Futures time standard, well under her previous team record of 28.06 set the previous week, and now just over a tenth of a second off of the CCS Record held by former Porterville resident who trained in Visalia, Kristi Begin, who went on the compete for the University of California, Berkley. Mackenzie’s new record currently stands as the 51st fastest time for any 14-year old girl in the nation.

Four of our swimmers earned second swims at Sectionals which fielded four heats of eight. Our finals were led by Preston Niayesh who was our only swimmer with two second swims, his 100 meter breaststroke preliminary time of 1:09.41 being fast enough to place him in the scoring C-final where he finished 23rd. His other final was a winning performance of the 200 breaststroke non-scoring D-final (25th place) where he improved nearly 15 seconds from his preliminary swim to a 2:32.08. Alonso Escobedo was our only other scoring swim, and he improved nearly nine seconds from his preliminary swim to a 4:55.47 to finish 23rd in the 400 meter IM. Alonso is newly qualified for Sectionals, making the cut in the 200 IM while competing at the LA Invite the previous weekend. JD Koster swam nearly three seconds faster than his preliminary swim, another swimmer to win the non-scoring D-final, of the 200 meter butterfly where he swam 2:13.04 in the event he achieved the qualifying time just one week earlier at LA Invite. Our only other finalist was Visalia’s Megan Ridenour who improved her preliminary swim by over second during the D-final to a 1:15.53, and 28th place finish there.

Our youngest representative at age 13, Danielle Albright, finished 37th in the 100 meter breaststroke with a time of 1:17.85, and competed in four events at the meet. Our most experienced veteran to Sectionals, Khloe McCarthy, competed in five different events, and her highest finish was 36th in the 200 meter backstroke event. Khloe will be attending Pepperdine this upcoming fall.

FIVE FINAL AT LA INVITE

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Jul 202016

Seventeen TNT swimmers traveled to USC over the third weekend of July to compete at the 2016 LA Invitational where swimmers such as Yuliya Efimova missed a World Record by only two seconds. Five of our seventeen swimmers earned a second swim in one of four heats at the meet, and our team’s highest finish was the 18^th place time of 27.31 posted in the 15-18 girl’s 50 meter freestyle by Selma’s Sierra Jett. Sierra also finished 30^th in the 100 freestyle after posting a time of 59.59 in the preliminary heats, earning a spot in the 18-under D-final. Visalia’s Megan Ridenour, along with Mallory Korenwinder, posted the next highest finish for our team, and each swimmer earned spots in the C-final. Megan Ridenour finished 21^st in the 100 meter breaststroke, after posting a lifetime best of 1:15.37 in the preliminary heats. Megan will be traveling to Roseville for Sectionals, and then on to Stanford for Futures in upcoming weeks. Mallory Korenwinder had the highest number of second swims for our team, with her highest finish also being 21^stin the 200 meter breaststroke, she swam 2:44.40 in the C-final. She also finished 27^th in the 18-under final of the 100 free after swimming 59.32 in the preliminary heats, and also finished 28^th in the 18-under final of the 50 meter freestyle after swimming 27.60 in the preliminary heats of that event. Our next highest finisher was Danielle Albright who joined Megan Ridenour in the C-final of the 100 meter breaststroke, and Danielle finished 23^rd there after swimming 1:15.68 in the prelims. JD Koster was our only other finalist, making it into the 18-under D-final of the 200 meter butterfly, and finishing 32^nd, after posting his first Sectional time of 2:13.83 in the preliminary heats.

Only one team record was broken in an individual event at the meet, and that was by Visalia’s 14-year old Mackenzie Garza in the 50 meter freestyle. Mackenzie swam a time of 28.06 which was nearly a tenth of a second improvement from the June Age Group Invitational meet only a few weeks earlier. Her time falls under Samantha Goates previous team record of 28.12 set at Junior Olympics in 2004 when Mackenzie was about two years old. Mackenzie’s new record stands as the 165^th fastest nationally for girls at age 14. And at age 14, Mackenzie will join our Sectional Team as they compete in Roseville the weekend following LA Invite. Her time finished 64^th at the meet, in an event that typically has advantage for much older athletes.

Other TNT swimmers who competed at the meet, along with their highest finish, include: Janessa Bringe (200 fly – 70^th), Morgan Coddington (400 IM – 73^rd), Alonso Escobedo (400 IM – 40^th), Lauren Geiger (100 back – 140^th), Jonas Huckabay (800 free – 47^th),Khloe McCarthy (200 back – 58^th), Katherine Mendyk (200 breast – 98^th), Preston Niayesh (200 fly – 62^nd), Ashley Olson (100 back – 156^th), Satoshi Shinkawa (100 fly – 88^th), and Blake Wong (100 breast – 109^th).

The Los Angeles Invitational is the last chance for swimmers to qualify for the Sectional meet, and our Sectional Team is now established with: Danielle Albright, Mackenzie Garza, Khloe McCarthy, Megan Ridenour on the girls side, and Preston Niayesh, Alonso Escobedo, and JD Koster on the boys side. Shortly following Sectionals is Futures to be held at Stanford University, and our current team consists of: Khloe McCarthy, Danielle Albright, and Megan Ridenour. Good luck at both meets.

BC CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM IMPROVES NEARLY 80% OF TIMES

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Jul 192016

Fifteen swimmers who represented TNT at the Long Course BC Last Chance meet in Bakersfield over the July 16-17 weekend improved 78.8% of all events at the meet, and the high improvement percentage was led by five of our swimmers who improved 100% of their times. These perfect swims were led by Rylee Noronha who improved six of six events, her largest improvement being nearly seventeen seconds in the 11-12 girls 50 butterfly event. Jonna-Lee Bush improved three of three events, while Nathan Hunt improves all four of his swims. Training partner, Isabella Klawitter, improved all three of hers, as did Claire Welborn. Other swimmers who improved over half their times include: Jillian Gaines (86%), Isabel Burrough (83%), Mckenna Pressley (66%), Morgan Garza (60%), and Caroline Mendyk (57%).

Congratulations to those who posted new times while at the meet, including: Jonna-Lee Bush (100 back & 100 breast, Ashley Deal (200 breast & 50 free), Dylan Hunt (200 back), Rylee Lord (100 breast & 200 back), Caroline Mendyk (200 breast), and Mckenna Pressley (1500 free, 100 free & 200 IM).

The entry deadline for Junior Olympics is Wednesday, July 20^th.

LAUREN GEIGER FINALS AT CLOVIS ARENA GRAND CHALLENGE

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Jul 192016

Five TNT swimmers competed at the Clovis Arena Grand Challenge meet over the second weekend of July, and Visalia’s Lauren Geiger came away from the meet as our team’s only finalist. Lauren swam a time of 1:13.09 in the preliminary heats to earn 31^st place seeding, and a spot in the D-final where she dropped over a half second to a 1:12.46; thereby moving up to finish sixth in the heat.

Visalia’s Mackenzie Garza, at age 14, had our team’s next highest finish, tying for an alternate spot in 34^thplace, and forcing a swim-off situation which she won with a time of 28.46 in the 50 meter freestyle event. Our team’s next highest finisher was Preston Niayesh who swam 5:34.76 for a 41^st place finish in the 400 IM, followed by Visalia’s Dylan Burr who swam 1:10.15 in the 100 back for a 49^th place there. Dylan maintained our team’s highest improvement rate by swimming a lifetime best in three of his four events. Our final and youngest swimmer, thirteen year old Priscilla Niayesh, swam 1:34.44 in the 100 meter breaststroke for a 57^th place finish in that event.

FOUR COMPETE AT 2016 OLYMPIC TRIALS

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Jul 082016

Four past and current TNT swimmers competed at the 2016 Olympic Trials, and all four made their first appearance at a meet that defines the National Team to compete at the Olympics in Rio over the August 6^th-13^th week. This year’s Olympic Trials swim meet reflects participation from the largest group of athletes that have gone through our program. Kohlton Norys and Bradley Matsumoto were the two athletes to attend the 2008 Trials, while Kohlton and Megan Eppler both competed at the 2012 Trials. This year Wesley Coles, Kyle Grissom, Mallory Korenwinder and Chris Nolan all competed at the meet.

Wesley Coles has been a TNT swimmer from the 10-under age division, and quickly achieved a Junior Olympic time standard in the butterfly event shortly after joining the club in Tulare. Wesley began his swimming with the Lindsay Skimmers. His 10-under times with our club go back to 2004, and can still be seen on our All Time Top 100 lists, holding position for twelve years. After a few years of no Junior National qualifiers on the team, Wesley was our first athlete to bring our team back to the national stage in 2011 by qualifying and competing at the long course Junior Nationals held at Stanford, and then going on to the Winter Junior National meet at the University of Texas in Austin for the short course meet there. In 2012, Wesley traveled to Omaha with our team to compete in the Swimvitational meet which served as a pre-meet to the 2012 Olympic Trials. Now in 2016, under the guidance and training of Josh Christiansen of Fresno Pacific University, Wesley qualified one year ago to attend the Olympic Trials this year, and swam a lifetime best time of 54.48 to finish 56^th in the 100 meter butterfly event at the meet.

Kyle Grissom achieved an Olympic Trial qualifying time while competing at the Junior National championships in the summer of 2015 in San Antonio, Texas by swimming a time of 54.18 in a consolation final, improving nearly a full second from his preliminary swim. Kyle’s earliest 100 butterfly meter times with club were posted in 2010 and reflects a time of 1:17.30 in May of that year. This is an improvement of over 23 seconds in the span of five years, and he is a product of swimming that began with the Porterville Neptune summer league program, and Visalia’s TNT club program, prior to his training in Tulare. Kyle is one of only a few of our club swimmers who qualified for Olympic Trials prior to entering college, and had entered the Junior National/National levels of competition for the first time at age 15 when he competed at the long course Junior Nationals in August of 2013. He has completed his first year competing for the University of Southern California under the guidance of Dave Salo. Kyle posted a season best time of 55.17 at Trials and a 94^th place finish, and his time is his fourth fastest swim on record.

Mallory Korenwinder is our first athlete to not only qualify for Trials prior to college, but to compete at the meet as a pre-collegiate athlete. There are only eight TNT swimmers listed on our team’s All Time Top 100 performances for the 100 meter breaststroke event for the 15-over division, and one reason so few are listed is because Mallory has posted the top 53 times, leaving only 47 spots for the remaining swimmers, and she has eight of those. She achieved the time standard for Trials at the end of May with a time of 1:11.26 at the Speedo Grand Challenge meet which was four weeks before Trials. The time standard she needed was 1:11.49, and consider that she swam 1:11.56, and 1:11.63 at Junior Nationals in the summer of 2014. Mallory’s earliest 100 meter breaststroke time was from April of 2007 where she swam 1:48.34 in Merced at the age of eight, which is an improvement of over 37 seconds in nearly ten years. Mallory has the most experience of any TNT swimmer at the Junior National/National level as she began competing at that level in 2012 when she was 14 years old. Mallory’s Olympic Trial time of 1:12.96 finished 110^th at the meet. She will be attending, and competing for, the University of Arizona this upcoming fall under the guidance of Rick Demont.

Chris Nolan had the highest place finish for any of our four swimmers competing at Trials, and he is one of the two who posted a time improvement, swimming a life-time best in the 200 meter butterfly with a time of 2:01.14, and finishing 35^th in the event. Chris was the 88^th fastest qualifier in the nation going into the meet, based on a time of 2:01.62 that he posted in the summer of 2014 while competing at Junior Nationals, thereby being another TNT swimmer who achieved the qualifying time standard prior to entering college. The half second improvement in his 200 meter butterfly at a swim meet where only 20% of the athletes improve their times when considering the meet in its entirety, has an impact of moving up 53 places. Chris began his Junior National/National experience at the age of 16 when he competed in the summer at the 2012 Junior National meet. Chris’s earliest 200 meter butterfly time posted with the team is from the May Day Classic in May of 2008 where he swam a time of 2:54.37 at age 11. Eight years later, and 53 seconds faster, Chris is competing at Olympic Trials, and finished a mere 19 places from a semi-final swim. Chris has completed his second year competing for the University of Santa Barbara, under the guidance of Matt Macedo and Gregg Wilson.

2 CHAMPIONS & 9 RECORDS SET AT AGE GROUP CHAMPIONSHIPS

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Jun 212016

Twenty TNT swimmers competed at the June Age Group Invitational in Ventura over the third weekend of June, and two of our swimmers came away as event champions in their respective swims. Fourteen year old Janessa Bringe of Visalia took home the first gold, swimming 9:50.26 in the 800 freestyle on day one, and improved nearly 25 seconds in the events to do it. Janessa scored in two additional events, and these included an 11^th place finish in the 400 free (4:46.31) and 13^th place finish in the 200 fly (2:41.91). Thirteen year old Danielle Albright was our only other event champion, and she did this in the 11-14 200 meter breaststroke event, improving nearly two seconds to a 2:45.38 there. Daniella also placed 2^nd in the 100 breast (1:16.77), 3^rd in the 400 IM (5:20.94), 5^th in the 200 IM (2:33.08), 6^th in the 200 free after swimming 2:15.90 in the preliminary heats, and 7^th in the 400 free after swimming 4:44.91 in the preliminary heats.

A total of 16 swimmers scored in individual events, and these included Visalia’s Ella Bettencourt who placed 12^th in the 10-under 50 back, as well as her training partner from Visalia, Ciara Clarke who finished 11^th in the 10-under 100 back, 9^th in the 50 back and 14^th in the 50 free. Visalia’s Layla Flores finished in top-16 spots in all but one event, her highest finish being a pair of 4^th places in the 50 back and 50 breaststrokes, and she finished 5^th in the 100 breaststroke. She also finished 8^th in the 100 back, and 14^th in the 200 IM. Her training partner from Visalia, Mackenzie Garza finished 4^th in the 50 free, and 10^th in the 100 free, while their training partner, Lauren Geiger, finished 16^th in the 200 back. Twelve year old Gage Price scored in two of his events, and these included the 13^th place in the 100 back, and 16^th place in the 50 back. Visalia’s Megan Ridenour doubled up her finals by finishing 3^rd in the 100 breast, and 5^th in the 200 breast, while Alex Roberts doubled up in the 13-14 division with a 14^th place in the 100 back, and 15^th place in the 100 fly. Katherine Sullivan also doubled up, and her scoring events included a 12^th place in the 200 fly, and 14^th place in the 400 IM. Ten year old Alexa Wong scored in every event she swam, and these included a 4^th place in the 50 fly, 8^th place in the 100 fly, 9^th place in the 200 IM, 10^th place in the 50 free, and a pair of 11^th place finishes that included the 200 free and 100 free events. Twelve year old Bryan Wong finished 3^rd in the 50 breaststroke, 5^th in the 100 breast, 14^th in the 200 IM and 16^th in the 100 free, while his brother, Bryce Wong, finished 10^th in the 13-14 200 IM event.

Twelve year old Peyton Costa highlighted record-breaking performances, and was the runner up in the 11-12 200 IM, placed 4^th in the 100 back, 5^th in both the 50 back and 100 free, and 6^th in the 400 free. Peyton came away from the meet with five new team records in the 11-12 boys division, beginning with his 1:12.36 in the 100 backstroke which fell well under Parker Giles’s 1:15.08 he set as the record during Junior Olympics in 2012. Peyton’s time currently stands as the 138^th fastest nationally for 12-year old boys. His next record was in the 200 IM where he posted a 2:31.84 and resetting one of our longest standing records set by coach Jason Ricablanca, and set at Pacifica in 1994 as a 2:36.30. This time stands as the 74^th fastest nationally. Next, Peyton swam a 1:03.03 in the 100 free and this time slid under Jackson Huckabay’s 1:03.05 that he had set as the record last year at JO’s. This time ranks 159^th nationally. Peyton’s medley relay lead-off swim of 33.11 is also a new team record for the 50 meter backstroke, and this time falling under Kyle Grissom’s previous record of 33.87 that was set at JO’s in 2010. Finally, Peyton swam the 200 meter backstroke event, solidifying a record that had been shared between two other swimmers throughout the year. Gage Price had set the record as a 2:46.78 at the Clovis meet last month, and now Peyton falls well below that standard with a 2:37.96 by improving his time over 15 seconds, and establishing a time that stands as the 129^th fastest nationally for his age.

Ava Olson had our team’s only other record-breaking performance, and she had her highest finish as 4^th in the 100 fly where she broke a team record with a time of 1:20.07, sliding under Kylie Walker’s 1:20.11 that she set as the record while competing at Zones in 2013. Ava’s new record stands as the 66^th fastest nationally for girls at age 10. Ava also finished 5^th in the 50 fly, 8^th in the 200 IM, 12^th in the 200 free, and 16^th in the 100 free.

Three team relay records were established at the meet, highlighted by the 13-14 girls’ team of Alex Roberts, Danielle Albright, Janessa Bringe and Mackenzie Garza swimming a time of 2:09.10 in the 13-14 200 meter medley relay, sliding under the team record of 2:09.73 previously held by Mia Newkirk, Mallory Korenwinder, Emily Goodbar and Bre Abell at Junior Olympics in 2011. The highlight comes in the fact that this record is also under the CCS record set in 2013 as a 2:09.59. The new record is the 12^th fastest time posted by any set of four girls in the nation to date. Two additional relay team records were set at the meet, both by the same set of four boys: Peyton Costa, Bryan Wong, Gage Price and Daniel Haley. These four swam 5:02.07 in the 400 medley relay, and 2:16.05 in the 200 medley relay, and placing 3^rd at the meet in both.

Others competing at the meet included Libby Adriaansen who had her highest finish as 25^th in the 13-14 100 breaststroke, Visalia’s Daniel Haley whose highest finish was 22^nd in the 11-12 100 back, 15-year old Garrison Price who finished 23^rd in the 200 fly, and 17^th year old Blake Wong whose highest place was 39^th in the 100 breaststroke. Those swimmers improving 100% of their times included: Libby Adriaansen, Ella Bettencourt, Ciara Clarke, Peyton Costa, Daniel Haley, Ava Olson, Garrison Price, Alex Roberts, Alexa Wong, Bryan Wong and Bryce Wong.

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