Thirty-six TNT swimmers competed at the first swim meet hosted within Central California Swimming for the 2022 year, and six of our swimmers posted times fast enough to list among our all-time top 100 list in their respective events. Although at one time, not being considered a recognizable accomplishment, considering the number past swimmers who had been recognized, and swam for, considerable colleges such as within the CSU system (i.e. Cal State Bakersfield, Fresno State and San Jose State), University of California system (i.e. UC Santa Barbara) as well as private institutions in California (such as Cal Berkley, Pepperdine, and USC), and out-of-state institutions (such as the Auburn, LSU, University of Arizona, University of Kentucky, etc.), posting a time in many of our Top-100 lists has now become an accomplishment considering the low number of individuals who do post such times. For the Clovis meet, of the 172 swims that generated a time, 15 events (8.7%) were among the top-100 for the team, and only among swimmers who have had previously posted times. These postings were led by Michelle Murphy who posted Top-100 times in all four events for the 13-14 girls’ events. Michelle was also the event champion in the senior 100 freestyle event. Similar to Michelle, Blake Rogers likewise posted all four of his 11-12 swims among the all-time Top-100, and in addition, was the event champion in all four of his events. Junior National qualifier, Bryan Wong posted all three of his swims in the 15-over division while winning both the 100 breaststroke and 100 butterfly events, while Porterville’s breaststroke specialist, Nathan Boudreaux, posted all time Top-100 times in both the 11-12 50 and 100 breaststroke events. Rounding out our list of six swimmers was Nathan’s training partner from Porterville, Regan Hildreth who posted a Top-100 time in the 11-12 girls 50 breaststroke (and also won the 100 backstroke event), and Alexa Wong who posted a top-100 time in the 15-over 100 yard butterfly event.
Ten swimmers improved 100% of their events while competing at the first meet which typically follows an extended break, they include: Hannah Beer (8-under) who was also the event champion in the 8-under 25 breaststroke, Gabrielia Costamagna (15-over), Mia DeLaTorre (11-12), Isaak Ensz (11-12), Koen Ensz (13-14), Ada Maher (8-under), Benita Marshall (9-10), Amy Murphy (15-18), Sam Ruiz (13-14), and Elsy Witt (10-under).
Thirteen TNT swimmers competed at the 2021 Winter Age Group Championships in Oceanside, north of San Diego, over the third weekend of December, and four of our swimmers performed well enough to score in individual events at the championship-level meet by placing among the top-16 in their respective events. Our team was led by 12-year old Blake Rogers who touched 2nd in the 11-12 50 freestyle with a time of 25.50 that ranks 3rd in our all time top-100 ranking, behind Bryan Wong and Micah Ruiz, and just ahead of USC graduate, Olympic Trial qualifier, and NCAA qualifier, Kyle Grissom. Blake also touched third in the 50 breaststroke (32.92), and 10th in the 50 fly (29.92) events. Visalia’s 10-year old Reece Philips qualified in two events, and scored by touching 13th in both the 50 breaststroke (44.86), and 100 breaststroke (1:38.90) events. Next was 16-year old Mia Buller to finished 15th in the 13-18 division of the 1650 freestyle (commonly referred to as “the mile”) with an improved time of 19:20.71. Ten-year-old Peyton Martin was our only other scoring swimmer, who finished 16th in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:37.42.
Five of our swimmers improved 100% of their times, and these included Kaitlyn Bean, Jillian Duffy, Ivan Rodriguez, Blake Rogers and Blake Sifton. Congratulations in qualifying and attending the meet also go to Samantha Dolan, Gabriela Dutra, Isabella Garrett, Isabella Klawitter, and Rylee Medina.
Seven TNT swimmers competed at Winter Sectionals hosted by Southern California Swimming over the third weekend of December, and over half of our team earned a second swim in one of three final heats. Our highest finish came from 16-year old Ava Olson who touched 5th in the 500 freestyle event, posting a time of 4:55.66 which re-establishes Alexa Wong’s previous record of 4:58.11 set at only age 15 the previous month in November while competing at the Kevin Perry Memorial meet. Both Ava and Alexa share the top-4 times in the history of the team for the event, and are the only two to have gone under the 5-minute mark to date.
Other finalist at Sectionals included: Ella Bettencourt of Visalia, Michelle Murphy (at age 14), and Alexa Wong. Additional qualifiers competing at the meet included: Kate Geiger, Addison Mccullough (age 14), and Gage Price.
Upcoming graduating senior, Bryan Wong, has joined a growing list of TNT swimmers who have qualified for, and attending, Winter Junior Nationals by competing at the University of Texas in Austin over the second weekend of December. Bryan improved two of his three events, and posted the fastest time in the history of TNT in the 200 yard breaststroke event with a time of 2:02.26, improving the team record by previously set as a 2:03.23 by Preston Niayesh at the same meet and pool three years earlier in 2018. Bryan also competed in the 100 yard breaststroke, and the 200 IM.
Twenty-nine TNT swimmers competed at the Fresno Dolphin Senior Trials and Finals meet held over the third weekend of January, and were led by Visalia’s Layla Flores who was the event champion in four of her six events that included the 100 free (53.79), 200 free (1:57.12), 50 free (25.00), and 100 fly (59.43). Layla subsequently lead the team in points with 97. Also entering six events was Danielle Albright, and she was the event champion in three of her swims. These included the 200 IM (2:14.23), 200 breast (2:24.53), and 100 breaststroke (1:06.21) events. Danielle accumulated the next highest point total at 77. Our remaining event champions included Ava Olson (1:02.82 in the 100 back), Trevor Riley (22.60 in the 50 free), and Bryan Wong (56.87 in the 100 breaststroke).
Fourteen additional swimmers performed well enough in the preliminary heats to earn a spot in the championship final heat, and these include: Ella Bettencourt (100 back – 2nd, 100 free – 3rd, 100 breast – 7th, 50 free – 4th), Emma Bettencourt (400 IM – 6th), Drew Black (100 back – 3rd, 200 breast – 5th), Peyton Costa (200 IM – 3rd, 200 breast – 2nd), Dylan Hunt (500 free – 7th), Nathan Hunt (200 breast – 6th), Isabella Klawitter (400 IM – 7th), Addison Mccullough (200 breast – 6th), Amy Murphy (100 breast – 6th), Michelle Murphy (200 fly – 2nd, 500 free – 2nd, 200 free – 5th, 400 IM – 3rd), Gage Price (100 back – 2nd, 200 free – 4th, 100 fly – 5th), Luke Vanwoudenberg (100 back – 5th, 100 fly – 3rd), Alexa Wong (200 breast – 3rd, 100 breast – 3rd), and Bryce Wong (100 free – 4th, 100 breast – 3rd).
Consolation finalists included: Kate Geiger, Vincente Sanchez, Maryn Vanwoudenberg, and Josh Wee.
Ten TNT swimmers qualified for, and competed at, the 2019 Short Course Far Western Championships hosted by Santa Clara Swim Club at their International Swim Center in Santa Clara over the first weekend of April, and half of our swimmers performed well enough to earn a second swim among one of ten championships finalists. Although this is the first year Far Westerns offered a non-scoring consolation heat of the next ten swimmers, the all of TNT finalists competed in the championship (top-10) heat, and a vast majority of their final swims were in that heat. The caliber of Far Westerns is aptly reflected in at least one National Age Group Record being broken while at the meet.
Our top performance must go to 13-year old Bryan Wong who competed in seven events, and scored in all seven by earning a championship (top-10) swim in each event. This performance resulted in outscoring all but one of the fifty 13-14 year old boys who earned a score in any event, and missing the high point award by a mere two points (57 vs 59). Bryan was the event champion in the 400 IM, posting a time of 4:04.61, and breaking his preexisting record by over four seconds when he set it at Sectionals just over a month earlier. His time currently stands as the 18th fastest nationally, and is a new Futures cut for him. Bryan was the runner up in four additional events, three of which also resulted in team records. His first 2nd place finish was in the 200 breaststroke where his prelim time of 2:07.29 bettered his Sectional time by over two seconds, and now stands as the 28th fastest nationally for boys at age 14. He followed this with a 2nd place in the 200 IM, resetting his team record from 1:58.54 set in December at the Age Group Championships, to a 1:55.52, and a time that ranks 31st nationally. Another 2nd place resulted from his 58.63 in the 100 breaststroke, once again improving upon his previous team record of 59.66 from JO’s in February, and posting the 28th fastest time nationally in that event. The other 2nd place was in the 1000 freestyle where he posted a time of 9:42.87. His final record resulted from his 1:45.20 swam in the preliminary heats of the 200 freestyle. This was an improvement from his JO relay leadoff time of 1:47.16, and currently ranks 105th nationally. His final scoring event was from his lifetime best of 49.05 in the 100 freestyle where he touched 6th.
Next closest for high point was Bryce Wong who scored 23 points and accumulated the 11th most points for the 17-18 division. He did this by earning top-10 finishes in four events that included a pair of 4th place finishes in the 200 fly (1:53.88), and 200 IM (1:57.37) events, as well as a 5th place finish in the 200 breast (2:14.02), and 8th place finish in the 100 fly (52.69) for the 17-18 division.
The next highest high point ranking was the 16th point accumulation by Alexa Wong for the 11-12 girls division, and she did this by scoring 22 points and earning a final swim in all seven of her events, six of which were in the championship heat. Alexa’s highest place was a 3rd place touch in the 200 fly with a time of 2:11.04, sliding under the previous team record set in the preliminary heats of the same meet by Drew Black as a 2:12.92. The new record stands as the 28th fastest nationally for 12-year old girls to date. Her next highest finish was a 7th place in the 400 IM where her time of 4:38.43 is a new Sectional cut for her, and is an improvement of her JO record of 4:40.62 set in February. This is the 26th ranked time nationally. Next in place was an 8th place finish, and another team record, in the 200 IM where she posted a time of 2:11.86, again swimming under her JO record (2:14.08), and posting the 49th fastest time nationally. Her final record was also in an IM, but this time she swam a 1:02.50 in the 100 IM, and this is a new record for her, sliding just under Danielle Albright’s 1:02.85 set at the Clovis meet in 2016. This time stands as the 98th fastest nationally. Alexa also earned an 8th place finish in the 500 free (5:21.59), a 9th place finish in the 100 fly (1:00.04), and a 17th place finish in the 100 free (55.93).
Visalia’s Janessa Bringe had our next highest point accumulation ranking for her 17-18 division. Her 20th place ranking resulted in her scoring in all four of her events, the highest of which resulted from the 10:47.90 in the 1000 freestyle, and 5th place finish there. She also finished 7th in the 400 IM (4:47.77), 9th in the 200 fly (2:13.74), and 10th in the 500 free where she posted a lifetime best of 5:12.14 in the preliminary heats.
Our only other swimmer to score points was Drew Black who did so in two events, beginning with a record breaking time of 59.53 in the 100 fly, swimming twice under the minute mark, and becoming the first 11-12 year old girl in the history of our team to do so. Drew’s previous record was 1:00.13 set at the Winter Age Group Championships in December. Her new record stands as the 69th fastest nationally for girls at age 12. She also swam under her preexisting team record in the 50 fly, this time posting a time of 26.88, and earning a second swim in the consolation heat where she placed 11th. This time currently ranks as the 64th fastest nationally. Drew did score in the 200 fly where she placed 6th after posting a lifetime best in the preliminary heats (2:12.92).
Ava Olson had her highest place at 21st in the 13-14 200 yard breaststroke (2:28.32), while Porterville’s Trevor Riley improved 100% of his times and had his highest touch at 24th in the 15-16 100 free (49.36). Selma’s 8-year old Logan Huckabay touched 33rd in the 10-under 100 fly with his best time of 1:15.78, while Visalia’s Ella Bettencourt improved 100% of her times, and was 36th in the 50 free (25.12) while competing on the bottom of the age group. Also on the bottom of the age group was Selma’s Lucas Huckabay who touched 43rd in the 11-12 boys 200 free (2:07.83).
Tule Nation Tritons was a topic of discussion around the pool deck
among numerous teams during the early days of the Winter Age Group
Championships when TNT was in 4th place among 38
teams competing at the meet. Once all was said and done, at 1,018 points, TNT finished a respectable 6th among the field, with 19 of our 28 swimmers scoring in individual events, two of
whom scored in triple digits.
With 128 points, fourteen year old Bryan Wong
was the lead scorer, winning four of his six events at the meet, three
of which resulted in team records. His first
win was in the 200 IM, swimming under the 2-minute mark for the first
time with a 1:58.54 and being among 64 fourteen year old boys in the
nation to do so. Bryan’s previous record was 2:02.10 set at
the Hanford meet in September. Following the short IM was the win in the
400 IM where he once again swam uncontested, with a 4:13.69 finishing
four seconds ahead of the next swimmer. His next win was
nearly a 2-second drop over his previous record of 2:12.50 from the
Kevin Perry meet in the 200 IM, where his 2:10.70 now ranks 43rd
nationally. His final win was in the 500 freestyle,
where his 4:45.93 missed the meet record by less than two seconds, but
was an improvement of his own team record of 4:46.81 from Kevin Perry,
and now stands as the 50th fastest nationally
for boys at age 14. Bryan set team records in three additional events,
and these included the 100 breaststroke, where his 59.76 was enough for a
2nd place finish, and was an improvement of
his Kevin Perry time of 1:01.10, and currently ranks 32nd nationally. His 1:48.21 in the 200 freestyle tops his Merced swim of 1:49.68 in October, and is the 153rd
fastest
nationally. Finally, his 49.66 in the 100 free is a new team record for
him, falling under Kyle Grissom’s 50.40 set at the Terrapin meet in the
winter of 2012, standing as the 179th
fastest nationally.
Drew Black was the only other triple-digit point getter at 119 points from individual events, with her highest place being a 2nd
place finish in the
11-12 girls 100 butterfly. While still on the bottom of the age group,
her 1:00.13 at finals went under Mallory Korenwinder’s previous team
record of 1:02.68 set at Far Westerns in 2011, and with a
time that currently stands as the 2nd fastest nationally for girls at age 11 (the top time being posted from the same meet). Her next highest finish was 3rd,
and this was in the
50 butterfly, where she posted a time of 27.34, again falling under
Mallory’s previous team record of 27.67 set at the same Far Western
meet. Drew’s time is currently the 7th fastest
posted nationally.
Our third highest point getter was 12-year old Alexa Wong. With 94 points, she finished 2nd
in three events that included the 200 IM, 200 fly, and 400
IM, all three which resulted in team records. Her 2:14.61 in the 200 IM
went under Danielle Albright’s 2:15.50 set at Far Westerns in 2015, and
stands as the 48th fastest nationally for
girls at age 12. Her 2nd place finish in the 200 fly resulted
from a 2:13.69, and is an improvement of Drew Black’s previous team
record of 2:18.63 set at the Tulare meet earlier in the
same month. The new record stands as the 19th fastest time nationally for a 12-year old girl. Finally, her 4:42.88 stands as the 16th fastest time in the nation, and slides
under Danielle Albright’s previous team record of 4:43.59 set at Far Westerns in 2015.
Bryce Wong was our only other event champion, winning the 200 fly after posting a lifetime best of 1:55.55 in the preliminary heats. He earned three additional championship swims that included the 100 breast (1:01.76), 100 fly (52.58), and 200 IM (2:01.68) events, and also swam a final in the 200 breast. Visalia’s Ella Bettencourt competed on the bottom of the 13-14 age division, yet earned a championship swim in the 50 free by posting a time of 25.72 in the preliminary heats. She also earned second swims in the 200 free, 100 back, and 100 free events. Visalia’s Janessa Bringe had a championship swim by finishing 8th with a lifetime best of 2:14.33 in the 200 fly. She also had second swims in the 100 fly, 200 IM, 400 IM, and 500 freestyle events. Selma’s William Butts had 4 swims in the championship finals, his highest place being three 4th place finishes that included the 50 fly (27.88), 50 back (29.93), and 100 fly (1:07.57). Two other championship swims of his included a 5th place in the 50 breast (32.89), and 8th place in the 100 free (59.90). He also earned seconds swim in the 100 breast, 100 back, and 100 fly events. Visalia’s Layla Flores is another individual competing on the bottom of the age division, yet who earned a championship seeding in finals. She posted a time of 2:10.23 in the 15-18 division of the 200 IM to finish 3rd in the event. She also earned second swims in the 100 breast, 50 free, 100 back and 100 free events. Porterville’s 8-year old Regan Hildreth earned her championship swim with an 8th place finish in the 10-under (yea, she’s 8 in the 10-under division) 50 breaststroke after swimming a time of 40.54 in the preliminary heats. She also earned a second swim in the 100 breast. Another 8-year old phenom who earned a championship final in the 10-under division was Selma’s Logan Huckabay who touched 5th in the 10-under 50 fly with a time of 34.52. He also earned second swims in the 100 free, 100 IM, and 50 free events. His brother, Lucas Huckabay, while competing on the bottom of the 11-12 age division, earned a championship swim in the 200 free after posting a time of 2:09.31 in the preliminary heats. He also earned a final swim in the 50 breast, 100 free, 50 fly, 100 breast and 50 free events. Ava Olson is another of our swimmers competing on the bottom of the age bracket, and she still earned a top-8 finish in two events that included a 6th place finish in the 200 fly after posting a lifetime best of 2:18.64 in the preliminary heats, and then finished 8th in the 100 breast after posting another lifetime best of 1:10.06 in prelims. Sydnee Wilson was another double championship finalist. Her top finish was a 4th place in the 50 breaststroke, improving her time by over a second to a 33.27, and then again improving by over a second in the 50 free to a 26.44 to touch 6th there. Sydnee also earned second swim in the 100 free and 100 breaststroke.
Six additional swimmers earned a final (top-16), scoring,
swim, and these include Selma’s Jackson Huckabay who
earned consolation swims in the 200 IM and 400 IM, along with his brother, Jonas Huckabay, who earned consolation swims in the
100 breast, 200 free and 100 free events. Hanford’s Thomas
Matthews finished in the consolation finals in six events that included
the 200 back, 50 fly, 200 fly, 400 IM, 100 back, and 100 fly, while 11-year old
Addison Mccullough earned top16 finishes in the
12-under 200 fly and 200 breaststroke events. Also competing at the bottom of
the 11-12 division, and scoring, was Lemoore’s Michelle
Murphy who finished top-16 in the 200 back and 500 free events. Finally,
Gage Price had 4 top-16 performances that
included the 100 fly, 100 back, 500 free and 200 back.
Thirteen year old Laney Cox
had her highest finish at 21st in the 13-14 200 breaststroke, while
13-year old Drew Johnston touched 18th
in the 13-14 100 backstroke. Ashton King came
back from college to finish 29th in the 200 back, while Lemoore’s Madalynn Lady finished 23rd as her highest
finish in the 200 breast. Kristine Marinos of
Visalia had her highest place as 22nd in the 100 back, and Selma’s Mark Marroquin touched 41st as his highest
finish, and in the 100 fly. Lemoore’s Amy Murphy had
her best place at 35th while on the bottom of the age group, and
Visalia’s Vincent Sanchez, also on the bottom
of the age group, finished 39th as his highest place. Visalia’s Luke Vanwoudenberg touched 21st in the 200
back as his highest finish.
While our age group swimmers competed at the San Diego-Imperial’s Winter Age Group Championships in Chula Vista, Danielle Albright
was our only swimmer to compete
at the senior-level Sectional Championships hosted by Southern
California Swimming, and held at Crafton Hills College in Yucaipa.
Danielle competed in four events, and scored in three of those. Her
highest finish was a 3rd place in the 100 yard breaststroke
where she posted a time of 1:04.49 in the event. She later backed up the
championship performance with a 4th place
finish in the 200 breaststroke, swimming a time of 2:22.76, improving
nearly three full seconds from her preliminary swim. Her other final was
the bonus time of 4:44.53 in the 400 IM to touch
20th, moving up from 27th, and improving nearly six seconds from her prelim swim there.
Two of our three Winter Junior National qualifiers are returning to
the meet over the first weekend of December, after making their first
appearance last winter. Both JD Koster and Preston Niayesh
are returning veterans to the meet, and Preston Niayesh came away with a 100% improvement rate, and earned a final swim in the consolation heat of the 100
breaststroke, touching 14th in the event after posting a
lifetime best of 55.78 in the preliminary heats. His time is an
improvement over his Kevin Perry record set the previous month as
56.68, and the time currently stands as the 38th fastest nationally for 18-year old male swimmers. Preston also improved his team record in the 200 breaststroke, posting the
63rd nationally ranked time of 2:03.23 for 18-year olds, and once again going under his Kevin Perry record of 2:05.40.
Our next highest finisher was JD Koster, who touched 42nd in the 200 fly, posting his lifetime best of 1:50.78 in the event. JD is our only swimmer who
qualified in three events for the meet, swimming also the 200 IM (1:56.05), and 100 fly (50.57) events. Garrison Price made his first appearance at a USA Swimming
Junior National meet, and his highest finish was 91st in the 200 fly (1:54.15). He also competed in the 100 fly (50.77).
Preston Niayesh made his first
appearance at a National meet by traveling to Greensboro, North Carolina
to compete at the 2018 Winter National Championships in
both the 100 and 200 meter breaststroke events over the last weekend of
November. The 2018 Winter Nationals is the first opportunity for
swimmers across the nation to achieve an Olympic Trial time
standard since the posting of the new cuts just months prior. This is
the primary reason the meet is conducted long course, opposed to the
traditional short course arrangement. Preston finished
35th in the 200 meter breaststroke, swimming a time of 2:25.99, and finished 46th in the 100 breaststroke after swimming a time of 1:06.59 there.
