Triton Blog

TNT kicked off the 2009 awards night with a softball game between the swimmers and the adults. There were various accounts of what the final score ended up to be – something like adults 12, swimmers 11 – oh, but who’s counting anyway.

The true highlights for the night included the recipients for several awards that were announced later that evening. Shannon Nolan was our Master of Ceremonies as she guided us through the presentations. Twenty-two swimmers were recognized for obtaining enough points over the year to receive the Royal Swimmer award.

Nathan Rhea was then recognized for setting several Central California Swimming records while he was in the 11-12 age group and swimming for Merced Skimmers.

Eighteen swimmers had broken team records this past year and they received certificates and recognition in their accomplishments.

An additional 21 swimmers maintained times fast enough to remain in the top five among all swimmers in their age group from anywhere in Central California Swimming.

Finally, those swimmers who had been recognized as the Swimmer of the Month during the previous year were once again presented to our swimmers and families:

TNT had 81 swimmers that were attached to the team at the RCA meet, and 54 swimmers were unattached while there. Those were the top two team-based finishes at the meet in terms of point totals. The 72 first place finishes of TNT outpaced the second Gold medal count of Clovis (19 first place finishes), and the unattached 18 first place finishes. First place finishers went to approximately 40 of our swimmers: Fayyaz Ahamed (100 free & 50 fly), Owen Ansel (100 back & 200 IM), Kaleigh Botill (100 free, 100 fly & 200 back), Thomas Brown (200 breast), Callen Bruening (200 IM), Courtney Brummet (50 fly & 100 back), Greyson Canterbury (100 free, 50 fly & 1000 free), Wesley Coles (100 free, 100 fly, 400 IM & 200 free), Madison Droney (50 free), Hannah Giles (100 free, 200 breast & 200 back), Parker Giles (200 IM & 200 free), Kyle Grissom (100 free, 100 breast & 50 fly), Chris Hansen (100 breast & 200 free), Sam Hansen (100 free, 200 breast, 100 fly & 400 IM), Katelyn Herrera (100 free, 50 fly & 200 IM), Cori Hoover (100 free & 200 free), David Jacobs (100 fly), Michael Jia (50 fly), Dax Korenwinder (100 free, 100 breast & 100 back), Mallory Korenwinder (50 fly, 100 back & 200 IM), JD Koster (100 free), Jimmy Koster (200 free), Khloe McCarthy (200 free), Madison McCarthy (50 fly & 100 back), Mandi Mccaslin (100 breast & 200 IM), Landon Molin (200 back), Stephanie Nash (200 back), Mia Newkirk (100 breast), Jazmine Niayesh (100 free & 50 fly), Preston Niayesh (100 breast, 50 fly & 100 back), Jens Niederreiter (200 IM), Christopher Nolan (200 breast, 400 IM & 1000 free), Nathan Rhea (200 breast & 400 IM), Tenny Rizzo (100 fly & 200 back), Allison Ross (100 fly), JT Scott (100 back & 1000 free), Emily Shandrew (100 fly & 200 free), Carter Shaw (200 free), Taylor Shaw (200 back & 400 IM) and Jordan Stotts (100 free & 200 breast).

The team point ranking is presented in the following table:

The team improvement percentage was an astounding 84% where 147 of the 176 events were improved. Thirty-nine of our swimmers improved all events entered. These included: Fayyaz Ahamed, Josh Avila, Kaleigh Botill, Callen Bruening, Courtney Brummet, Wesley Coles, Madison Ekizian, Chris Ewins, Madison Gilbert, Simon Grigoryan, Alex Hansen, Chris Hansen, Katelyn Herrera, Ashley Hughes, Thys Jacobi, Mathew Jacobs, Scott Jordan, Jakob Koorey, Mallory Korenwinder, JD Koster, Jimmy Koster, Joe Koster, Josh Koster, Colin Landweer, Conor Martin, Jason Matkin, Preston Niayesh, Kara Nino, Megan Nino, Christopher Nolan, Savanah Nolan, Nick Orton, Kyle Rizzo, Tenny Rizzo, Allison Ross, Emily Shandrew, Carter Shaw, Taylor Shaw and Jordan Stotts.

Additionally, two TNT team records were broken at the meet. Twelve year old Greyson Canterbury broke the 1000 freestyle record with his 12:11.48. This record was previously held by Christopher Nolan and set last year at the Chowchilla meet as a 12:49.38. Since 14 year old Nathan Rhea improved his 200 yard breaststroke event, and he was the current team record holder in that event, he became the only other individual on the team to break a record. His 2:16.47 at the meet shaves off one tenth of a second from the 13-14 team record that he had set at the Hanford inter-squad meet earlier this summer.

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Our team of 24 swimmers that included 20 TNT and 4 unattached scored enough points for a third place finish at the Monterey Summer’s End Classic during the Memorial Day weekend. TNT swam away with high point awards in five age groups. The 6-under high point was awarded to Priscilla Niayesh of Visalia at COS for the girls and Hazim Ahamed training of Hanford for the boys. The 10-under boy’s award recipient was Fayyaz Ahamed also training in Hanford. The 13-14 award winners went to Hanford’s Hannah Giles for the girls and Tulare’s Nathan Rhea for the boys. Overall team points were led by Hannah Giles (156 points), Fayyaz Ahamed (154 points) and Greyson Canterbury (151 points).

Twenty swimmers had times in 50 yard or longer events that had been previously recorded with the team. Twelve of our 20 swimmers improved 100% of their times: Fayyaz Ahamed, Josh Avila, Kaleigh Botill, Callen Bruening, Greyson Canterbury, Makenna Mason, Michael Mason, Madison McCarthy, Landon Molin, Precilla Niayesh, Savanah Nolan and Breann Santos. Improvements at 50% or higher included Christopher Nolan (88%), JT Scott (86%), Athena Niayesh (80%) and Hazim Ahamed (60%). The overall team improvement percentage was 77%.

Welcome to Ashley Hughes (age 10), Colin Landweer (age 14), Blaire Williams (age 10) and Zelas Williams (age 6). These four swimmers now have established times recorded with TNT.

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455 swimmers competed at the Central California Swimming (CCS) Long Course Junior Olympics held during the last weekend of July. This meet marks the end of the long course season in CCS. Clovis Swim Club led in total athletes (76) followed by Bakersfield (57), Santa Maria (48), Tule Nation Tritons (44), Fresno Dolphins (40), Puma (39), and Sandpipers of Nevada (23). Clovis also led in relays swam (44), followed by Bakersfield (40), Santa Maria (41), Fresno Dolphins (30) and Tule Nation Tritons (28), and Puma (25).

TNT scored a total of 2917 points at JO’s which was high enough to place third at the meet behind Clovis and Santa Maria. Our relays contributed to 1066 points, and our individual events accounted for 1851 points. Tule Nation Tritons scored 219 points ahead of Bakersfield and was 233 points behind Santa Maria and 395 points behind Clovis. Points from individual events were led by Josh Avila (training in Visalia and scoring 132 points), Katelyn Herrera (training in Tulare – 128) and Parker Giles (training in Hanford – 118).Our sole age group high point winner for Junior Olympics was eight year old Preston Nayesh winning high point honors in the 8-under division.

At 19 gold medals, Tule Nation maintained the second highest gold medal count behind Bakersfield’s 25. TNT Gold medalists for individual events included Josh Avila (50 breast & 100 breast), Greyson Canterbury (50 free, 100 fly & 100 free), Katelyn Herrera (100 fly), JD Koster (50 free & 100 free), Preston Niayesh (50 fly, 50 back & 50 breast), and Nathan Rhea (200 IM). The silver medal was won in individual events by Josh Avila (3 events), Courtney Brummet (1), Hannah Giles (1), Parker Giles (1), Alex Hansen (1), Sam Hansen (2), Katelyn Herrera (2), JD Koster (1), Preston Niayesh (1) and Nathan Rhea (1). Bronze medalists included: Madison Gilbert, Parker Giles, Alex Hansen, Chris Hansen, Sam Hansen, Katelyn Herrera, Madison McCarthy, and Christopher Nolan.

Five team records were broken by four different swimmers at the Junior Olympics. Record breaking performances were led with the two broken by Sam Hansen. After establishing records in both the 800 and 1500 meter freestyle events at Sectionals just the weekend prior to Junior Olympics, Sam dropped six seconds in the 800 (8:57.10) and nearly a quarter of a second in the 1500 (17:05.35) freestyle events. His 800 is now less than one second from the Long Beach Grand Prix cut. Twelve year old Josh Avila became another record breaker, breaking his first team record for 11-12 boys in the 100 meter breaststroke event. Josh’s 1:24.02 is nearly a second and a half faster than one of the longest standing team records in the books. The previous record (1:25.59) was set by Micah Storey at Zones in 1989. Greyson Canterbury joins Josh in becoming a first-time record breaker by setting a new standard in the 50 meter freestyle for the 11-12 boys. His 29.51 breaks Jason Ricablanca’s 29.86 set in Bakersfield in 1994. Prior to departing to Hawaii for the Western Zone Championships, 14 year old Nathan Rhea broke the team record for the 13-14 boy’s 200 IM with a 2:21.71. The previous record of 2:25.46 was held by Jared Hopper, and was set at Zones in Arizona in 2003.

The team improvement percentage was 73% with ten swimmers improving all events entered: Jonathan Granada, Christopher Nolan, Madison McCarthy, Cori Hoover, JT Scott, Makenna Mason, Wesley Coles, Jill Jackson, Conor Martin, and Nick Orton.

Below is the list of swimmers who improved 50% or more of their times. All times improvements are based on times that have been pre-recorded with TNT. Welcome to Owen Ansel, Matlyn Morris and Mandi Mccaslin