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Wesley Coles indicated that he was not fast enough to qualify with a long-course time in the 200 meter butterfly for the Speedo Grand Challenge meet that took place just two months earlier. Indeed, his fastest time was only 2:21.95 in the event. Noticed even among his training peers as one who had been willing to endure the discomfort and train at an elevated level of performance for an extended period of time, Wesley squeezed into a D-final in 32’d place, the very last person to earn a second swim (thanks to teammate Bobby Yribarren for the inadvertently very vital opportunity), to win that heat with a time that was among the championship heat at the meet. He swam a 2:07.95 to qualify for Junior Nationals.

The summer Junior National meet will take place at Stanford University during the second week of August, while the short course meet will take place in Austin, Texas in December. Congratulations Wesley, who now is within 3 seconds of Nationals, and within 4 seconds of the Olympic Trial time standard.

Bobby Yriabarren was our point leader solely taking the team to a 2^nd place position among the small-team division after the first day of the meet. Bobby swam 4 events that included the open water 5K swim, and placed top 15 in all 4 events. His highest place finish was 6^th in the 800 meter freestyle (8:28.13) as he continues to chop away at the Senior National cut. The Senior National time standard is 8:23.09, a mere 5 seconds in one of the longest races offered. Bobby finished Sectionals with the last event offered on Monday, July 25^th. The 5K Open Water event was held at Millerton Lake where approximately 53 competitors raced the distance. Bobby finished in 8^th place with a time of 48:57.68. The winning time was 48:24.47, only 33 seconds away.

Second swims were also earned by breastrokers Nathan Rhea and Sam Hansen, each swimming times within one second of the Junior National time standard. Nathan was our next closest qualifier with his 2:28.04 in the 200 meter breaststroke, which was .45 seconds from Junior Nationals. Nathan finished 23^rd in the breaststroke event and was a dual finalist by also finishing 22^nd in the 400 IM. His fastest time for the IM was in the preliminary heats (4:42.59). Teammate Sam Hansen also earned a second swim in the 200 breaststroke swimming to a 22^nd place finish and a time of 2:28.26 which was .67 seconds from the Junior National standard.

Another near miss of the Junior cut came from Colin Landweer whose time improvements were more reminiscent of younger age group swimmers with over an 8 second improvement in the 400 IM, over 5 second improvement in the 200 IM, over 4 seconds in the 400 free, and over 3 seconds in the 200 free. Colin, along with Wesley Coles and Bobby Yriabarren, improved 100% of his times. Colin’s 50 meter free time of 24.92 is now .63 seconds from the Junior National cut, and his 5.35 second improvement in the 200 IM places him 2.57 seconds from the Junior cut – all of which are now within range.

Mallory Korenwinder made her first appearance at the meet with a 2.7 second improvement in her 200 meter breaststroke (2:52.79) and her highest place finish of 90^th. Jordan Morillo, currently competing for FresnoState, had her highest place finish of 85^th  in the 200 backstoke (2:31.36), while Chris Nolan, also making his first appearance, had his highest place finish as 68^th in the 200 meter butterfly (2:14.30).

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Ten year old JD Koster had an impressive performance at the Firecracker Invitational in San Luis Obispo during the first weekend of July by placing top two in four of the five events he had entered. JD swam away with wins in both the 50 breast (46.69) and the 200 IM (3:09.49) events, and second place finishes in both the 50 fly and 50 free events. His final event was a 4^th place finish in the 10-under 50 meter backstroke. Not only did JD swam away as the 10-under boy King of the Pool, he also improved 100% of his times while doing it.

Eight-year old Danielle Albright also placed first or second in all eight of her events, winning half of them: 100 back (1:48.95), 50 breast (51.59), 200 free (3:20.47) and 50 free (41.54), and placing 2^nd in the other half: 100 free, 50 fly, 50 back and 200 IM. On the boys side, both 7-year old Peyton Costa and 7-year old Toby Jones finished 1^st or 2^nd in all of their events. Peyton won the 100 free (1:31.96) and 100 back (1:46.80) event and placed 2^nd in the: 100 breast, 50 fly, 50 back, 50 breast, 200 free, 100 fly, 50 free and 200 IM events. Toby took home the gold in the 100 breast (2:02.47), 100 free (1:51.38), 50 back (53.51), 50 breast (57.78) and 50 free (47.81) events.

Our only other event champion at the meet was 10-year old Madison McCarthy who won the 100 fly event for her age group (1:35.53). Other second place finishes came from Desmond Brown (50 free), Jacqui Koster (50 back) and Andrea Morales (200 free & 400 free).

Joining JD in improving 100% of times that had been previously recorded on the team is Andrea Morales who had 3 previously recorded times from the Bakersfield meet, and improved all three: 200 free (2:43.28), 100 fly (1:28.45) and 50 free (33.30). Six additional swimmers improved 50% or more if their times, and they included: Toby Jones (80%), Jimmy Koster (80%), Khloe McCarthy (75%), Danielle Albright (63%), Jacqui Koster (60%), and Kyle Grissom (57%).

Congratulations to both 7-year old Desmond Brown and 5-year old Paige Costa for swimming their first long course meet. Other events that are newly recorded with the team came from Peyton Costa (age 7 – 100 breast) Toby Jones (age 7 – 100 back), JD Koster (age 10 – 200 IM), Jimmy Koster (age 13 – 400 free), Andrea Morales (age 12 – 50 fly, 50 back & 400 free) and Javiar Morales (age 15 – 200 IM & 400 free).

Twenty-three TNT swimmers competed at the Merced long course meet during the third weekend of April. Ten year old Preston Niayesh led our team in record breaking performances setting three new team records, all of which are new records for him. Preston began with the 50 meter breaststroke with a time of 43.01, shaving under one of our longest standing records set by Dax Brott as 43.29 during 1987 while competing in Bakersfield. Preston’s time currently ranks 5^th nationally for all 10-yaer old boys in the event early in this long course season. Currently the fastest time in the nation for a 10-year old boy is 41.48. Preston went on to shatter the team’s 100 breaststroke record with a time of 1:31.38 that also currently stands among the top 5 times in the nation. The current top time in the nation is 1:28.17. Dax Brott’s previous team record set in Bakersfield in 1987 was 1:35.43. Finally, Preston’s time of 3:04.78 went under Alonso Escobedo’s 200 IM team record that was set as 3:05.13 at Junior Olympics last summer. Early long course national rankings would place Preston’s time as the 38^th fastest in the nation.

Striving for her second Sectional cut, 12-year old Mallory Korenwinder swam 1:19.90 in the 100 meter breaststroke, thereby improving her previous team record of 1:20.48 set last year at Junior Olympics. A former nationally ranked swimmer at age 10, Mallory’s time currently ranks 8^th in the nation for all 12 year old girls.

Tule Nation Triton swimmers took home five High Point awards from Merced. Preston Niayesh, who was the leader in team record-breaking performances, was also our sole swimmer who competed uncontested, winning all 10 of 10 events he had entered. Preston thereby became the 10-under boy High Point winner. Mallory Korenwinder won 3 of her 10 events and scored enough points to edge out teammate Amber Khieralla by one point in what was the most competitive age group (11-12 girls) at the meet. Katelyin Herrera was an event champion in 5 of her 10 events, and the success granted her the High Point award for the 13-14 girls division, and her counterpart, Chris Noaln, was the event champion in six of his eight events, thereby becoming the High Point recipient in the 13-14 boys division.

Improvement rates were led by the perfect performances (100% improvement) of Danielle Albright (improved 7 of 7 events), Khloe McCarthy (improved 8 of 8) and Madison McCarthy (improved 8 of 8). Those improving 50% or more of their times included Preston Niayesh (90%), Allyson Duffy (89%), Chris Hansen (83%), Mallory Korenwinder (80%), Katherine Sullivan (80%), Athena Niayesh (75%), Priscilla Niayesh (67%), Mia Newkirk (63%), and Chris Nolan (63%).

A welcome goes to 11 year old Adam Simonian and 12 year old Amber Khieralla as they record their first long course times with the team.

The top 3 High Point recipients for each gender and age group at the Last Chance meet were recognized, and TNT swimmers swam away with 2 of the 3 awards in many of the divisions. The 6-udner boy’s division was led by high point winner Ian Belfower of Bakersfield and runner-up Jacye Ford of Visalia. The 7-8 girls division was led by Danielle Albright and 3^rd place recipient Alex Roberts training with Bill, while on the boy’s side Jackson Huckabay of Selma led all 7-8 boys followed by runner-up Peyton Costa. The 9-10 boy’s division was led by Visalia swimmer JD Koster followed by 2^nd place finisher Jonas Huckabay of Selma, while the 11-12 girls were led by Mia Newkirk and 3^rd place finisher Allyson Duffy. Bill Freeman’s swimmer Conor Martin swam away with the honors in the 13-14 boy’s division, while Matlyn Morris, who also trains with Bill, took home the top spot for the 15-over girls. The 15-over boy division TNT recipients were runner-up Sam Hanson followed by 3^rd highest point-getter Nathan Rhea.

GOODBAR, KOOREY, KOSTER & MARTIN LEAD IMPROVEMENT AT LAST CHANCE

Sixty-one TNT swimmers were among approximately 350 who competed at the Last Chance meet in Tulare during the last weekend of February. Fifty-seven of our swimmers had previously recorded times with the team, and of those 18 swam away with perfect improvement rates. The overall improvement was 68%. Jacob Koorey was our only swimmer among the 100% list who swam a total of 10 events, nine of them previously recorded, and improved 9 of 9. JD Koster of Visalia also swam a heavy schedule of events, improving all 9 of 9 events that he had entered. Jacob Goodbar of Selma and Conor Martin training with Bill Freeman were our other two swimmers who swam and improved 6 or more events each – Jacob with 7, and Conor with 6.

A warm welcome to the team goes to LaurenBinaski, Jeanette Ewy, Daniel Magaree, and Adam Simonian who swam events that are newly recorded with the team.

Congratulations to all swimmers who improved, and especially to those who maintained a 100% improvement rate: