Apr 042010
Mar 302010
Tule Nation Triton swimmers Kholton Norys and Samantha Goates joined three other swimmers from Central California Swimming to have earned a right to attend the Division 1 NCAA National Championships held at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana for the women during the first weekend of Mach, and Ohio State during the last weekend of March for the men.
Samantha Goates, swimming for Louisiana State University (LSU), and Kohlton Norys, swimming for Auburn University, joined three former swimmers of Clovis Swim Club (Josh Daniels representing Cal Berkley, Peter Klein representing Cal Poly, and Jeff Daniels representing University of Southern California (USC) to represent Central California Swimming at NCAA National Meet this year. Josh Daniels became a multiple finalist at the meet (6th place 50 free; 9th place 100 free).
Samantha Goates competed in the 100 freestyle individual event, and swam final events in both the 4×50 freestyle relay (where she split 22.63) and 4×100 freestyle relay (where she split 50.59) that earned LSU 13th and 17th places respectively. Kohlton Norys swam three individual events that included the 50 freestyle, 100 backstroke and 200 backstroke events.
Mar 232010
Taylor Shaw (13-14 girls), Chris Nolan (13-14 boys), Allison Ross (15-over girls) & Nathan Rhea (15-over boys) were among our 50 swimmers who competed at the Porterville long course meet during the weekend of March 20-21, but were the only ones who swam away with high point awards.
Taylor Shaw (age 14), training in Hanford, was the champion in both the 100 breaststroke and 200 backstroke events, placed second in the 200 IM, 800 free and 200 free events, and third in the 100 free and 100 back events. Her final event was a sixth place finish in the 50 free, and all events accumulated 47 points to outscore teammate Bre Abell training in Selma who was a close second with 43 points.
Chris Nolan is on the bottom of the age group at age 13 and dominated his 13-14 peers by scoring 69 points which was 22 points beyond the second place swimmer. Chris took first place finishes in seven of his eight events (100 free, 200 breast, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 50 free and 200 fly), and a 3rd place finish in his 100 backstroke event. Chris Nolan is on the roster for Far Westerns and qualifies in five events while on the bottom of the age group, and improved 100% of his times at Porterville.
Allison Rosss 56 points edged out teammate Hannah Giles (50 points) to take home the high point award for the 15-over age group in the girls division. Allison was the champion in both the 200 breaststroke and 200 backstroke events, and took second place finishes in the 200 IM, 100 back, and 100 breaststroke events. She also had third place finishes in the 100 free and 50 free and a 4th place finish in the 200 freestyle event.
Nathan Rhea, also on the bottom of the 15-over age group took home the high point for the male swimmers by winning five of his six events (200 IM, 100 back, 200 breast, 100 breast and 200 fly). His second place finish came in the 200 backstroke to teammate Sam Hansen. Nathans 52 points edged out teammate Colin Landweer (49 points) for the high point award.
Three new Far Western cuts were made by two individuals who already were on the qualifying list for the prestigious age group meet. Sixteen year old Wesley Coles swam a 1:02.38 in the 100 meter butterfly event to not only make an addition Far Western cut (to bring his total to 8), but this is also his first qualifying time for the Speedo Grand Challenge to held at Irvine in May. Ten year old Parker Giles increased his Far Western cuts from four to six by qualifying in two additional events: 200 meter freestyle (2:45.13) and 100 meter free (1:15.20). Parkers 100 meter freestyle time is approximately 1.5 seconds off of the team record.
Over half of our swimmers (26) now have newly recorded long course time with the team. The 24 remaining swimmers maintained a 68% improvement percentage with ten of them improving all events that were entered and swam. Congratulations go to perfect improvement performances by: Jake Caminero, Joshua Caminero, Wes Coles, Chris Hansen, Makenna Mason, Michael Mason, Madison McCarthy, Athena Niayesh, Chris Nolan and Savanah Nolan.
Jan 272010
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Thirty TNT swimmers combined to outscore all other teams by over 200 points at the Ridgecrest meet during the fourth weekend of January. Our team points were led by high point winners 5 year old Jayce Ford (6-under boy high point recipient with 27 points) who went undefeated in the 6-under division, 11 year old Mallory Korenwinder (11-12 girls high point recipient with 82 points) who was champion of seven events and set two new meet records including one in the 50 butterfly (30.38 from previous record of 30.59 held by Leah Hanson in 2001) and in the 100 breaststroke (1:15.23 from the previous record of 1:16.17 set by Madison Goodvin in 2004), and 14 year old Taylor Shaw who swam undefeated in all eight of her events in the 13-14 girls division (13-14 girls high point recipient with 72 points).
Other champions in their events included 12 year old Brianna Fleeman who won the 200 free, 500 free, 100 free and 50 free events. Briannas 500 freestyle time of 5:50.82 broke the 11-12 meet record that was set in 2003 by Jillian Schwalb who swam 5:57.50. Fifteen year old Hannah Giles won the 200 breast, 10 year old Parker Giles winning both the 50 back and 50 free events, 9 year old Dax Korenwinder winning both the 100 IM and 500 free events, 13 year old Josh Koster winning the 200 free, 100 fly, 100 free and 50 free events, 15 year old Colin Landweer winning the 200 free, and 13 year old Megan Nino winning the 200 breaststroke, 200 IM and 100 breaststroke events.
The teams improvement percentage was 58% which was well above the 50% improvement considered for a successful meet. The team improvement was led by five swimmers who improved all events that were entered and previously recorded on the team. These five swimmers were eleven year old Allyson Duffy, 5 year old Jayce Ford, 7 year old Lily Hodges, 7 year old Ana Porchia and 10 year old Ira Porchia. Fifteen of our 27 swimmers who had previously recorded times improved 50% or more of their times. Congratulations goes to: Michah Ruiz (88%), Skylar Ford (83%), Brianna Fleeman (75%), Taylor Shaw (75%), Mallory Korenwinder (70%), Makenna Mason (70%), Morgan Coddington (67%), Keshin Visahan (67%), Dax Korenwinder (56%), Danielle Albright (50%), Luke Dignan (50%), Parker Giles (50%), Josh Koster (50%), Megan Nino (50%), and Katherine Sullivan (50%).
Welcome to three swimmers who have newly established times with TNT. These three include: Paige Coddington (age 7), Marcus Lloyd (age 14) and Julia Ruiz (age 12).
Tule Nation Tritons garnered enough points to outscore the next team by over 200 points. There were six teams that scored at the meet:
Jan 212010
DAY 1
The second day of the Long Beach Grand Prix was the first day for TNT swimmers. Day 1 included events for our sprint freestylers, butterflyers, backstrokers and distance freestylers. While Matt Grevers wins the 100 freestyle with a 43.06, Justin Lopez-Lamb began our day with a near best time of 48.66 in the 100 free, thereby being our fastest freestyler at the meet. Joining Justin in the 100 free was Thomas Brown who swam near his best with a 50.43. Bobby Yirabarren was the sole individual on day 1 with time improvements and swam 1:57.51 in the 200 butterfly. Nathan Rheas 200 backstroke followed Bobby, and Nathans 2:03.88 becomes his second fastest 200 backstroke time. Michael Phelps easily won the 500 freestyle event on this day with a 4:18.70. Sam Hansen and Bobby Yirabarren teamed up in the 500 freestyle with Sam swimming 4:57.33 which is within six seconds of his lifetime best that was established only a few weeks ago. Bobby Yirabarren continues his improvement by breaking his previous team record to a 4:42.70. Bobby set the previous team record with a 4:45.24 last month at the Arizona Festival.
The day concluded with our 4 x 100 freestyle relay with Bobby Yirabarren leading off with a 49.09 followed by Justin Lopez-Lamb who swam the second leg at a 48.03. Thomas Brown was the third swimmer at a 49.80 and our team was anchored by Sam Hansen who finishes with a 50.60. Our teams time of 3:17.59 finished 22nd at the meet which was nine seconds behind Jason Lezaks teams fifth place finish time of 3:08.35.
DAY 2
Bobby Yirabarren continues to lead the team in improvement on day 2 as he swims 1:45.46 in the 200 freestyle placing 72nd in that event. Our breaststrokers swam heats before World Record holder Kosuke Kitajimas 1:56.36 in the 200 breaststroke. Nathan Rhea swam 2:16.56 to finish 54th while Sam Hansen swam a 2:17.66 for a 65th place finish. Triton sprint freestylers swam before Matt Grevers 20.02 and Jason Lezaks 20.18 in the 50 freestyle. Justin Lopez-Lamb finished 61st with a 22.26 while Thomas Brown finished 117th with his 22.91. The long individual medley (400 IM) event was swam by Michael Phelps (3:47.19 for a first place prelim swim), Bobby Yirabarren (4:17.79 for a 64th place finish), Sam Hansen (4:24.02 for a 79th place finish) and Nathan Rhea (4:24.95 for a 84th place finish).
Day 2 ended with the 4×100 freestyle relay where our quartet of Justin Lopez-Lamb (1:47.86), Nathan Rhea (1:50.94), Bobby Yribarren (1:45.86) and Sam Hansen (1:50.60) as they combined for a 7:15.23 and 18th place finish.
DAY 3
The final day for TNT included shorter events such as the 100 fly, 100 back and 100 breaststrokes. Bobby Yriabarren had our highest place in the 100 fly of 81st and a time of 54.14, while Justin Lopez-Lamb followed with a 55.20 and a 100th place finish. Our backstrokers were lead by Justin Lopez-Lamb who swam to a 65th place finish in 55.10 seconds, and followed by Nathan Rhea whose 56.46 was enough for a 113th place finish. Finishing our day were breaststrokers led by Nathan Rheas 67th place finish in 1:03.42 and followed by Sam Hansens 1:03.59 and 72nd place finish.
Dec 262009
Our senior swimmers maintained an 80% improvement rate while at Sectionals even when considering time trials. Four of our seven swimmers improved 100% of their times, and the size of the time drops were more reminiscent of younger age group swimmers. Improvements in the 1000 and 1650 freestyles remained in the 20-second range, while shorter races such as 100 and 200 yard swims were improved by anywhere from three to seven seconds.
In a situation where all but one of our swimmers are experiencing their first short course Sectional meet in California and are among over 1000 swimmers who are competing including 2-time Olympic gold medalist Kosuke Kitajima, and while competing among the USC contengent that remains the dominant team competing at the meet, our swimmers are closing the gap as they move toward earning their second swim.
A total of nine team records were broken by two swimmers. Nathan Rhea broke six team records in the 13-14 age group (1000 free – 9:55.37, 200 breast – 2:12.81, 400 IM – 4:13.18, 200 free – 1:49.71, 500 free – 4:51.20, 1650 free – 16:41.65 and 100 breast – 1:02.90), while Sam Hansen broke two team records in the 15-over age group (1650 free – 16:39.40 & 1000 free – 10:03.44).
DAY 1
Day 1 opened with Sam Hansen who improved over five seconds in the 1000 freestyle event dropping to a 10:05.17 from a 10:10.42 which was swam as recently as three weeks ago at the Terrapin meet. Teammate Nathan Rhea swam in the next heat demolishing his previous 10:20.70 by swimming his first sub-10 minute time to a 9:55.37 thereby moving up in place from 60th to 46th.
DAY 2
Day 2 brought shorter distance races in the meet and time trials. Our breaststroke duo of Nathan Rhea and Sam Hansen resulted in four and three second improvements respectively. Nathans 200 breaststroke drops from a 2:16.47 to a 2:12.81, while Sams 200 breaststroke dropped from a 2:16.27 to a 2:13.28 which is our third fastest time in team history for the 15-over age group. Our breaststrokers were followed by our sprint freestylers with Colin Landweer swimming his first sub-50 time in the 100 free. Colins 49.48 now qualifies for the Mission Viejo Swim Meet of Champions. Joshua Tabers also swam the 100 freestyle in a 52.01.
Time Trials for day 2 brought in Thomas Brown who made a new Sectional time in the 100 freestyle as well as a Meet of Champions cut with his first sub-50 time of 49.14. Colin turned around and swam near even splits in his 50 free thereby nearly breaking the 23 barrier with a 23.07, while Sam Hansen doubled up his day by swimming a 1:02.52 in a time trial 100 breaststroke and improving over a second in that event. The day rounded out with Nathan Rhea improving three seconds in his 100 fly and swimming his first sub-minute time with a 58.16. Day three brings the 200 free and 400 IM.
DAY 3
Four TNT swimmers competed on day 3 of Sectionals which included the 200 freestyle and 400 IM events. After qualifying only two weeks earlier this month at the Tulare meet with a time of 1:48.63, Colin Landweer continues to improve, this time swimming slightly faster to a 1:48.47. Teammate Thomas Brown who qualified for the event as a bonus swam a 1:51.82 which was near his 1:50.92 that he established as a best time recently at the Tulare meet earlier this month.
Our IM swimmers included Sam Hansen swimming a time slightly faster than his 4:21.64 with a 4:21.57, while teammate Nathan Rhea continues his extraordinary performance improving his team record by over ten seconds from a 4:23.31 that he had set as recently as the Terrapin meet just last month. The new record is now established at 4:13.18.
To continue their streak, our four swimmers entered time trials on this third day at the meet, with Sam Hansen leading off in the 200 IM improving nearly two seconds from a 2:05.52 to a 2:03.53. Sam was followed by Thomas Brown whose 100 breaststroke was a 1:04.45 which nearly matched his Tulare time earlier this month of 1:04.46. Colin Landweer repeated a time trial in the 50 freestyle from yesterday as he was determined to go under 23 seconds, and does so with a 22.91. Colin is now .02 seconds from the Long Beach Grand Prix meet that will take place in January, and which will involve swimmers such as Michael Phelps. Time Trials for TNT concluded with Nathan Rhea improving his 200 backstroke by nearly 8 seconds from a 2:06.69 to a 1:58.98 which becomes the second fastest 13-14 200 backstroke time in the history of the team behind Kohlton Noryss 1:57.59 set at Sectionals in 2004.
DAY 4
All TNT swimmers arrived at Long Beach on day 4 of competition. The days events included both sprint and distance events. Both Hannah Giles and Thomas Brown swam to their lifetime best times in the 50 freestyle as Hannah shaved nearly a quarter of a second from a 25.86 to a 25.64 while Thomas Brown matched his lifetime best of 22.24. Joshua Tabers swam within three tenths of his best with a 23.38.
Our distance swimmers included Sam Hansen and Nathan Rhea. Both swimmers who train together swam nearly identical times improving six and five seconds respectively. Sam Hansen finished with a 4:51.18 while Nathan Rhea finished with a 4:51.20 finishing in an overall place directly behind Sam.
Wesley Coles arrived on day 4 for his time trial in the 50 freestyle event improving that time by a half second to a 23.30. Hannah Giles competed solo in the girls 100 breaststroke time trial (swimming against the boys) and made a gallant effort chasing her male counterparts during the first half of the event. Hannah finished with a 1:11.80 for the 100 breaststroke. Our 4 x 100 freestyle relay composed of freestylers Wesley Coles, Joshua Tabers, Colin Landweer and Thomas Brown rounded out the night.
DAY 5
The fifth and final day of Sectionals included the 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke and 1650 freestyle for TNT swimmers. Josh Tabers led off the day swimming 58.01 in his 100 backstroke, and he was followed by Nathan Rhea who continues his improvement trend dropping his 100 breaststroke to a 1:02.90.
The mile event was tackled by two TNT swimmers, Sam Hansen and Nathan Rhea. Our distance freestylers qualified for this Sectional meet with only this past summers long course times. Both swimmers focusing on achieving the minimum 16:59.99 cut swam performances that obliterated the standard. Sam Hansen improved his 17:00.95 to a 16:39.40 swimming his lifetime best in the 1000 freestyle along the way, even surpassing his improvement in the 1000 freestyle from Fridays performance at this very meet. Nathan Rhea followed Sam in the very next heat with a 16:41.65 which was also a drastic improvement over his lifetime best of 17:05.58 that was swam as recently as the Terrapin meet only a few weeks ago.
Sectionals for TNT will ended with the 4 x 100 medley relay manned by Nathan Rhea, Sam Hansen, Wesley Coles and Colin Landweer.
Dec 082009
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Sixteen year old Thomas Brown and fifteen year old Colin Landweer establish their first Sectional qualifying times while at the Tulare meet during the first weekend of December. Colins determined swim in the 200 yard freestyle earned him a 1:48.63 and was fast enough to slip just under the 1:48.79 cut. Thomas Browns sprint in the 50 yard freestyle ended with a time of 22.56 which was also fast enough for both the Long Beach Grand Prix cut of 22.89 and the Sectional cut of 22.59. Colin and Thomas will join current qualifiers who have expressed intent to compete at Sectionals, and these include Nathan Rhea, Sam Hansen, Josh Tabers and Hannah Giles. Current Grand Prix qualifiers include Katherine Bristow, Sam Hansen, Nathan Rhea, Thomas Brown, Josh Tabers and Bobby Yribarren. These swimmers may compete at the Grand Prix meet which is currently scheduled to include swimmers such as Michael Phelps, Matt Grievers and Katie Hoff.
Twelve year old Kyle Grissom training in Visalia set a new team record in the 11-12 boys 50 yard butterfly event. Kyles time of 28.25 broke a record that was set in 1994 by Jason Ricablanca at the AA meet in Cerritos. Kyle now holds three of the top four times on the team in the event. An additional accomplishment was Kyles 1:04.03 in the 100 butterfly, which was his second Western Zone qualifying time for next years Zone meet which will be held in San Jose during August.
Three hundred and thirty seven swimmers representing fourteen swim teams throughout Central California Swimming converged to compete in Tulare during the first weekend of December. The 100 swimmers of Tule Nation Tritons 1,479.5 points outscored all other teams, with Clovis Swim Clubs 1,005 points coming in second. The third place team was Fresno Dolphins Swim Team with 679 points.
Tule Nation Tritons had three swimmers who received high point awards. Six year old Danielle Albright swam unchallenged as she won all 8 events she swam in the 6-under division (50 free, 25 fly, 25 back, 50 breast, 50 back, 25 free, 25 breast & 100 free) thereby outscoring all other 6-under female swimmers at the meet, while JD Koster received the high point award for all 7-8 year old boys by a 79-73 margin over the runner up. Our final high point recipient was Cori Hoover who outscored all female swimmers 15 years and older at the meet.
Our other undefeated swimmer was Christopher Nolan who, while on the bottom of the 13-14 age group, won all three events he swam (200 breast, 100 breast & 500 free). Event champions included Katherine Bristow (100 back & 50 free), Thomas Brown (50 free & 100 free), Wesley Coles (100 fly), Madison Elick (1650 free), Kyle Grissom (50 fly & 100 fly), Chris Hansen (100 breast & 500 free), Sam Hansen (100 breast), Katelyn Herrera (200 fly), Mallory Korenwinder (200 breast & 50 breast), JD Koster (50 free, 100 IM, 25 back, 50 breast, 50 fly, 25 free, 25 breast & 100 free), Josh Koster (100 free), Colin Landweer (200 free), Conor Martin (1650 free), Nathan Rhea (200 free, 100 back & 200 IM0, and Kayla Ross (100 back).
The teams 53% improvement percentage included 80 swimmers who had previously recorded times in events that are 50 yards or longer. Eighteen of these swimmers improved all events they swam. Perfect improvements came from: Kaleigh Botill, Thomas Brown, Sydnie Burleson, Jake Caminero, Trevor De Leeuw, Elaine Draper, Cheyenne Droney, Cristo Droney, Madison Droney, Olivia Fernandes, Jacob Harms, Michael Mason, Aneesha Nagra, Christopher Nolan, Hannah Parker, Nathan Rhea, Zachary Rust and Ivan Villalvazo.
Nov 102009
Six of nine TNT swimmers competing at the Terrapin senior meet in
A sole new Sectional cut was achieved by Sam Hansen who improved nearly three seconds in the 1000 freestyle to a 10:10.42 finishing in 19th place in that event and setting a new team record with an improvement over his record setting performance at Winter Invite last December. Triton top finishers were our distance milers who included Nathan Rhea finishing 11th with a 17:05.58 and new team record by swimming nearly 11 seconds faster than his record set at Winter Invite last year, along with Sam Hansen who finished 13th with a 17:07.50. The largest time drop came from Alex Hansen who qualified for and swam the 1650 freestyle event and improved over 55 seconds from his previous time and placing 27th overall.
Our nine swimmers also included Bryan Brown and eleven year old Mallory Korenwinder.
Oct 282009
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Three team records are set by four individuals (one who still remains unattached). The most established of the three records broken was that of the 50 yard freestyle event for the 13-14 year old boys. Fourteen year old Colin Landweer swims a 23.15 to break the existing team record by over two tenths of a second belonging to Josh Tabers (23.36) that was set at the Winter Invitational meet two years ago in December of 2007.
Eleven year old Khloe McCarthy battled with soon to be teammate Brianna Fleeman in the 1650 yard freestyle. Both swimmers swam faster than the existing team record set last month by Mallory Korenwinder while at the Hanford meet. Furthermore both Khloes 20:56.66 and Briannas 20:57.28 were fast enough to qualify for
Fourteen year old Nathan Rhea is the remaining individual who had established a new team record while at the meet. Nathan improves his 100 yard breaststroke to a 1:03.28 to break his own team record that was set at the Tulare meet in February of this year.
TNT swimmers had left this Merced meet with much hardware. High Point awards included trophies for the top three point getters in each age group.
Preston Niayesh goes undefeated for first place
Second place High Point went to Madison Droney in the 6-under girls division (34 points), Katelyn Herrera in the 11-12 girls division (67), Colin Landweer in the 13-14 boys division (71) and Hannah Giles in the 15-16 division (69). Third place went to Kailyn Fleeman in the 7-8 girls division (67), Mallory Korenwinder in the 11-12 girls division (66), Kyle Grissom in the 11-12 boys division (65), Alex Hansen in the 13-14 boys division (65), Wesley Coles in the 15-16 boys division (56), and Sam Hansen in the 17-18 boys division.
Three hundred and eight swimmers represented twelve teams and an unattached group at the Merced meet. Although TNT was not the largest team at the meet (Clovis with 67 swimmers vs. TNT with 50 swimmers), Tule Nation Tritons placed first in the combined team points with 3,686 points over Bakersfields 3,569 points. Eleven teams scored at the meet. Event champions included Kaleigh Botill (15-over 50 free), Wesley Coles (15-over 200 fly), Hannah Giles (15-over 100 breast), Alex Hansen (13-14 500 free), Chris Hansen (11-12 50 breast & 1650 free), Katelyn Herrera (11-12 100 IM), Mallory Korenwinder (11-12 50 breast), Colin Landweer (13-14 50 free), Khloe McCarthy (11-12 1650 free), Preston Niayesh (8-under 50 breast, 100 fly, 50 back & 100 IM), and Nathan Rhea (13-14 100 breast, 100 back & 200 IM).
The overall team improvement percentage was 63%, well over the 50% that would be considered a successful meet. Twelve of our 42 who had previously recorded times on the team in events 50 yards or longer improved all events that they swam. These 12 included: Bre Abell, Tristian Abell, Connor Allison, Kaleigh Botill, Thomas Brown, Crista Droney, Madison Ekizian, Chris Hansen, Makayla Jordan, Colin Landweer, Makenna Mason and Ira Porchia.
Oct 212009
HEY LOOK!!!!! – CORN!!!!!