Impressive swims by Gold Medal swimmers at the Candy Cane Classic!

JoAnna Woodward

Despite the cold weather and a few technical meet mishaps, Gold Medal swimmers threw down lots of impressive swims! Here are our results:

Age Group 2

157 Best times. Lots of great races! Our "fundamentals" (starts, turns, technique) were awesome, the only aspect we are going to focus on is underwater kicks/pullouts. A lot of the work in practice was seen across many events, but when we got really tired it was less reliable. The more focus we can have in practice with these parts of our swims, the better chance we have at growing! 

 

      Blake Albright: 5/7 Best Times

      Xavier Apps: 5/7 Best Times

            Dante Apps: 9/9 Best Times

      Thais Apps: 9/9 Best Times 

            Danny Arredondo: 2/3 Best Times 

            Tegen Arredondo: 3/3 Best Times

            Ryan Beck: 6/8 Best Times

      Audrey Botsios: 5/8 Best Times 

            Edward Cai 4/5 Best Times

      Ian Chantis: 5/9 Best Times

      Hongying Chen: 7/7 Best Times 

           Stella Denies 1/4 Best Times

      Lillian Fernandes: 5/6 Best Times

      Mikaela Germie: 7/8 Best Times

      Malia Herrig: 7/7 Best Times 

            Logan Keck: 5/6 Best Times

      Bennet Kelly: 3/8 Best Times 

           John Kim: 5/9 Best Times

      Ashton Largent: 7/9 Best Times

      Leo Mancuso: 4/4 Best Times

      Sadie Minder: 5/7 Best Times

      Zephyr Narus: 7/9 Best Times 

            Kara Nuttall: 3/3 Best Times 

            Stella Olson: 5/9 Best Times

      Ellie Pena: 8/9 Best Times

      Elena Perez: 6/8 Best Times 

            Luke Skousen: 1/3 Best Times

      Holly Swaninger: 4/7 Best Times 

            Karly Thor: 4/6 Best Times

      Truitt Vandenbark: 5/8 Best Times

      Ella Wilson: 2/8 Best Times 

      Ander Yu: 2/8 Best Times

      Gavin: 1/8 Best Times

Age Group 1

Age Group 1 had an amazing Candy Cane Classic, with just over 80% best times across the whole group, many of the kids handled the cold well and were able to swim some great finals races! As a group we had almost 30 new State cuts and dozens of Regional cuts! Below are some of the highlights I picked out of a very successful meet weekend!
 
Kailey Albright - 5 best times, 6 finals swims, 2 new State times, 5 second drop in the 50 fly
Braelyn Ballif - 10 second drop in the 200 IM
Adam Botsios - 3 best times, 1 finals swim, including an 18 second drop in the 100 fly
Tabitha Bryce - 3 best times, 1 finals swim, multiple 2-3 second drops
Tyler Carroll - 5 best times, 3 finals swims, 2 new State times, 6 second drop in the 50 fly
Evan Cho - 9 best times, 6 finals swims, 2 new State times, 4 second drop in the 50 breast
Mackenzie Feirstein - 7 best times, 2 finals swims, 2 new State times
Joselyn Franzone - 7 best times, 1 finals swim, 8 second drop in the 100 back
Alaina Herrig - 4 best times, 2 finals swims, 1 new State time
Delaney Holm - 6 best times, including a 5 second drop in the 100 IM
Evan Hong - 2 best times, 2 finals swims, 3 second drop in the 200 IM
Claire Horton - 7 best times, including a 20 second drop in the 500 free
Cullen Kelly - 1 best time, 6 finals swims, new 11-12 State time in the 200 back
Royce Kountz - 9 best times, 5 finals swims, 1 new State time, many 2-3 second drops
Catherine Kwilosz - 8 best times, 4 finals swims, 1 new State time, 11 second drop in the 100 fly
James Lindley - 5 best times at his first meet with Gold Medal
Soraya Lindsey - 9 best times, 3 finals swims, 1 new State time, 13 second drops in the 200 IM and free
Javier Lopez-Anchia - 2 best times including a first ever 400 IM swim
Abigail Lippert - 5 best times, including a first time 400 IM Regional cut
Ember Marinello - 6 best times, 2 finals swims, including a 2 second drop in the 200 IM
Alexis Morley - 7 best times, 2 finals swims - Best of luck in Colorado! Swim Fast!
Elliot Niemoth - 4 best times, 2 finals swims, multiple 4+ second drops
Hadley Nixon - 5 best times, 2 finals swims, including a 54 second drop in the 500 free
Turner Pearson - 4 best times, 3 finals swims, including a 10 second drop in the 200 IM
Erica Perez - 8 best times, 5 finals swims, 3 new State times, multiple 5+ second drops
Diego Quintana Spagnol - 3 best times, 6 finals swims, 2 new State times
Leonardo Quintana Spagnol - 4 best times, 5 finals swims, 1 new State time
Rachel Spresney - 5 best times, 4 finals swims, including a 9 second drop in the 100 breast
Ariella Strock - 8 best times, including a 6 second drop in the 200 fly
Declan Tierney - 9 best times, 5 finals swims, 1 new State time, 32 second drop in the 200 back
Teagan Tolson - 5 best times, 2 finals swims, 3 second drop in the 50 free
Joelle Vandenbark - 8 best times, 4 finals swims, 2 new State times
Augustine Wilson - 6 best times, 2 finals swims, 2 new State times
William You - 4 best times, 6 finals swims, 2 new State times, first time 400 IM State cut
Addison Zius - 8 best times, 6 finals swims, 2 new State times

Blue Group

Super proud of our Blue Group! I was particularily pleased with our efforts in the 200 free and 500 free, lots of great improvement in these events! We also swam really well in finals, and I was happy to see lots of great racing. For the next month, we will be focusing on pacing our stroke 200s better as well as working on our starts. Congrats Blue group, can't wait to see what we do next!

Emma Antawirya: 5/6 BTs in events, dropped 5 seconds in the 500 free

Leah Bushko: almost 3 second drop in the 200 back

Alp Cetegen: 6/7 BTS in events; 3rd place in the 100 breast

Brooke Horton: 4/6 BTs in events

Langston Lindsay: 3/3 BTs in events; 4+ second drop in the 400im; 2nd place in the 200 fly and 200 back

Isla McMullan: 3 BTs; significant drops in both the 100 and 200 back (24+ seconds in the 200 back!)

Grant Rathjen: 5 BTs in events; 4-1st place finishes (100 back, 200 back, 200 IM, 500 free) and 1-2nd place finish (200 free); 13-14 State cuts in both backstrokes

Katie Skarbek: 5/6 BTs in events; almost 5 second drop in the 500 free and almost 6 seconds in the 200 free; 3rd place in the 200 back

Tim Skarbek: 5/6 BTs in events; 1-1st finishes (50 free) and 2-2nd place finishes (100 free and 200 IM).

Marley Spray: 5+ second drop in the 400 IM (1st place) and 2+ second drop in the 500 free (1st place). 4 seconds off the Sectional cut in the 400 IM.

Amberly Yu: 4/6 BTs in events; almost 3 second time drop in the 200 back

Jonathon Zinger: BTs in the 50 and 100 free; 1st place in the 50 free

Senior 2

Congratulations S2 swimmers on a great Candy Cane meet. While it was a cold weekend and other logistical challenges on the men’s side the first day, swimmers did a great job rolling with the punches and staying focused on swimming fast. 14 of 17 swimmers achieved at least one best time. A special congratulations to Ben George and Jacob Basha for getting best times in all of their events!

 

Below are other outstanding swims from the weekend:

 

Jacob Basha - 100% best times including a 4 sec drop in the 100 FL, 14 sec drop in the 500 FR,  and a 6 sec drop in the 200 FR

Evan Beck - BT in the 50 FR

Bruss Bowman - 2 sec drop and new State cut in the 200 BK

Reese Carpenter - BT in the 50 FR

Taylor Downey - BT in the 100 FL

Daytona Duggan - BT in the 50 FR and 100 FL

Faith Fletcher - BT in the 200 BR

Ben George - 100% best times including an 18 sec drop in the 200 BK, 2 sec drop in the 100 FL, 8 sec drop in the 200 FR. Ben also made finals in five of his six events!

Alejandro Gonzales - 3.5 sec drop in the 200 BR

Benjamin Hames - Best times in 6/7 events and a 5 sec drop and new State cut in the 200 FL

Natalie Huddart - 5.5 sec drop and new State cut in the 200 BR

Ryan Munoz - .80 sec drop and new State cut in the 50 FR

Kyler Tolson - 20 sec drop in the 400 IM and 2 sec drop in the 200 BK

Lawrence Wen - BT in 200 BK, 500 FR, and 50 FR

 

As we go into winter training and our spring meets, we will continue working on our walls, smart pacing, and gong out fast in our races!

 

Congratulations again S2!

Senior 1

Top Performers

Jake Herrera with four best times-400 IM, 500 free, 100 breast, 100 free

Reagan Uhlik with five best times-100 breast, 200 breast, 200 free, 500 free, 100 free

 

Other Top Swims From this meet:

Ryder Androsky 200 free best time and as strong 50 free and 100 fly

Evan Bushko 200 IM best time

Ryne Davenport 100 fly and 200 free best times

Alex George 200 breast best time

Abby Raclaw 200 IM and100 free best times and strong 500 free

Jaida Lippy-100 fly and 100 back best times

Cohen Gunsalus-400 IM best time and 500 free official best time

Kyle Stocek-100 free best time

Julia Thomas-50 free on best time

Cali Watts-200 free and 200 breast best times

Adia Peterson-100 fly best time