Spring Junior Olympics Recap

Spring JOs (March 10-13, 2022)
The 2021-22 Short Course racing season culminated with the SoCal Swimming Spring Junior Olympic Championships last weekend in La Mirada.  With 31 athletes, BCS competed in the Small Team division and…drumroll…WON THE MEET!  The Men also won the Small Team competition, with the Women finishing 2nd.  Overall, the team finished 7th out of 43 scoring teams in the combined team competition, with the Women in 6th and the Men in 7th.  Congratulations to all of our athletes and coaches on the big win!  And thank you, once again, to our amazing families for everything you do behind the scenes to make this team tick.

If you are not familiar with this meet, it is one of the fastest age group competitions in the country.  To be able to win the Small Team competition is certainly a notable achievement.  It means that, pound for pound, we are one of the best teams out there.  Way to go, TEAM!

Please enjoy the JO highlights below:

Beach 1
Once again, the Beach 1 group was represented at a Championship meet and this time by two NEW athletes who showed up for the team in a big way on relays. We hope this is the new standard for this group!

Patrick Kipp (7-10 Boys)
In his first Championship meet action, Mr. Kipp popped off a new personal best in the 50 Back (40.14) leading off the 12th place Medley Relay.  Congratulations, Patrick…and happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

Piper Sootkoos (7-10 Girls)
Miss Sootkoos came up huge in her first Championship race, going OFF in her anchor leg of the 200 Medley Relay to split 36.80, which is a full 3 seconds faster than her best time in that race.  Great effort, Piper!


Beach 2
Beach 2 took 4 swimmers to Spring Jo’s, Hana Imai, Hailey Kuo, David Arnold and Matteo Trombley. Hana was our only individual qualifier and Hailey, David and Matteo were there for relays. Our 10 and under relays were a huge success, and the smiles and laughter that were had were contagious. Each and every one for the four is excited to practice and work towards summer Jo’s. Their goal is to have multiple individual events, and of course compete in RELAYS!
 

Hana Imai

Hana competed in the 50 and 100 Breast at Jo’s, she snagged her cuts at Pac Com two weeks before. This was a great experience for Hana and she is hungry for more. Her first event of the weekend was the 100 Breast and she walked away with a new Best time! Her 50 breast was right on her best, which was a great feat since she had a goggle mustache. She had redemption during the relay. Her 50 breast split was 39.88, and that was her first time going under 40s. The Summer is going to be bright!
 

Hailey Kuo

Hailey made the trip down to Jo’s for the 10 and under Medley Relay, where she swam the Fly leg. Hailey was ready to go on Saturday, she arrived with her cap on and ready to race. Hailey Split a 34.16, dropping over 1.5s from her personal best! Now our focus moves towards Summer Jo’s where Hailey will have individual events.

David Arnold
David was part of our 10 and under boys 200 Free relay. Unfortunately the boys were disqualified for a false start, but their effort in the race and attitudes were great to watch. The future is very bright for David and he is very hungry to get Jag and Summer Jo cuts. I’m excited to see what he can do this spring and summer.

Mateo Trombley
Mateo was part of 2 relays over the weekend. He was part of our boys 10 and under 200 Free relay, which was disqualified unfortunately. He was also part of our boys 10 and under Medley Relay, where he swam the Fly leg. He split his 50 in a 36.00, dropping over half a second! Our 10 and unders are looking very strong moving into summer. I’m especially excited to see Matteo develop as a swimmer. We have lots of work to do!


Beach 3
A fantastic group of four athletes represented the Beach 3 group at Spring JOs and made big contributions to the team effort, both individually and on relays.  Check out the highlights!

Santi Baranda (7-10 Boys)
Mr. Baranda was a beast on both relays, leading off the (unfortunately) disqualified 200 Free Relay in a personal best, cracking 32 seconds for the first time.  He also threw down a huge 30.4 split on the end of the 12th place 200 Medley Relay, a second and a half faster than his best flat start.  Great effort, Santi!

Adelei Mosteller (7-10 Girls)
Miss Mosteller had a great weekend at the races, Finaling and achieving personal bests in 4 of her 5 individual races.  Her biggest improvement came in the 500 Free on the first night, where she dropped nearly 20 seconds to finish 8th!  She also Finaled in the 50/100 Back and 100 Fly and led off the 15th place 200 Medley Relay.  Outstanding performance, Adelei!

Alejandro Safa (11-12 Boys)
Mr. Safa was Mr. Relay in La Mirada, racing on all four of the 11-12 Boys relays, finishing as high as 6th place in the 400 Free Relay and not lower than 11th place (400 Medley Relay).  He came up big in the biggest meet of the season, outpacing his best flat start times on all of his relay swims and leading off the 200 Medley Relay with a new personal best in the 50 Back, which also happened to be his first Spring JO cut ever.  Kudos, Alejandro!

Patek Wang (7-10 Boys)
Mr. Wang was coming off an outstanding performance at the ISCA meet in February to race at his first ever Spring JO meet.  He placed 33rd in the 50 Breast and raced the Breaststroke leg on the 12th place 200 Medley Relay.  While it wasn’t the individual performance he had hoped for, he only recently turned 9 years old and has a lot of fast swimming to look forward to.  Well done, Patek!


Beach 5
Beach 5 took 9 swimmers to Spring Jo, and it was a weekend full of emotion. We had a total of 30 best new times, 1 new team record in the Girls 11-12 200 Free Relay, and a handful of teachable moments.

I am really proud of this group of swimmers. After swimming tremendously at ISCA, to then come and put the hammer down again at Jo’s was great to watch. Beach 5 scored a total of 443.5 individual points for the team!

I’m going to sound like a broken record but I am very excited for the summer. Our Age group program is looking bright, more swim meet victories are on the horizon for Beach Cities!

Eryn Arnold
Eryn came to Jo’s with a mission and it was almost executed to a tee. She made A final in all of our events, Snagged a 2nd place in the 200 Im, and a 3rd place in the 100 Breast. She was also part of the Girls 11-12 200 Free Relay who took 1st! Eryn started off on Friday with a bang dropping just under 1.5 s in her 100 Breast. She then dropped 1.6s in her Finals swim to break the 1:10 barrier. Saturday we learnt the important lesson of hydrating if you want to excel in the morning and afternoon. Sunday we ended the meet hydrated and on a very high note, finishing 2nd in the 200 Im and anchoring our 200 Fr relay and securing the win!

Gabi Brito
Gabi was 4 out 6 for best times during Jo’s. She was also in all A finals over the weekend finishing in the top 6 for all of her events, including a 1st in the 200 Im, 2nd in the 100 Back, and 3rd in the 200 Free. Not bad for being one of the youngest in her age group! Gabi was an integral part of our relay team and she helped the girls achieve a 1st, 2nd’s and 3rd place finish in their relays. Summer is going to be a lot of fun, Gabi is hungry to keep on improving and she has her sights set on her first sectional cut.

Sarah Diethelm
In the world of swimming the Iron Lady is a very famous name belonging to Katinka Hosszu. Well now it’s Sarah’s new nickname! Sarah competed in 12 events over the weekend, including prelims, finals and relays. She also played two 90 minute Soccer games! One on Saturday and another on Sunday between Prelims and finals. Sarah walked away with 5 new best times, a 1st place finish in the 200 Free relay, and her soccer progressed to the Semi Finals of State Cup! Sarah you were and are an inspiration1 Keep it up!

Jake Everitt
This was Jake’s first meet as a 13 year old. He had one individual in the 100 Fly and he made sure it was a cracker of a race. He achieved the spring Jo cut at ISCA a couple of weeks ago, at Jo’s he dropped 1.79 seconds to go 57.30. Jake was also part of 4 relay’s. In the 200 Fr relay he was able to lead off, and he dropped .8s in his 50 Free. I was very proud of how Jake carried himself at the meet, and I was very proud to hear him say “I’m ready to work this summer Coach”. I am ready to work as well Jake, let’s do it!

Meagan Gordon
Meagan made finals in 5 of her 6 events and 3 of those were in the A final. It’s been an amazing short course season for Meagan, she has been dropping time steadily at every meet. At Spring Jo’s she was right on her beast for all of her events, whilst trying out a new breathing technique. With a little more breathing practice under her belt, I have a feeling some huge time drops are coming her way. Summer Jo’s is going to be exciting for Meagan!

Kayla Sun
This was Kayla’s first Spring Jo’s as an individual qualifier, and she proved to everyone and most importantly herself that she belongs with the fastest swimmers! Kayla walked away with 4 new best times and 4 final swims, with 1 being an A final! Kayla your hard work is paying off, and this is just the beginning. More Jo’s are in your future, more finals and more best times, I am very excited to watch you on your swimming journey!

Max Wang
Max had a rocky start to Jo’s he unfortunately missed his first race, but the only way was up from there and boy oh boy he didn’t disappoint! Max walked away with 5 best times, and 4 final swims, he didn’t let the missed first race affect his mentality, infect I think it helped fuel his fire. One of the highlights for Max was his 200 Fr Swim off, he swam 2:06.06 in the morning tying for 1st Alternate. He had a swim off right before the start of finals and he crushed his morning time going 2:02.29! Luckily he didn’t have to swim it again in 5 minutes. Max I hope spring Jo’s filled you with confidence for the summer, you are on the right track!

Sam Wang
Sam Came into the meet off a super-hot ISCA where he dropped huge time in all of his events. During Spring Jo he matched his new best times again and dropped in 1 event. I was very proud of his swims and his attitude throughout the meet. He executed his race plans, he took care of himself and he swam fast! I have a feeling he is very hungry to return to practice and work towards Summer Jo’s.

Danny Zimmerman
Danny came to race at Jo’s, he walked away with 4 best times, qualified for 5 finals, but only swam in 4. Unfortunately he missed one of his final swims. He didn’t let that blemish get him down as he continued to excel throughout the weekend. Danny swam fast during prelims and then even faster at night, he proved to himself that he loves to race and he likes to go fast! Danny I was very proud of how you carried yourself after the missed race, and I am excited for the summer!


Senior 3 & 4
Senior 3 and 4 sent a pile of 13/14 year old boys and one girl to compete and overall I was super proud of everyone. We had an event win with Peyton Kuo in the 50 free, Kotaro Bell grabbed his first Sectional cut in the 200 free, and had two relays break team records. The 200 Free Relay of Peyton Kuo, Isaac Change, Adriel Sun and Kotaro Bell swam a monster 1:30.75 for a new team record and the 400 Free Relay of Kotaro Bell, Evan Brutscher, Isaac Change and Peyton Kuo broke the team record going 3:22.16. Great job guys! Also a huge thank you to parents and our relay only swimmers for hauling your kids back and forth and showing up with great attitudes. We cannot win meets or score big points without relays and you guys are 100% important. 

Kotaro Bell
Kotaro started off strong with a drop in his 50 free and then came back at night to win the B Final going 22.83. Kotaro also finished 13th in the 200 back with a nice drop going 2:01. On Saturday at prelims he finally earned that pink Sectionals cap with a monster swim in the 200 free going 1:44.65 (just off the team record of 1:44.25). By Sunday he was pretty tired after the Sectionals trip right into JOs but still managed a finals swim in the 100 back and helping relays finish 3rd and 5th.

Evan Brutscher
Evan started off Friday with a beautiful 100 Breast, dropping 2.3 going 1:05.5. Evan came back that evening to help the 400 free relay nab 6th and a team record. On Saturday Evan had a great 200 breast going 2:24. Sunday Evan dropped under 1:00 for the first time in the 100 back going 59.30 and put up a 23.6 50 free split on the 200 free relay.

Isaac Chang
Isaac had some great swims over the course of the weekend. He started off Friday with a drop in his 100 Breast, going 1:04.67 and did a 49.9 in the 400 free relay that evening. On Saturday Isaac had a great 200 free with a big drop going 1:50. Sunday was my favorite day - Isaac tied for 20th place in the 100 free and earned himself a SWIM OFF! Isaac did a 50.02 in the swim off and was so close to breaking that barrier. Isaac also helped on all four A relays.

Kaela Hashimoto
Kaela was a rockstar all weekend coming to swim on all four relays. She was super consistent, often having to anchor. Kaela had best times in both her 100 free splits and also Sunday on both 200 relays, split over a second faster than her best time on her 50 frees. Great job Kaela.

Peyton Kuo
Peyton was coming off a full lineup of Sectionals swim the week before but didn’t let that stop him from dominating Spring JOs. He started off Friday dropping under 22 in the 50 and dropped even more at Finals to win the event, going 21.62 and lowering his own team record. Saturday Peyton finished 3rd in the 100 fly with a best time of 52.11. He also swam the 400 IM that evening grabbing 12th place right off his best time. On Sunday Peyton had three individual events and grabbed 12th in the 100 free, and an impressive 4th in the 200 fly not long after the 100 free going 1:55.51 just off his best time in that, as well. Peyton was also a huge help on all four A relays.

Lucas Ro
Lucas grabbed his Spring JO cut two weeks earlier at Pac Com and came Friday to swim his 100 breast. He added a bit of time but was still a 1:08.57 and gained some experience at the JO level. 

Pierce Ryan
Pierce was another relay superstar swimming all three evenings on all four relays. On Saturday Pierce led off the B 400 medley relay and managed a best time in the 100 back with a 1:02.99 and also had a 25.5 50 free split on the 200 free relay.

Ben Schlehuber
Ben also enjoyed three days as a relay specialist channeling his inner sprinter. Ben was right on his best time in the 100 free all weekend for both 400 relays and was way faster on Sunday with his 50 free splits going 25s. 

Adriel Sun
Adriel started Friday off making finals in the 100 breast, finishing 13th with a 1:02.00 and also had a small drop in his 50 free. Saturday Adriel made finals in the 200 breast finishing 9th going 2:14.61 just off the Sectional cut. Adriel also had a small drop in his 400 IM that morning. Sunday Adriel added a bit on his 200 IM but came back Sunday night to help his 200 relays finish 3rd.


Senior 5
Senior 5 wrapped the SC 2022 Championship season with two representatives at JOs…
 

Farah Bowles (13-14)

200 FR - 2:00.33

200 BR - 2:31.45

100 FR - 56.69

200 IM - 2:20.07

400 FR Relay - 11th

400 Medley Relay - 11th

200 Medley Relay - 14th 

200 FR Relay - 13th
 

Isabel Merica-Jones

200 BK - 2:20.45

400 FR Relay - 11th

400 Medley Relay - 11th

200 Medley Relay - 14th 

200 FR Relay - 13th


High Performance
Bella Brito was the one athlete from the HP group who attended 14 and Under JO's. She was coming off of a marathon of swim meets this spring. She swam her heart out, was first place across the board and added tons of value to the 13/14 girls relays. 

Bella Brito - 144 Points - High Point for the team 

100 Breast - 1st Place 1:00.91 

200 Breast - 1st Place 2:13.90 

50 Free - 1st Place 23.24 

100 Free - 1st Place 50.37 

200 IM - 1st Place 2:04.68 

100 Fly - 1st Place 55.5 

200 Free Relay - 13th Place 

400 Free Relay - 11th Place 

200 Med Relay - 14th Place