December Championships Recap!

December has been a very busy month for our Beach Cities athletes!  In addition to the Winter Age Group Championships (WAGs) in San Clemente, BCS had senior athletes compete at two additional championship meets throughout December.  First, we sent five athletes to the Winter Junior National Championships West in Westmont (Chicago), Illinois; and then we wrapped up our 2023 competition schedule with 13 athletes competing down in Huntington Beach in the Speedo Sectionals meet at Golden West College.

Junior Nationals is one of the most competitive meets in the country each year, and even qualifying for the meet is a tremendous accomplishment.  This year, BCS was represented by Bella Brito (50 Freestyle, 100 Freestyle-9^th, 100 Butterfly, 200 IM-9^th, 100 Breaststroke-4^th, and 200 Breaststroke-4^th), Delaney Herr (50 Freestyle-7^th, 100 Backstroke-10^th, 200 Backstroke, 100 Butterfly), Peyton Kuo (50 Freestyle, 100 Freestyle, 100 Butterfly), Lily Neumann (50 Freestyle, 100 Freestyle, 200 Freestyle), and Alex Thornton (100 Breaststroke, 200 Breaststroke, 200 IM).

It was a great trip and a tremendous learning experience for everyone involved, and some of our individual highlights were Delaney qualifying for her first Junior National ‘A’ final and finishing 7^th in the 50 Freestyle, Bella finishing in 4^th place in both the 100 and 200 Breaststrokes, and Bella notching a new BCS team record in the 200 IM on the way to claiming first in the ‘B’ final.  Overall, we scored 67 points and the Girls team finished in 15^th place overall (up from 48 points and 22^nd place in 2022), and we’re excited to take an even bigger squad back next year!

Speedo Sectionals is a very challenging meet in its own right, as all our athletes were “doubling up”, having already competed at either WAGs or Juniors the week before.  BCS was represented by athletes from our Beach 5, Senior 4, and High Performance training groups, and as a team we were able to come together and walk away as TEAM CHAMPIONS for the Small Team Division (based on the number of athletes each team had competing)!

Eryn Arnold, Kotaro Bell, Anderson Bennett, Gabi Brito, Bella Brito, Delaney Herr, Avalon Kim, Peyton Kuo, Mikki Maemura, Brooke Patel, Alex Thornton, Josh Truong, and Vincent Wang all competed for and represented BCS incredibly well throughout the meet.

Some individual highlights included:

-Eryn Arnold posting new best times in the 400 IM, 200 Breast, and 500 Free, with her time of 5:03.95 in the 500 being good for a new BCS 13-14 TEAM RECORD!

-Kotaro Bell leading off our 400 Medley Relay with a 1.5 second lifetime best in the 100 Back and then following that up with a 7-second drop in the 500 Free!

-Gabi Brito posting yet another 100% lifetime best meet weekend AND qualifying for finals in each of her individual events!

-Delaney Herr placing FIRST in the 100 Backstroke!

-Avalon Kim posting a 2.5-second lifetime best with a time of 2:08.0 in the 200 Backstroke and then coming right back in her swim off and posting ANOTHER 2.5-second drop to dip all the way down to 2:05!

-Peyton Kuo going lifetime bests and qualifying for finals in both the 200 Fly and the 200 IM and then establishing a new BCS TEAM RECORD with his time of 1:51.16 in the 200 Fly at finals!

-The Girls 400 Freestyle Relay of Bella Brito, Eryn Arnold, Mikki Maemura, and Gabi Brito racing to a 3^rd place finish to close out the meet and ultimately secure the small team championship!

Congratulations to ALL our Beach Cities athletes on a great fall season, and we’re looking forward to getting back to racing again soon!