Maher Halabi Victorious at Boca Raton Simple Development Invite

A host of the newer swimmers from Coral Springs Swim Club spent their most recent Saturday morning competing at the Boca Raton Simple Developmental Invite.  The Simple Invite meet, hosted by Boca Raton Swim Club, featured Sizzler type events (25 yard distances) for the 8 & under swimmers, along with 50 yard distances of each stroke and the 100 yard individual medley for the 14 & under contingent. The purpose of the developmental meet was to, like a Sizzler, introduce new and inexperienced swimmers to competition and the logistics of participating in a swim meet.

Coral Springs Swim Club was very well represented in the 14 & under age category, especially by Maher Halabi, who had an outstanding day of swimming, earning 100% podium placement results. Halabi was the winner of both the boys’ 14 & under 50 yard breaststroke and 50 yard butterfly. In the breaststroke event, Halabi touched the wall over two seconds before the second place competitor, and finished with a smaller but still strong margin of victory of over half a second in the butterfly.  In addition, Maher was the runner up in the 50 yard freestyle, and touched third in the 50 yard backstroke to cap off an exceptional swim meet, more outstanding considering he entered the meet with no times.

A number of other swimmers posted top ten results for Coral Springs Swim Club.  In the boys’ 14 & under age category, Juan Castro Hurtado grabbed sixth place in the 50 yard backstroke, along with seventh in the 50 yard breaststroke. Justin Nation was the eighth place finisher in the 50 yard breaststroke, touched ninth in the 50 yard freestyle, and was tenth in the 50 yard butterfly. Hunter Gruver tallied a ninth place result in the 100 yard individual medley.

On the girls’ side of the 14 & under heat sheet, Tiffany Rubinsky had a very solid swim meet for CSSC.  Rubinsky was the fifth place finisher in the 50 yard backstroke, came in eighth in the 50 yard breaststroke, and was tenth in the 50 yard butterfly.  Additionally, Maya Halabi grabbed eighth in the 50 yard backstroke, an outstanding result as she was the youngest competitor to finish in the top ten.

Shout outs should go to the remainder of the competitors for Coral Springs Swim Club who may not have earned a top ten swim, but swam well, dropped time or posted new times, and earned a lot of experience for future meets.  Those swimmers are Skye Amon, Simone Brown, Logan Dean, Dylan Dollman, Simone Kheifets, Bao Le, Fleur Lombard, Ana Sofia Mogollon Velasquez, Camila Pimentel, Catalina Preston, and Jacob Shafer.

All of the coaches were very pleased with the performances of the swimmers from Coral Springs Swim Club, and equally proud of their exceptional efforts. According to Coach Jessica and Coach Cole, the swimmers faced some challenges and learned some important lessons, while posting numerous best times and first times.  In addition, the lack of a scoreboard among other things provided some challenges for the parents! All in all, the Boca Simple Invite was a very successful swim meet, and a valuable stepping stone to further competition.