CSSC Records Ten First Place Results at Naples T2 Norris Meet

Close to 40 members of Coral Springs Swim Club made the trip to the west coast of Florida, specifically Naples, to compete in the 2024 T2 Norris Foundation Meet, held during Memorial Day weekend and hosted by T2 Aquatics. Attendance at the Norris Meet has developed into an annual tradition for CSSC, and swimmers ranging in age from 8 – 18 made the journey with their families to continue the team’s participation during this year’s travel meet. CSSC was extremely successful, as five swimmers earned a total of ten gold medal positions at the meet, which was attended mainly by teams representing the Florida Swimming LSC. In addition, every swimmer posted top eight results, best times, and/or Age Group and BB cuts for Coral Springs Swim Club.

The youngest CSSC swimmer to earn a victory in Naples was Emanuel Quintero, who really found his groove during the most recent short course season which resulted in an All-Star berth in March.  Quintero, competing in the 10 & under age group had a remarkable swim meet, earning victories in both the 50 and 100 meter breaststroke events, racking up a total of 40 seconds in time improvements in those two events alone. Other results for Quintero included third in the 100 meter backstroke, fourth in both the 50 meter backstroke and 100 meter freestyle, and fifth in the 50 meter freestyle, all with dramatic time improvements. In fact, the only event in which Emanuel did not post a new best time was in the 12 & under 400 meter freestyle, with the reason being that he entered the event with no time.  Long course season is certainly off to a successful start for Emanuel Quintero.

Continuing in age order, a pair of 11 year olds also earned victories at the T2 Norris meet.  On the boys’ side, Oscar Lans Mendoza took the top spot in the 200 meter freestyle, doing so by improving his time by 12 seconds, to win the very close race by a margin of just 0.3 seconds.  Lans Mendoza posted top results in other events, including second in the 100 meter freestyle, third in the 100 meter butterfly, fourth in both the 50 meter freestyle and backstroke, and fifth in the 50 meter butterfly, all with best times.  Like Quintero, Oscar’s only event in which he did not post a time improvement was in a distance event, this the 800 meter freestyle, which was a new event for him. The Naples meet was a showcase for Lans Mendoza as well.

Hayley Cohen, swimming for the 11-12 girls of Coral Springs Swim Club, grabbed the victory in the 200 meter butterfly, with the win coming as a result of an 18 second time improvement, to win that event by a comfortable margin. Hayley also took second in the 200 meter freestyle with a new best time, and eighth in the 50 meter freestyle.  Cohen also had an outstanding swim in the girls 800 meter freestyle, which was an open event.  She improved her previous best time by almost one minute to finish 15^th in the event, but second for 11-12 swimmers, and the best result for an eleven year old.

A pair of CSSC boys earned victories in the boys’ 13 & over age category. The very steady John Albornoz was once again at or near the top of the results in all of his events at the T2 Norris meet.  Albornoz touched the wall first in the 800 meter freestyle (best time), the 200 and 400 meter individual medley events (the former coming with a best time), and the 100 and 200 meter breaststrokes. Additionally, John was third in both the 50 meter breaststroke and 400 meter freestyle, and earned a personal best with his fourth place finish in the 200 meter freestyle.  Albornoz has turned into a true leader for the CSSC boys team, and at just 14 years old, has many more years of club swimming in his future.

Adding to the haul of first place finishes was Sean Carlucci, who took the top spot in the boys’ 13 & over 50 meter breaststroke, shaving almost 3 seconds off his personal best.  Carlucci also grabbed eighth in the 200 meter breaststroke by posting another new time improvement.

A multitude of additional CSSC swimmers earned top eight finishes at the T2 Norris Foundation meet.  Strongest for the 10 & under girls was Leah Ortega, who posted 100% top five finishes to coincide with 100% new best times.  Ortega’s best results were second in the 50 meter breaststroke, along with third in the 200 meter freestyle.  Additionally, Leah took fourth in the 50 and 100 meter freestyles, as well as the 50 meter backstroke, and fifth in the 50 meter butterfly.  Also proving successful in the 10 & under girls group was Emmeline Keyser, who touched the wall third in both the 50 meter backstroke and freestyle (both best times), fourth in the 200 meter freestyle and 100 meter backstroke (best time), and sixth in the 100 meter freestyle, also with a new personal best.

In the boys’ 10 & under competition, Logan Lalinde joined Emanuel Quintero in posting numerous top eight finishes.  Lalinde was third in the 200 meter individual medley, fourth in the 200 meter freestyle, fifth in the 100 meter backstroke, and sixth in both the 50 meter freestyle and backstroke.  Logan posted new best times in the 50 free and 200 IM, and was entered into the 200 free with no previous time.

Moving up to the 11-12 age group, Ryan Robins had an outstanding meet with four top eight results, including fourth in both the 50 meter breaststroke and 200 meter individual medley, seventh in the 100 meter breaststroke, and eighth in the 50 meter butterfly. Robins earned best times in three of those four events.  Lukian Fleury grabbed two top eight finishes, those being fifth in the 100 meter backstroke, and eighth in the 400 meter freestyle.  Both events came with best times, including an amazing 27 second time improvement in the 400 free.  Elizabeth Gonzalez earned a sixth place result in the 50 meter backstroke, and seventh in the 50 meter butterfly, both with new best times. Lastly, Angelo Baldanza grabbed the eighth place position in the 200 meter individual medley, also with a new best time by almost six seconds.

The 13 & over squad posted an abundant number of top eight results during the course of the weekend as well.  In addition to Albornoz and Carlucci, Roman Kondrashov had an extremely solid swim meet, especially since at 13 years old, he was the youngest swimmer in that age category.  Kondrashov was the third place finisher in the 200 meter butterfly, and also had an outstanding 800 meter freestyle swim, improving his time by 19 seconds to finish fourth. He was also fourth in the 400 meter freestyle, fifth in both the 50 & 100 meter butterfly, sixth in the 100 meter backstroke, and seventh in the 200 meter freestyle. Lastly, Roman posted 100% best times at the Norris meet, to continue his consistent improvement at each and every meet.

Anthony Palumbo took third in the 200 meter backstroke, posting a new personal best, as well as fifth in both the 50 and 100 meter backstrokes, and eighth in the 400 meter freestyle. Kamran Varghese had a great swim meet as well, finishing seventh in both the 50 meter breaststroke and 200 meter breaststroke, and eighth in the 200 meter backstroke.  Varghese improved his previous best times in both breaststroke events. Ben Denevi dropped a whopping 16 seconds in the 200 meter backstroke to touch fifth.

Carly Chin posted great results for the CSSC 13 & under girls team, namely third place finishes in both the 50 meter freestyle and 50 meter butterfly. Chin also touched the wall fifth in the 100 meter freestyle.  Emma Baker grabbed three top eight finishes as well, those being sixth in the 400 meter individual medley, seventh in the 50 meter breaststroke, and eighth in the 100 meter breaststroke.  Alexa Anthony had an excellent swim in the 200 meter backstroke, improving her time by four seconds to touch eighth.

Even though they did not earn a top eight result, as is recognized in long course meets, the following swimmers finished in the top ten in one or more events for Coral Springs Swim Club: in the 11-12 age group, Emily Camacho, Juan Castro Hurtado, and Gabi Tallas; and in the 13 & over category, Matteo Baldanza, Jason Brunshteyn, Isabella Garfias, and Madison Laski. Additionally, Hande Kizikli and Lucas Pazmino grabbed 100% best times, and Skye Amon, Zoey Kucuk-Lake, Addison Palumbo, Camila Pimentel, Matias Quintero, Sebastian Rincon-Villegas, and Amanda Robins all earned at least one personal best time. Lastly, eight year old Oliver Pazmino, one of the youngest swimmers at the Norris Meet, swam long course for the first time, and placed very well in many of his events.

The next event for CSSC will feature a small group of swimmers, who will be heading to the 2024 USA Swimming Southern Zone Open Water Championships. The open water meet, hosted by Kentucky Swimming and held at Barren River Lake State Park in Lucas, KY, May 31- June 2, will feature individual, pursuit, and relay events ranging in distances from 2 – 5 kilometers. Following the Open Water Championships will be the 2024 Michael Lohberg Invitational, held June 14-16 at the Coral Springs Aquatic Complex. The Lohberg Invitational will feature timed finals events on Friday afternoon, along with prelims and finals events on Saturday and Sunday.  Admission to the meet is $5.00 per session, however, meet volunteers receive complimentary admission, so it’s always a good idea to see what positions are available to help support the team and swimmers!