Junior Champs Recap

THE DYNASTY CONTINUES

In an incredible come from behind performance, the Waves dominated Sunday night finals to run away with their fifth consecutive Inland Empire Swimming Junior Championship. It is also the 7th championship in the last 11 years.

The Waves now prepare for the Inland Empire Swimming Short Course Championships in Moscow, Idaho during the weekend of March 1-3. After winning IES Long Course Champs in July, and adding this victory, the Waves are seeking to become the first team in IES history to win all 3 Inland Empire Championship Meets in a row.

Here's a day-by-day review of the meet.

The Waves started off Friday with a bang, with solid distance freestyle races. Drew Kistler and Jeran Jordan had the most impressive swims of the night, finishing 1-2 in the 9-10 boys 200 free. Eliza Rhee and Jordyn Dashiell followed it up with a 2-4 finish in the 11-12 girls 500 free. Kelton Ellis was a solid fourth in 11-12 boys 500 free, while Abi Millet, Hannah Faulwell, and Emma Thackston went 2, 3, 4 in the 13-14 girls.

Jeran Jordan stormed out to an early lead and held on to win the 9-10 boys 200 IM. Jodryn Dashiell methodically moved up from 8th after the fly to finish 2nd in the 11-12 girls 200 IM with an IES Champs qualifying time ; Kelton Ellis again swam to a hard fought 4th in the 11-12 boys race. Sophie Madill and Hannah Faulwell closed out the night with a gre 2-3 finish in the 13-14 girls 400 IM.

Despite these fantastic efforts, the Waves found themselves in second place, behind Velocity, with Tri-Cities nipping at our heels.

The Waves shot into first with some awesome relays. Our 8&U girls finished 1-2 in the 100 Medley Relay, while our 10&U girls A relay fought hard for 5th. Our 10&U boys team exploded in the last 100 to win the 200 Medley Relay. Our 12&U girls finished 2nd & 7th, while the 12&U boys held on for 2nd & 6th in their relays. Swimming 400 Medley relays, our 14&U girls finished an impressive 1-4, while our 14&U boys finished 3rd.

In 10&U finals that morning, Jordan Gray & Jake Gendreau had solid swims in their 8&U age group, with Jordan scoring in every event, while Jake went 2 for 3. Bromley Ross had a great morning, scoring in the 100 back. Preston Egan & Jeran Jordan finished 1st & 4th in the 9-10 boys 50 free. Andrew Lambert, Jeran Jordan, and Drew Kistler finished 1, 2, 4, in the 9-10 100 fly. Andrew Lambert also finished 3rd in the 100 back.

Despite a great morning, the Waves were in a close 3rd heading into Saturday night finals.

Sophie Madill, Hannah Faulwell, and Maisie Crane kicked it off with a 1-3-5 finish in the 200 IM; Adam Sonneland scored in the boys race. Jordyn Dashiell won the 11-12 girls 50 free, while Chris Hoy finished 6th for the boys; Hailey Annis and Mary Boyd kept it rolling with solid finishes in 13-14 girls 50 free.

Eliza Rhee and Josh Madill each placed 4th in the 11-12 100 fly; Abi Millet, Erin Vopalensky, Maisie Crane, Mary Boyd and Sophie Madill added a dominating 1-3-5-6-8 finish in the 13-14 200 fly, while David Wray cruised to the victory in 13-14 boys.

Eliza Rhee won the 11-12 50 breast, while Kelton Ellis finished 6th for the boys. Erin Vopalensky, Abi Millet, and Emma Thackston finished 2-3-8 in the 13-14 girls 100 breast, while David Wray snuck in for 2nd place.

Emma Drysdale finished 4th in the 11-12 girls 200 free, while Kelton Ellis got a sweet touchout for 3rd in 11-12 boys. Our 13-14 girls did it again, with Hannah Faulwell, Maisie Crane, Abi Millet, Mary Boyd, and Emma Thackston finishing 1-2-3-6-7.

The evening ended with Jordyn Dashiell & Eliza Rhee going 2-4 in the 11-12 girls 100 back, Kelton Ellis finishing 6th in the boys, Sophie Madill finishing 2nd in 13-14 girls, and David Wray finishing 4th.

When the dust settled Saturday night, the Waves had surged to 475 points, 28 ahead of Tri-Cities and 45 ahead of Velocity.

Sunday saw continued inspired swimming from our relay teams, and a great effort from our 10&u crew.

Our freestyle relays were outstanding: our girls 8&U relay swam to a victory, and was followed by our 10&U girls who finished 4th & 7th. Our 10&U boys relay finished 3rd, and our 12&U girls finished 3rd & 6th. Our 11-12 boys blew the roof off, winning the event in meet record time! Their amazing performance inspired our 14&U girls, who also won their relay in meet record time, with our B relay finishing 5th. The relays ended with a solid 3rd & 6th finish from our 14&U boys.

Our 8&U were led by strong efforts from Jordan Gray and Jake Gendreau who both scored in 2 out of the 3 races. Bromley Ross was at it again, placing 6th in the 50 back, 8th in the 100 breast, and 5th in the 100 IM.

Heading into finals, the Waves again found themselves behind, this time 8 points down to Velocity; it certainly didn't last long!

Jordyn Dashiell and Eliza Rhee finished 2-5 in the girls 11-12 50 back, while Ethan Drysdale finished 3rd. Erin Vopalensky, Sophie Madill, Emma Thackston, Mary Boyd, & Maisie Crane finished 1-4-6-7-8 in the 13-14 200 back, while David Wray swam to a solid 2nd place.

Emma Drysdale led the 100 free wire-wire, cruising to a 1st place finish in the 11-12 girls. Abi Millet followed it up with a similar performance winning the 13-14 girls race, and was followed by Emma Thackston's squeaking into 5th. Matthew Christoff swam to a strong 7th place in 13-14 boys 100 free.

Eliza Rhee and Jordyn Dashiell went 1-2 in the 11-12 girls 100 breast, while Kelton Ellis and Griffen Staufenberg finished 3-7 in the boys race. Erin Vopalensky, Abie Millet, and Emma Thackston powered their way to a 1-2-7 finish in the 13-14 girls 200 breast, while David Wray dominated the 13-14 boys, nearly breaking the meet record.

Eliza Rhee capped off her meet with a close 5th place finish in the 50 fly, while Josh Millet and Ethan Drysdale finished 6-7 in the 11-12 boys race. Sophie Madill won the 100 fly, with Mary Boyd and Maisie Crane finishing 5th & 6th. David Wray swam to a strong 4th place in the 13-14 boys.

The evening concluded with  Jordyn Dashiell finishing 4th in the 11-12 girls 100 IM, while Kelton Ellis and Ethan Drysdale finished 5th & 8th in the boys race.

Thanks to such incredible racing from our entire team, the Waves had secured their 5th consecutive Junior Champ title, and 7th in the last 11 years, out pacing Velocity and Tri-Cities by a final count of  815-743.5-714.

Overall, the Waves finished with a best time rate of 77%, which is incredible considering that many of our 11&O athletes swam their races twice. This also includes any best times from leading off a relay.

Every single athlete had a least 1 best time swim, and every single athlete contributed to our team's score. It was an incredible and improbably weekend, culminated with the traditional dunking of the coaches.

A special thank you to Coach Hailee and Coach Natalie who were awesome! Of course, a HUGE thank you to all of the families who made it such an awesome experience! Great work Waves!

Keddy