12 & Under JOs a Big Success

It was another successful championship meet for NJB as five of our swimmers hit the pool deck at the Sonny Werblin Recreation Center at Rutgers University this past weekend for the NJ Swimming 12 & Under Jos. This meet brought together hundreds of the top 12 & Under swimmers from 45 different teams in our LSC. Our 5 qualifying swimmers earned top places, Personal Best Times, Zones cuts, 13 new Team records, and carried our small team to an impressive 15^th Place.  It was an amazing weekend!

For a little perspective, there were 127 Girls in the 11-12 100 Yard Backstroke, 112 Girls in the 11-12 50 Yard Butterfly, 84 Boys in the 11-12 50 Yard Butterfly, 96 Boys in the 11-12 50 Yard Freestyle, and so on.

Rylee Bambara had a great run, dropping time in five of her six events for a cumulative 11+ seconds of time, including drops in her 100 Back (-3.76), 100 Free (-2.78), 200 Free (-3.47), and her 50 Free (-1.07). Going into the meet, Rylee was seeded 107^th in her 100 Back and finished 64^th; 82^nd in the 100 Free and finished 39^th; and so on.

Reese Berg was on a mission, dropping time in 8 of her 9 events, including a 10.33 drop in her 200 Back and a 7.93 drop in her 200 Breast! She placed/scored in the 100 Breast (4^th), 100 Free (12^th), 100 IM (15^th), 200 Breast (5^th), 200 IM (14^th), and 50 Breast (9^th) amassing 48 points. Her 50 Breast, 100 Breast, 200 Breast, 100 IM, and 200 IM set new Team Records! Reese advances to Zones at the Webster Aquatic Center in Webster NY from 3/30-4/2.

Ty Hollar led his posse in stretching before each session then was all business as he went after his 9 qualifying events. He dropped a cumulative 15.35 seconds in 8 of his 9 events, including an impressive 6.53 drop in his 200 Free.

Jonathan Kern, after just aging up to an 11-12, proved he was up to the challenge also dropping time in 8 of his 9 events. All told he dropped an incredible 28.91 cumulatively over the weekend, including an 11.08 drop in his 100 Fly.

Nathaniel Kern was simply the man to beat this weekend. He earned three First Places (100 Fly, 200 Fly, and 50 Fly), two Second Places (100 Free, 50 Free), a Third Place (200 Free), and two Fourth Places (100 and 200 IM) for a combined 140 points. Near the end of the meet Sunday night they stopped to announce the Top-3 Point earners over the course of the meet and Nathaniel was number two out of hundreds of swimmers.  He also had Personal Bests in 8 of his 9 events, including a drop of 10.94 in his 200 Fly! He also set 8 new Team Records in the 50 Free, 100 Free, 200 Free, 50 Fly, 100 Fly, and 200 Fly. Nathaniel advances to Zones at the Webster Aquatic Center in Webster NY from 3/30-4/2.

Congratulations to all and a great weekend and season. Good luck to those moving on!

Next up, Speedo Sectionals in Ithaca, NY this coming weekend…