Summer Long Course Junior Olympics Champ's

Tri Valley Aquatics had an outstanding meet at the Junior Olympics Championship this past weekend in Concord – with just nine swimmers, the team scored enough points to rank them twelfth among many larger teams. Out of 64 individual races, there were 31 personal best times and 18 top-eight finishes.

            On the girls side, Stephanie Doi took home the most points with a second-place finish in the 400 IM, third in both the butterfly races, fifth in the 200 IM, and seventh in the 100 freestyle. In addition to placing in almost all of her events, Doi swam five personal bests. Teammate Maria Carlson swam a blazing 100 breaststroke to win the event and come within 0.4 of the Junior National cut; Carlson also placed in the 200 breaststroke (third) and 100 backstroke (seventh). Natalie Tang landed finals top-eight positions in the 200 backstroke (second), 100 freestyle (fourth), 200 freestyle (fourth), 100 backstroke (fourth), and 50 freestyle (sixth) and swam four best times. Lissi Knell also took home three personal bests.    

            For the boys, Julian Wagner and Kyle Shepodd tied for the most points scored, Wagner with a third-place finish in the 1500 freestyle and seventh in the 400 IM, and Shepodd with fourth- and sixth-place finishes in the 100 and 200 breaststrokes, respectively. Each had multiple swims that came out far faster than any of their previous personal records. Thomas Gjerde also scored points with his 100 butterfly, in which he took home fourth with a best time. Jordan Reznick and Caleb Wagner each swam three events, with best times in each race.

            With the Junior Olympics over, the TVA swimmers look to bigger venues. The Far Westerns Championships is the largest age-group championship in Pacific Swimming, and Stephanie Doi, Thomas Gjerde and Jordan Reznick will head to San Jose to compete in early August while Maria Carlson and Natalie Tang are racing in Canada at the North American Challenge Cup all-star meet.