Last Great Summer Swims By TVA Swimmers

Well, as sad as I am to say it, summer is almost over. Long course season drew to an official close with the end of the Western Zones Age Group Championship last week in Grand Junction, Colorado, where Stephanie Doi and Thomas Gjerde represented Tri Valley Aquatics and Pacific Swimming in an all-out battle against Team Colorado (and others, but the meet was really a duel between those two forces).

In the end, Colorado came out on top by a mere 6.5 points, but that’s not to say Stephanie and Thomas didn’t perform at the highest level. Literally – they were competing at over 4,500 feet above sea level for the five-day meet! Even then, Stephanie managed to squeeze 2 new best times, and both she and Thomas survived the 200 fly, which we all know is hard enough at sea level…

In other end-of-season news, three of our swimmers made it into the Pacific Swimming top 25 age group times! Congratulations to Maria Carlson (100 and 200 breast), Thomas Gjerde (100 fly), and Julian Wagner (1500 free) for really representing TVA well.

But that’s not all! At the North American Challenge Cup a few weeks ago, Maria Carlson’s 400 medley relay broke the National All-star relay record, while Natalie Tang’s 400 freestyle relay broke the Pacific Swimming All-star relay record.

Congratulations to all of our swimmers on a great long course season! With school approaching, there’s one thing we can all look forward to – SHORT COURSE SEASON! (Well, I’m excited at least…). Enjoy your break from swimming, and we’ll see you all back in the pool August 27^th!

Natalie Tang

Team Captain