Junior Olympics

Hey, Team!

Congratulations to this year’s Junior Olympic team of Stephanie Doi, Chris Dotson, Thomas Gjerde, Sophia Krafcik, Liz Reimer, Taylor Rohovit, Ryan Ridosko, Natalie Tang, Alex Torrez, Katie Tsui, Caleb Wagner, Julian Wagner, and Grant Yap! These 13 swimmers toughed out trials and finals for three full days and, combined with points from relays, came out 15^th overall in the meet, which included many large local teams and several from out of the area.

                Finalists included Stephanie Doi, Thomas Gjerde, Taylor Rohovit, Natalie Tang, and Katie Tsui. The team’s highest scores came from Natalie Tang (finals in the 100, 200 free; 100, 200 back) and Stephanie Doi (finals in the 100 breast, 200 fly, 200 IM). Major points also came from the relays, which scored double the points of the individual events! The 15-18 girls (Stephanie, Natalie, Alex, Katie, Maria Carlson) took home a 5^th-place finish in the 200 free relay and 6^th in the 400 free relay. Congratulations to the girls, and all the other relay swimmers who got to come out for the finals sessions!

                Not to be outdone or overlooked were the distance swimmers – Julian Wagner raced EVERY distance event, finishing 2^nd in the 800 and 3^rd in the 1500 (and on the same day as his grueling almost-best 400 IM!), racing a total of 3800 meters over the 3-day weekend, including relay swims. Natalie Tang also took 2^nd in the 800 free.

                For some of these swimmers, JO’s marked the end of their long course competition season. Most of them, however, saw the meet as just the beginning of their championship meets! This week, senior swimmers Maria Carlson, Stephanie Doi, and Natalie Tang along with our college swimmers Chris Dotson and Brent Reed make the trip down to Santa Clarita to compete at Sectionals Championships. Liz Reimer and Alex Torrez will join the girls to complete their relays. Wish them luck if you see them around the pool!

                In just three short weeks, many of the other swimmers will be competing at Far Westerns, the largest age-group competition on this side of the country. To all of our qualifiers, great job making the cut – but the job’s only half done! Keep up the good work in practice as you prepare for your biggest meet of the season!

Awesome job thus far, and I can’t wait to see what’s left for everyone of this summer. See you ‘round the pool!

Natalie Tang

Team Captain