2019 All Stars Recap

IST’s ANDREW NGUYEN was selected as part of Pacific Northwest Swimming’s All-Star Team at the 2019 Pacific Coast All Stars meet in Commerce, CA.

The All Star Meet is an annual competition between the top 32 athletes aged 11-14 representing different Local Swim Committees (LSCs) along the West Coast: Pacific Northwest Swimming, Oregon Swimming, Pacific Swimming (CA), and Southern California Swimming. The meet typically takes place in January, and hosting duties rotate among the participating LSCs.

PNS requires that swimmers apply for the team in order to enter consideration. Event winners at the 14&U Short Course Championship meet automatically qualify, while the remaining spots are filled by evaluating each applicant’s overall Power Points totals. There are 8 roster spots each for 11-12 Girls, 11-12 Boys, 13-14 Girls, and 13-14 Boys. Andrew’s successful application resulted from a Power Point total of 4,302, which placed him third on the 11-12 Boys depth chart!

Over the course of the weekend, swimmers compete in up to six individual events and four relays as selected by the PNS coaching staff. Andrew entered the 100 IM, 100 BK, and 100 BR on Day 1, and the 50 BR, 100 FL and 50 BK on Day 2. He also formed part of the 200 & 400 Medley and Freestyle relays.

Day 1 began with the 200 Free Relay, where the PNS “B” team finished in 8^thplace with a 1:44.32. Andrew’s split of 25.19 represented the fastest time on the relay by over a second. Next up were the 100 IM, where he finished in 9^thplace with a best time of 1:01.40, and 100 Backstroke, where he placed 10^thwith a best time of 1:02.12. The day wrapped up with the 100 Breaststroke (1:08.06 / 6^thPlace) and 400 Medley Relay. As part of the PNS “A” team, Andrew split a 1:08.97 in the Breaststroke leg on the way to 3^rdplace team finish.

Day 2 kicked off with a bang as the PNS “A” team placed first overall in the 200 Medley Relay (Andrew split 30.47 in the BR leg). He carried that momentum into his next individual event, where he sprinted to a 30.89 in the 50 BR, dropping 0.40 seconds from his personal best and finishing 5^thplace overall. “I was most excited for the 50 BR race,” he said. “I wanted to drop because the last time I swam the race was at Finals at 14&U Champs and I added time. I knew I could go faster.”

Next came the 100 FL, the event that he was least excited about swimming. “I wasn’t looking forward to that race because I knew I would be going into it tired. I had been swimming a lot of events.” Even so, he managed a solid 1:04.68, which was right on his personal best time and good for a 15^thplace finish. His fatigue seemed to disappear, as he wrapped up the meet with a personal best 29.03 in the 50 Backstroke (a drop of 0.93 seconds / 10^thPlace) and a great split on the PNS “B” 400 Freestyle Relay (56.65) that powered them to an 8^thplace finish.

As he reflected on his experience, Andrew said his favorite part of the meet was swimming on relays with the other athletes from PNS teams: since they so often race against one another, it was great to be able to come together as a team.

Congratulations on a great meet, Andrew!