2014 MBR Grand Prix #1

Riptides swim team Hosts First Meet of Season:
The Myrtle Beach Riptides swim team hosted their first meet of the season Sept 27, 2014 at the North Myrtle Beach Aquatic and Fitness Center.  The event was the first meet of the 12/Under Grand Prix Series.  The Grand Prix Series consists of five meets hosted in the lowcountry and is designed to educate new swimmers to USA-Swimming and provide competition to intermediate swimmers as well.  Grand Prix #1 had nearly 140 participants from Charleston, Mount Pleasant and Myrtle Beach.

For the Riptides, it Grand Prix #1 also served as an opportunity to educate new team members to how a USA-Swimming meet operates and prepare for the 2^nd Annual Myrtle Beach Riptides’ “IM” for Breast Cancer Awareness meet in October.

Peyton McWhorter was the first Riptides’ swimmer to achieve a 2014-15 SC Swimming State Championship qualifying time.  McWhorter achieved the standard in the 50-butterfly and went 4-4 in personal best times.

Sammy Trezza led the Riptides with the single largest improvement of more than 37 seconds in the 200-yard freestyle.  Trezza also improved over 19 seconds in the 100-breaststroke and a best time in the 50-backstroke.

Several more Riptides’ achieve double-digit improvements in events, including Jake Flaherty Kailey Habib and Matthew Key.  Rafael Adi, Keyon Berenji, Dayton Busse, Kamea Herte, Hannah McDonough, Ethan Nechemia, Ireland Rose, Chloe Stampfle and Rui Zhang each swam to multiple personal best times.

Maya Adi, Olivia Bailey, Stella Bailey, Jack Gunthinger, Joe Guthinger, Ella Habib, Dan Henington, Nevaeh Johns, Emily Larkins, Brady Morris and Sterigos Paraschos each competed in their first meet with Riptides.

Head coach James Smith was very pleased with the performances from the Riptides.

“Considering the team has been in the water for less than a month, the results were very good.  We had very few dq’s [disqualifications] and the one’s we did have were expected.  Typically, newer swimmers will have technical flaws in the butterfly and breaststroke events,” Smith said.