SwimRVA's Record Sized Team Makes Serious Waves at Sectionals!

Incredible Performances at Super Sectionals for Record Sized Championship Team!

Richmond, VA…..We knew this was going to a special weekend of racing long before the elite four day competition began in our home pool at SwimRVA. If you rewind 12 months to last year's Super Sectionals when the Rowdy Rapids had 18 swimmers competing, we were already on top of the world with the size of the Sectional team as it was a ginormous jump from 2022. To beat that number of qualifiers would have been a heck of an accomplishment for SwimRVA and our hard-working senior level athletes. Not only did we beat it, we DESTROYED that record with 29 swimmers signed up for Super Sectionals this year. Without even swimming a single length of the 50 meter "Olympic" Long Course pool, we had already succeeded!

And then the meet began! The energy was high all weekend long with many of the finest swimmers in Rapids history. Whether it was the lightning fast relay performances, the all-time team records, the new championship level qualifying times, or simply the smiles and confidence building swims, the Rowdy Rapids were some of the loudest and most-improved swimmers in the building! Did we mention that it's only the middle of May too?? This type of a competition is one that leads to even more fired up training, more positivity in workouts, and more confidence in racing throughout the rest of the season. But before we get to that point, let's take a second to celebrate the amazingness that was this first "suited" meet of the season.

Ashlyn Keith Earns First Ever Futures Qualifying Time at 14 Years Old!
Sometimes you meet a swimmer who is just "easy to root for" because they are kind, polite, hard-working, dedicated and a great teammate to others. Ashlyn Keith is absolutely that swimmer and her efforts are leading to exceptional accomplishments in the pool too. Her most recent achievement beyond breaking two team records at Super Sectionals, came in the 200 backstroke where she swam a 2:22 on her way to becoming the fastest Rapids swimmer in team history while earning her first ever Futures qualifying time! But that's not where it ended. In fact, she earned new "cut" times in four different event for four differe championship meets over the weekend! Wow! Keep up the amazing work Ashlyn and a huge congratulations goes out to all of our awesome swimmers who finished the weekend with new qualifying times.

New Age Group Champs Qualifying Times
Ashlyn Keith: 200 Free

New Summer Age Group Zones Qualifying Times
Ashlyn Keith: 50 Free

New Futures Champs Qualifying Times
Sidney Kaufman: 100 Back
Ashlyn Keith: 200 Back (NEW QUALIFIER!) 
Ellie Mierenfeld: 200 Back 

New Senior Champs Qualifying Times
Crawford Craig: 200 IM, 100 Back, 200 Back
Kylee Crotts: 100 Free, 50 Free
Elianna Cuce: 100 Breast
Sophia Dugger: 200 Back, 50 Free
Carson Ellenberger: 50 Free
Sasha Garzon: 200 Breast
Ashlyn Keith: 100 Free, 50 Free
Nicholas Kuriger: 100 Breast
Ellie Mierenfeld: 100 Fly, 200 IM, 50 Free
Libby Miyashita: 200 IM
Marcy Mortimer: 200 IM
Kathleen Papiernik: 50 Free

11 Rapids All-Time Team Records Fall at Super Sectionals!
As we enter our 6th long course season (technically 5 because we missed 2020), our team records have gotten pretty spicy in spite of our yout as an overall program.  Generally speaking, we might see 11 team records broken in later championship meets, and do not necessarily expect that to happen in the middle of May.  But then again, here we are talking about 11 more team records at a senior level meet from 5 different individuals and two relays.  Congratulations to Ashlyn Keith, Ellie Mierenfeld, Thomas Senfield, Sasha Garzon and Bryce Mortimer for earning individual all-time records!  You can officially say you are the best ever and that's something worth shouting to the rooftops for!  

New 13-14 Girls SwimRVA Individual Team Records
Ashlyn Keith: 100 free (1:00.68), 200 back (2:22.56)

New 15-16 Girls SwimRVA Individual Team Records
Ellie Mierenfeld: 200 back (2:23.16)

New 15-16 Boys SwimRVA Individual Team Records
Thomas Senfield: 200 back (2:13.92)

New 17-18 Girls SwimRVA Individual Team Records
Sasha Garzon:: 100 breast (1:17.82)

New Open Girls SwimRVA Individual Team Records
Ashlyn Keith: 200 back (2:22.56)

New Open Boys SwimRVA Individual Team Records
Bryce Mortimer: 100 breast (1:04.98), 50 breast (30.25)
Thomas Senfield: 200 back (2:13.92)

New Open Girls SwimRVA Individual Team Records
400 Medley Relay Ellie Mierenfeld, Piper Price, Libby Miyashita, Ashlyn Keith (4:31.89)
800 Free Relay Ashlyn Keith, Piper Price, Kathleen Papiernik, Kylee Crotts (9:05.41)

CLICK HERE for an updated list of SwimRVA Team Records

New All-Time Top 10 Swims from Super Sectionals!
Congratulations to the following swimmers who are among the best we have ever seen!  If you check out the All-Time Top 10 swims for each age, you’ll see this incredible group of swimmers amongst the greatest athletes in SwimRVA history!

Swimmers Who Earned New All-Time Top 10 Swims
Kylee Crotts, Ashlyn Keith, Sophia Dugger, Ellie Mierenfeld, Elianna Cuce, Sidney Kaufman, Piper Price, Sophia Sullivan, Kathleen Papiernick, Josie Van Schaften, Sasha Garzon, Libby Miyashita, Marcy Mortimer, Ayden Greer, Trey Young, Josiah Weber, Crawford Craig, Carson Ellenberger, Jack Clippinger, Thomas Senfield, Alex Brehm, Bryce Mortimer, Nicholas Kuriger 

CLICK HERE for the full All-Time Top 10 list

Bryce Mortimer & Medley Relays Lead the Way for SwimRVA in Finals at Super Sectionals!
Did you get a chance to see what Bryce Mortimer accomplished during his sophmore year at Old Dominion University? If not, go back and look at some of our previous Facebook and Instagram posts because for the second straight seaso, this young man took his swimming to a new statosphere! And it shows in long course already even though the college season ended a few months ago for Bryce. Right out of the gate, he's already under the 1:06 mark for the first time in the 100 breast and even skipped right over 1:05 to go 1:04.98! Poor 1:05.....didn't even get to hang out with Bryce at all, haha! Congratulations Bryce on earning two finals swims (he had to scratch the 200 breast on Sunday) at Super Sectionals!

On the relay side of things, we were absolutely crushing it! To have 10 different relays in the Top 8 overall is amazing!! A bonus congratulations goes out to our girls 400 medley relay (Ellie Mierenfeld, Piper Price, Libby Miyashita, Ashlyn Keith) for finishing a team high 4th overall, and our boys 400 medley relay (Crawford Craig, Bryce Mortimer, Carson Ellenberger, Nicholas Kuriger) for earning the highest boy's finish of 5th overall!

Top 8 Finalists
Women 200 Medley Relay: Kylee Crotts, Piper Price, Kathleen Papiernik, Sophia Sullivan (5th)
Women 200 Medley Relay: Ellie Mierenfeld, Sasha Garzon, Josie Van Schaften, Sophia Dugger (6th)
Men 200 Medley Relay: Thomas Senfield, Bryce Mortimer, Carter Nabors, Nicholas Kuriger (6th) 
Men 800 Free Relay: Thomas Senfield, Jack Clippinger, Trey Young, Josiah Weber (8th)
Women 400 Medley Relay: Ellie Mierenfeld, Piper Price, Libby Miyashita, Ashlyn Keith (4th)
Women 400 Medley Relay: Kylee Crotts, Sasha Garzon, Josie Van Schaften, Sophia Sullivan (7th)
Men 400 Medley Relay: Crawford Craig, Bryce Mortimer, Carson Ellenberger, Nicholas Kuriger (5th)
Men 400 Medley Relay: Thomas Senfield, Jack Clippinger, Carter Nabors, Trey Young (8th) 
Women 200 Free Relay: Sophia Dugger, Ellie Mierenfeld, Ashlyn Keith, Sophia Sullivan (6th)
Men 200 Free Relay: Bryce Mortimer, Trey Young, Nicholas Kuriger, Carter Nabors (7th)

Top 9-16 Finalists
Bryce Mortimer: 100 Breast (13th)
Men 200 Medley Relay: Alex Brehm, Josiah Weber, Carson Ellenberger, Trey Young(10th)
Women 400 Free Relay: Ashlyn Keith, Ellie Mierenfeld, Kylee Crotts, Sophia Dugger (9th)
Women 400 Free Relay: Sophia Sullivan, Sidney Kaufman, Marcy Mortimer, Kathleen Papiernik (10th) 
Men 400 Free Relay: Trey Young, Bryce Mortimer, Alex Brehm, Carson Ellenberger (9th)
Men 400 Free Relay: Jack Clippinger, Crawford Craig, Thomas Senfield, Josiah Weber (11th)
Women 800 Free Relay: Ashlyn Keith, Piper Price, Kathleen Papiernik, Kylee Crotts (9th)
Women 200 Free Relay: Kylee Crotts, Sidney Kaufman, Josie Van Schaften, Elianna Cuce (9th)
Men 200 Free Relay: Carson Ellenberger, Jack Clippinger, Alex Brehm, Josiah Weber (11th) 

Top 17-32 Finalists
Jack Clippinger: 200 Breast
Kylee Crotts: 200 Back
Elianna Cuce: 100 Breast
Sasha Garzon: 100 Breast
Sidney Kaufman: 100 Back
Ashlyn Keith: 100 Back, 100 Free, 200 Back
Ellie Mierenfeld: 100 Back, 200 Back
Piper Price: 200 Breast
Thomas Senfield: 200 Back

Alex Brehm Shows Massive Improvement with 24 Second Ginormous Drop in 400 IM!
It was a funny thing talking to Alex Brehm about his 400 IM at Super Sectionals before the meet started because he wasn't terribly sure about it. If you look back at 2023, Alex had not yet realized that he had the potential to become a star in the all-encompassing event that many consider to be the most challenging in the sport. If you know Alex, though, you know that he doesn't back down from a challenge, EVER....and he will push himself beyond his previous limits on a consistent basis, even in the 400 IM in practice. So it came as no surprise that he absolutely destroyed this race for a ridiculous 24 second GINORMOUS DROP! It was very well-deserved for one of the kindest and warmest Rapids swimmers in our program's history. Way to go Alex and congrats to each of you who had some insane drops (bonus shout-out Libby Miyashita for a 13 second drop in the 400 IM!)

Ginormous Drops 

Alex Brehm: 400 IM (-24.36)

Crawford Craig: 200 IM (-10.01)

Sophia Dugger: 200 Back (-9.29), 200 Free (-7.20)

Ashlyn Keith: 200 Back (-9.35)

Libby Miyashita: 400 IM (-13.73)

Kathleen Papiernick: 200 Fly (-8.87)

Shout-Outs to Rowdy Rapids!
Congratulations to the following Rapids swimmers from the various training groups who did something truly special and unique over the weekend!  You deserve a shout-out category of your own!

• Shout-out to Kathleen Papiernick and Ashlyn Keith for winning back to back heats in the prelims of the 50 free!
• Shout-out to Thomas Senfield and Libby Miyashita for stepping up and being leaders on the deck! 
• Shout-out to Tara Walker for volunteering at the meet Thursday-Sunday!