Wave November Invite Meet Recap Part 1

Jay Pearson

Wave finished the fall regular season with our own invitational last weekend. Nearly the entire team (318 Wave swimmers) swam in more than 2000 races (including finals) over three days, with many swimmers picking up new PNS Champs cuts or US Swimming motivational times, not to mention a trio of new team records as well as a Futures cut by Freddy Larson. Many thanks go out to our meet director, Alan Cardwell, and the head of our boosters organization, Steven Blackmon, without whom this meet would not have been so successful. We also want to thank all the officials and volunteers who helped our swimmers, as well as Bellingham Bay Swim Team for joining us.

Next up: It's post-season time with three straight weekends of PNS Champs and the MAB Splash & Dash! Good luck, Wave Swimmers!

Below are the meet recaps for each group. All the new motivational times will be in part 2 of the recap.

Age Group Select

There are not enough words to fully express how well the athletes swam this past weekend! Everyone had at least one best time, and all our 11-yr-olds made finals. More importantly, they were great teammates not just for each other, but for swimmers in other groups as well, cheering and supporting the entire team!

Shout outs go to Kailyn Wing, Navya Sainani, and Aayush Rane, who all made their first PNS Champs cuts; Kamilla Bugaitsova, who earned two new A times; and Lasya Viswanadham, who earned her first Zones cut (that’s two championship levels above PNS Champs!).

In addition, Kamilla and Karolina Pastusiak both won a race on their final stroke by stretching for the wall rather than taking an extra stroke…all after being behind the entire race!

Other highlights (and there are many!):

  • Ethan Chan discovered he’s a darn good backstroker, finaling in both the 50 and the 100
  • Kamilla Bugaitsova won the 100 back and 100 free
  • Olivia DeAmicis won the 100 fly and took fourth in her first-ever 200 back
  • Ellen Feng dropped time in all her races, including a 6-second drop in the 100 free
  • Sophia Gorveatt earned a BB time and second place in her first-ever 500 free
  • Olivia Henaire earned her first-ever BB time in the 50 breast to go along with best times in all her races
  • Tommy (who turned 11 on Sunday!) had 6 best times and two new BB times
  • Nora Herman dropped 9 seconds in her 100 fly and picked up two new BB times
  • Kiara Keim had four best times and a new BB time in her 100 back. She also stayed for the 11&Over finals on Sunday night, cheering on her teammates!
  • Richelle Li made finals in her first-ever 200 breast as well as her 50 breast
  • Mark Lukiyanov had four best times, including a 10-second drop and second place finish in his 500 free
  • Molly Mayfield picked up not one, but three BB times, her first-ever, averaging 7-second drops in those three swims!
  • Shir Netz swam her first-ever 200 back AND 200 breast. In the 200 back, she earned second place, a BB time, and a PNS cut!
  • Theresa Nguyen had five best times and finaled in three events
  • Karolina Pastusiak broke the 1:30 in her 100 breast to finish first as the youngest person in that event
  • Amelia Pletosu dropped 26 seconds in her 100 IM and 9 seconds in her 100 free to go along with a B time in her first-ever 100 fly
  • Vien Pogue picked up fifth place in her first-ever 200 breast…as well as a BB time and a PNS cut!
  • Aayush Rane celebrated his 11th birthday by swimming his first-ever 500 free (and a 4th place finish), six best times, and a PNS cut in his first-ever 200 back
  • Rachel Rose had five best times, including a 9-second drop in her 100 back and a 10-second drop in her 100 free
  • Navya Sainani not only had four best times, but two new BB times and her first-ever PNS cut in the 100 breast
  • Beata Sobol earned a new B time in all five races where she had a best time, including a 9.5-second drop in the 50 fly
  • Max Stevenson not only had the two biggest time improvements in AGS (28-second drop in the 100 IM and 32-second drop in the 100 free), but earned his first three B times
  • Ella Tulanon won both the 200 and 500 free as an 11-year-old! In the 500, she dropped 21 seconds and earned a BB time
  • Lasya Viswanadham earned a Zone time in the 100 breast and won five races. She also earned an A time in the 50 back
  • Kailyn Wing earned four BB times and two PNS cuts. She also won the 100 breast
  • Isshin Yokoyama earned his first-ever BB time in the 50 back as well as three new B times to go along with a 10-second drop in his 100 free and a 14-second drop in his 100 back
  • Kyra Yuan had four best times and picked up two new B times

Black Sport Group

Black had 59 athletes at the meet this past weekend which was awesome to have so many of you there! As coaches, we were very busy but it’s a good busy, and it was a blast watching all the kids race and see the progress they are making.

We had some kids who dropped tons of time in races, a couple athletes make their first US Swimming B times which is awesome, and some races that I thought were outstanding for a variety of reasons. But each race and each athlete have a background story that allows them to perform the way they did.

We have two groups of athletes in Black. One group started a while ago, and over time they have made steady progress with things. The other group is just getting started but is doing a terrific job. We were excited with how both groups did, given their respective experience. For some kids, we were excited to see them execute a backstroke finish just like they’ve worked on in practice. For some it was seeing them attack a longer race that might have been intimidating for them a few months ago. For some, it was seeing them start with a streamline dive. Lots of small victories, and over time, those small victories start to pile up into bigger things.

There are too many kids to tell all their stories here, but there are few I wanted to highlight that I was excited about as a coach. These are definitely not the only athletes we were excited about, but these give a good illustration of what the all-important process is like, and what we want to instill in the athletes to help them grow. The times are never as important as the process to get to those times.

Often, as coaches and athletes, the things we get most excited about are the things that take the most effort to accomplish. If it comes easy, there just isn’t as much personal value as the things they really have to work at to nail down. Each of these examples below have taken time and effort to get to where they are currently, and as a coach, I hope that they continue to push forward as they all have huge gains they can continue to make.

  • Max Malinovskyi: Max has been with us for a while, I think he started when he was 5. It took Max quite a bit to finally swim a legal 25 fly, and then a legal 100 IM, and he was working so hard to get those races down- both in practice and at meets, but eventually he got there, and both he and the coaches couldn’t be prouder when that happened. Max has always been a strong kicker, and he made use of that this past weekend, especially in his 50 free, 100 free and 50 back where he posted some very strong times, including his first B time in the 50 back. He also completed his first 50 fly legally this past weekend, with a strong looking stroke and a solid time that I believe will improve even more in the near future.
  • Allison Wang: Allison does a fantastic job in practice of working to develop her skills as well as putting out physical effort. Her freestyle and butterfly have made terrific progress, but really she’s solid across the board with all four strokes, and if you look at her times in her 50s she within a few seconds of making a B time in all four of them. I was super stoked to have her race the 100 Free this past weekend, an event she hadn’t done in a while so was ready to show what she’s been doing in practice, and sure enough, she crushed it going 1:36 and putting on display all the skills she has been developing with her freestyle.
  • Ally Yuan: Ally puts awesome effort into practice and is very consistent with that. I felt that she did a wonderful job of putting some skills together from practice into her races this past weekend, especially in her 50 Fly and her 50 Back. Both of those strokes are starting to look more like what some coaches call big girl strokes. She had a great meet overall, but I was very excited to see her use those practice skills and how that paid off for her. Like Max, she also earned her first B time in her 50 Back.
  • George Ursulenko: I’m going to be honest here, George had some rough spots over the weekend missing a couple races, and he and I had some conversations about that. But on the flip side, he had some terrific races that I was super excited to see. I think George sees himself as a breaststroker- and he has some nice skills for that stroke, but I see him as a swimmer, and when you look at how well he did in his 100 free and 100 back over the weekend, yeah, he’s a swimmer. Like the other athletes mentioned above, George does a great job in practice of working to improve and that shows at the meets. The race I was most excited about for him was his 50 Fly. Now, full disclosure, he was disqualified in that race for a one hand touch on the turn, but oh my goodness he did such a great job of executing the stroke he’s been working on at practice. Hands down, that was the best butterfly I’ve seen him do by far, and as a result, if his time had counted, it would have been a substantial drop for him. The DQ is frustrating for both he and I, but to his credit, the dude was racing. As a coach, without question, I’d rather have a kid out there really racing and going for it, but make a mistake, vs someone trying to think their way through and not really get after it because they’re thinking too much. We can clean up the mistake- it just takes enough rehearsal so that their body remembers what to do.

High School Sport Group

We had so many swimmers drop extensive amount of time! I am so proud of each and everyone of them! The swimmer of the meet for the group must go to Zander Brumfield. He had the biggest time drop in every event, he made sure he was taking all his feedback and applying it to his next event. He went out there in every event and left it all in the water. He was off only a second in two of his events for PNS cuts. So, congratulations Zander your hard work paid off. Leo Zhu also made a PNS cut for his 50 free.

There were a few athletes that swam events that they have never swam. I am so proud of you all for overcoming your fears. This is just the start to many great swims. Daniel Cho, Evan Galuska, Yuvika Gupta, Zander Brumfield, Kaler Duryee, and Varshini Hari all swam the 500 free for the first time and finished with spectacular results! Evan Mao, Leo Zhu, Neha Phatak, and Aarohi Gandhi all swam the 400 IM for the first timeas well. I know nerves were really high swimming these events, but you all did fantastic! Be proud of yourself!

Lucas Blat-Phillips, Artem Semenov, Tishya Joshi, Yuvika Gupta, and Maya O’Neil all swam the 200 free for the first time and also did a fantastic job!

Great job to all those with injuries or sick this last weekend still swimming!! Below are some of the many highlights:

  • Itai Ami ad did amazing in the 500 free with a seed time of 7:11.33 and dropping it to a 6:28.90. He also had a 4-second drop in the 100 free and a 2-second drop in the 200 back.
  • Artem Semenov: Great first race in the 200 free! Wonderful swim in the back for the first time. A 4-second drop 100 free.
  • Tishya Joshi: Great job in the 200 free!
  • Yuvika Gupta: Great job on racing in the 200 free! She also had a 2-second drop in the 100 fly and a 3-second drop in the 200 back.
  • Felix Deng: Great job on competing in the 200 free with a 30-second drop! Felix also had a 6-second drop in the 50 free and an 11-second drop in the 100 free.
  • Varshini Hari Great job on dropping 8 seconds in the 200 free and a 4-second drop in the 200 back.
  • Kaler Duryee had a 4-second time drop in the 200 free, a 5-second drop in 100 back, and a 5-second drop in the 200 IM
  • Paolo Villanueva had a 6-second drop in the 200 breast.
  • Neha Phatak had a 7-second drop in the 200 free and a 23-second drop in the 200 breast!
  • Aditi Kandiah dropped 4 seconds in the 200 free. 8 seconds in the 100 back, and 7 seconds in the 200 back.
  • Evan Galuska dropped 5 seconds in the 100 free
  • Daniel Cho posted a 6-second drop in the 200 free, 9 seconds in the 200 breast, 5 seconds in the 100 breast, and 5 seconds in the 200 back
  • Julian Wang saw several drops: 4 seconds in the 200 free, 3 seconds in the 100 fly, 3 seconds in the 200 IM, and 5 seconds in the 100 FR.
  • Samuel Yi had a 10 second improvement in the 200 free, 4 seconds in the 100 fly, and 3 seconds in the 200 back
  • Ori Ami ad dropped 1 second in the 100 breast
  • Lucas Blat-Phillips: Great first 100 back swim as well as a 10-second drop in the 100 free!
  • Leo Zhu dropped 2 seconds in the 100 back, 4 seconds in the 100 fly, 1 second in the 100 fly, 2 seconds in the 200 back, and topped it off with an 18-second drop in the 100 breast
  • Maya O’Neil: Great swim in the 200 breast for the first time! She also had a 1-second drop in the 100 free
  • Sarah Yi improved by 5 seconds in the 200 free, 2 seconds in the 100 fly, 4 seconds in the 100 free, 5 seconds in the 200 back, and 3 seconds in the 200 IM!
  • Zander Brumfield had a 7 second drop in the 200 free, a 3-second drop in the 100 fly, an 8-second drop in the 100 breast, and a 3-second drop in the 200 back
  • Rina Yuan had a 1-second drop in the 100 free, a 1-second drop in the 100 breast, and a 5 second drop in the 200 back
  • Rashmi Joshi improved her 100 fly by 1 second
  • Evan Mao: a 4-second drop in the 100 back, a 5 second drop in the 200 breast, and a 2-second drop in the 100 breast
  • Misho Popov had two huge drops: 7 seconds in the 200 IM and 10 seconds in the 200 fly!
  • Aarohi Gandhi had a 3-second drop to win the 200 fly

Purple Sport Group

Words fail me for how I feel about this weekend’s Prelim/Finals meet. The phenomenal swims, extraordinary shows of teamwork and support, intelligent and well-executed races, and the many laughs we had together made the long, difficult weekend go by quickly. You absolutely blew me away! A couple of our swimmers also qualified for PNS Champs at prelims/finals!

Outstanding Swims:

  • Oleg Arlouski dropped almost 5 seconds in the 100 free and got a BB time, over 4 seconds in the 50 fly to get a BB time, and 3.5 seconds in the 50 free to get a BB time
  • Cayden Chan dropped over a second and got a B time in the 50 free
  • Maddy Cheng achieved B times in the 100 free, 200 IM, and 50 free
  • Bennett Geitz dropped more than 17 seconds and achieved a B time in the 200 free, also getting a B time in the 50 breast
  • Henry Geitz dropped almost 30 seconds in the 100 back and achieved a B time, 12 seconds and a B time in the 100 free, and almost 15 seconds and a B time in the 200 IM
  • Abby Han dropped almost 7 seconds in the 100 free, 6 seconds in the 100 IM, 6 seconds in the 50 back, and 1 second in the 50 free to achieve 4 new B times
  • Adrian Juco dropped over 6 seconds in the 100 free and achieved a BB time, almost 30 seconds in the 200 IM for a B time, and also got a BB time in the 50 fly and 50 free
  • Kunaal Kadam dropped over 13 seconds in the 100 fly and achieved a B time, as well as 10 seconds in the 100 free for a B time
  • Cassy Nguyen dropped over 3.5 seconds in the 50 back for a B time, and over 4 seconds in the 50 free for a BB time
  • Aayona Pattanaik dropped 2.6 seconds in the 50 free for a B time
  • Tandisse Rahimi dropped 3.5 seconds in the 100 free for a B time
  • Jane Robinson dropped 5.5 seconds for a B time in the 50 free
  • Radha Shriram dropped over 13 seconds in the 100 free for a B time
  • Ekansh Verma got a B time in the 50 free after dropping almost 3 seconds
  • Oliver Wang dropped almost 5 seconds in the 100 breast for a B time
  • Lina Wu achieved a BB time after dropping over 7 seconds in the 100 free, a BB time after dropping 4.5 seconds in the 100 IM, and a B time after dropping almost 8 seconds in the 50 fly
  • Liya Wu dropped 0.5 seconds for a B time in the 100 breast

Biggest Time Drops:

  • Tanvi Bathe dropped almost 15 seconds in the 100 free, doing flip turns for the first time
  • Neel Borate dropped almost 10 seconds in the 100 free
  • Irina Burac dropped more than 14 seconds in the 100 breast, and about 8 seconds in the 100 and 200 free
  • Cayden Chan dropped 13 seconds in the 100 free and 11 seconds in the 200 IM
  • Sanvi Chaudhary dropped more than 10 seconds in the 100 back

Senior 1

The Senior 1 group had 19 swimmers compete at the meet this past weekend. As a group we have been working very hard and that certainly showed at the meet. The swimmers from the group showed up to the pool with their game faces on and went out and raced with all they had. Every swimmer who competed achieved at least one new best time. We had several swimmers return for finals where many of them were able to race to first place finishes or to new best times dropping from prelim swims earlier in the day. It was a weekend of fast and fun swimming for the entire group. It was so amazing to see all the hard work they have put in pay off in such a big way.

Highlight Swims:

  • Boston Borg had a great meet going best times in all three events he swam. He had a huge 200 IM dropping more than 10 seconds.
  • Carr Chellis turned in some great races in both prelims and finals. Best race of the meet was the 100 back where he dropped more than 5 seconds.
  • Raymond Chen had to swim the 200 fly twice in the same day, went a best time in prelims and then returned to do it again in finals going another best time. The leader of the fly gang also turned in a new best time in the 100 fly.
  • Alex Claux has been focusing on his sprint work in practice and it really paid off. He dropped almost a full second in the 100 free and swam to a 2nd place finish while also having a huge half second drop in the 50 free.
  • Selin Gursoy was right on her best times in all her races over the weekend. She added a best time in the 50 free to go with her other great performances.
  • Taryn Han had a huge weekend dropping in five of her six races. She had a monster 100 back dropping 2 seconds from a best time she had posted during the high school season just two weeks ago.
  • Aarjav Jain had an awesome weekend going a best time in every race he swam. Started the meet off with a huge 10-second drop in the 500 free and added with big drops in the 100 and 200 back as well.
  • Spandana Kannam competed incredibly well throughout the weekend. She had great swims in the 100 breast and the 50 free executing the race strategy well and leaving it all in the pool.
  • Julia Larsen went full-on beast mode, picking up wins in all six races. She had huge drops in five races, with the most epic coming in the 100 back where she broke the 1:00 barrier for the first time.
  • Owen Ledrick had a fantastic weekend dropping time in four of his events. He wins the award for the weekend with the largest time drop of 40 seconds in the 500 freestyle achieving an AA time in the event in the process.
  • Kyle Li brought his A game to the meet and stepped up and went best times in all six races. He came in a close second for his biggest drop, dropping 39 seconds in the 500. He had a great 200 as well picking up his champs cut in the event.
  • Vidhi Mehrotra entered the weekend hoping to pick up at least one champs cut. She exited the weekend with champs cuts in the 100 and 200 breast as well as the 200 IM. She had a great meet making finals and dropping times in all her.
  • Vincent Ngo continued to show that he is a force in the sprint freestyle events. Picked up a best time in the 50 free winning the race and was the only swimmer to go sub 24. He was also right on his best time in the 100 free on his way to a win in the event as well.
  • Joseph Nguyen had a great meet with some huge time drops. In the 100 free, he broke the 1:00 barrier for the first time. He had an awesome 100 fly dropping 8 seconds.
  • Sonny Nguyen competed very hard in all his races making finals in every single event. He was very close to his best times in all his races and capped the meet off with an awesome time drop in the 50 free.
  • Cameron Piepkorn really stepped up his swimming this weekend. He was right on his best times or faster in all his races and he made finals in all his races winning the 100 fly and the 100 breast. He also added breaking the 1:00 barrier in the 100 back.
  • Aadhav Saravanan showed up prepared to swim fast in all his races and then proceeded to swim fast in all his races. He went best times in five of his six races. We have been focusing on breast, fly, and IM training and it paid off as he dropped 3 seconds in the 100 breast, 2 seconds in the 100 fly, and 4 seconds in the 400 IM.
  • Artur Sobol has been focusing on backstroke training at practice. The results in those races speak for themselves. He had a monster swim in the 200 back dropping 2 seconds then turning around and dropping more than 1 second in the 100 back.
  • Andy Wang left it all in the pool throughout the whole weekend making finals in every event. He went best times in three races with the biggest swim coming in the 100 free where he dropped almost 2 full seconds.

Senior Epic

Senior Epic had a fantastic meet with many amazing swims, tons of best times, a first ever Futures Cut and three new Team Records! Wow!! And we still have three weeks to go before our taper meet in December. Great job and let's keep up the good work! Enjoy some highlights from our group:

  • Fredrik Larsen had a phenomenal meet and got his first ever Futures Cut! Swimming with powerful dolphin kicks, the new cut came in the 100 back with 51.99! He also broke the Team Record in the 200 back (Open Men & 17-18 Boys) with 1:52.97. Freddy went home with six personal best times this weekend.
  • Kyler Brumfield was inspired and had an excellent meet going 5-of-6 best times. She found her speed this weekend and dropped almost 3 seconds in the 100 free and almost 7 seconds in the 200 back.
  • Jaiden Sreenivasan broke two more Team Records (Boys 13-14) in this meet! He dropped almost 8 seconds in the 200 fly finishing strong, breaking the minute barrier, and setting the new record (1:59.16). The other record came in the 200 IM with a 4.2-second drop in a very consistent race. The new record time is 2:02:36!
  • Tyler Kong came strong and dropped time in all his six events! His outstanding swims were the 200 free where he dropped 9 seconds with a solid race until the last 50, and the 200 breast where he dropped 2.5 seconds with an exciting finish.
  • Jenna Kimborowicz continued to improve her swimming after the HS Season and with four new best times. Her biggest time drop came in the 100 fly where she dropped 4.5 seconds swimming with great rhythm.
  • Noah Sattari had a very solid meet and went 5-out-of-6 lifetime bests. He was especially happy with his 200 IM where he dropped 3 seconds and his 100 Free where he went out fast and dropped 1.4 seconds.
  • A big shout-out to Kaitlyn Blackmon and Lola Reynolds who have been recovering from injuries and had an excellent meet. Kaitlyn swam four events that were less than a second off her best times and Lola got a best time in the 200 free, dropping almost 3 seconds from her old time.

Senior Prep

We had an outstanding prelim/final meet last weekend with 314 successful swims, 67% of which were races. We had another 25 swims that were within a 0.01 to 0.50 of our best time. The average time drop for all swims was 2.96 seconds per race! This average includes anything we successfully swam and had swum before, so for example, this average includes swims where swimmers added time. In addition to our impressive meet results, we had some new PNS qualifiers and many swimmers who added to their number of events qualified for PNS Champs. After swimming for three days in the morning and afternoon, we had some very tired swimmers and I am very proud of the work they put in at practice to be able to achieve these results and swim so fast even when tired! A special shout out to Ron Levin for making his PNS cuts!

Here are the top time drops from the meet:

  • Ananiah Gashaw: 63.52 seconds in the 500 Free, 9.32 seconds in the 200 Breast, and 8.38 seconds in the 100 Free
  • Tanay Boda: 43.02 seconds in the 500 Free and 30.74 seconds in the 200 Breast
  • Ethan Na: 40.47 seconds in the 500 Free and 12.06 seconds in the 200 Breast
  • Deming Gates: 26.81 seconds in the 500 Free
  • Neil Rawal: 25.79 seconds in the 200 Breast
  • Ric Brusilovski: 17.66 seconds in the 200 Back, 16.05 seconds in the 500 Free, and 12.56 seconds in the 200 Fly
  • Nethaniah Gashaw: 16.83 seconds in the 200 Breast
  • Peter Hansen: 13.78 seconds in the 200 Free
  • Daniel Xia: 10.57 seconds in the 200 IM
  • Cora Ledrick: 10.07 Seconds in the 200 IM
  • Ron Levin: 9.65 seconds in the 100 Breast
  • Penelope Hepkin: 8.77 seconds in the 100 Free and 8.63 seconds in the 100 Back

We also had 21 new swims where swimmers raced a new event. Nice job on all those 400 IMs!

  • Anton Mazepa: 400 IM
  • Bailey Tang: 200 Back
  • Barun Acharya: 200 Back and 400 IM
  • Cora Ledrick: 400 IM
  • Daniel Chen: 200 Back, 200 Breast, and 400 IM
  • Iris Huang: 400 IM
  • Joshua Tang: 400 IM
  • Kyle Fontelera: 200 Back and 400 IM
  • Lena Duryee: 200 Fly and 400 IM
  • Neil Rawal: 200 Back
  • Nethaniah Gashaw: 400 IM
  • Rahul Purkayastha: 400 IM
  • Thomas Claux: 200 Back v 200 Breast
  • Zoe Piepkorn: 200 Back and 200 Breast

White Sport Group

We saw a lot of ‘awesome’ at the meet: swimmers helping each other master race nerves, swimmers fixing DQs overnight, swimmers shouting themselves hoarse for friends they only just met; swimmers drawing wings and waves on each other, swimmers cheering themselves hoarse for friends they barely know, and insta-friends taunting each other down the lane—landing times 10s faster than they might have been!

A lot of the ‘awesome’ was what we didn’t see: few missed events, scant stressing out, no breakdowns, hardly any stroke regression in the heat of battle, and no one dove in with a mask on!

So, obviously, we won. Now, a few ‘awards’:

MOTIVATIONAL FIRSTS

  • B in EVERYTHING: Claire Gao, at her first ever competitive swim meet, hit nothing but net! It seems unfair unless you know her work ethic, attention to detail and humility.
  • B in BREAST: Andy Yang, Dami Jung, Kaylan Li, Olivia Liu, Maria Kokhan, Lainey Meyer, Alice Khudyakov, Amber Jiang, and Prisha Ahuja! They believe in gliding. They believe even when they can’t see it! Breaststroke never looked so easy. Other strokes will take more power.
  • B in BACK: Vedah Tuladhar and Emily Dong charged it!
  • BBs: Sanvi Shrivastava (50 fly), Bimu Beibet (50 back) and Yuzuki Ishizuka (100 fly). Most swimmers take years to achieve a first B time. Yuzuki pole-vaulted over B, to land 6 seconds under the BB time on her 100 fly in her second competitive swim meet ever! Her secret? Flat fly!
  • CHAMPIONS: Bimu and Yuzuki also earned tickets to the Age Group Champs Meet…in the 100 fly!!
  • QUICK FIXES: DQs on the first day NOT repeated on the second day! Nola Pitts and Joshua Xia fixed their backstroke. Emma Henry and Alice cleaned up their fly, Adam Kantor and Salman Baig had some harder fixes but still mastered them! Why make the same mistakes when there are bigger, better mistakes to be made!
  • SQUEAKY CLEANEST: No disqualifications, no ‘no shows’, no problem. Sepanta Rahimi, Landon Yuan, Keshav Iyer, Elizabeth Luo, Lucy Broyles, Olivia, and Karina Mahsyutov haven’t been to many meets, but they have got it together - or they’re very lucky!
  • LOSS LEADERS: Some swimmers were on a losing streak! Alizeh Kurji dropped 23s total. Rihit Gandhi, Andy and Elin Beeler each burned 30 seconds off their ‘bests’. But on the podium, Derek Xu (-40 seconds), Amber Jiang (-48 seconds), and Katie Yi (~60 seconds) win it! And lost time is never found again!
  • VERY NEAR MISSES: Yihan Li and Elin missed B times by the skin of their teeth! Yihan in two events, Elin in 3 events! And Quinn Hagen dropped 14 seconds of her 50 back to land 1 second away from a B!
  • 100 FLY FIRSTS: 100 fly can be daunting! And none of these athletes ‘accidently’ missed the event or nerved themselves out of doing it: Hannah Zhao, Bani, Alice, Yihan, Sanvi, Bimu, Yuzuki, Lainey, Sanvi, and Annika Spitze!
  • STRANGEST DQ: Lainey, in her 100 back, almost touched the second wall in her flip turn. Right under the nose of three officials in lane six. And yet, it’s better to fail the flip turn, than chicken out (IF they know how)!
  • iRONMAN: Annika, (aka Aq-woman) was our only 11&over swimmer, but she more than made up for everyone that failed to turn 11 in time! In the course of the meet, she swam 50 back, 100 free, 100 breast twice, 100 back twice, 100 fly twice…and 200 free...twice in one day! That was the same day she swam the 100 fly twice! Not only that, her second swim of nearly every event, was faster—as if fatigue made her better?? Her future meet warmup will be a 200 fly for time. Twice.

WAVE ON 3!!