Firecracker Meet Recap

Jay Pearson

40^th Annual Firecracker Meet Recap

It was a dark and stormy afternoon in Missoula…well, at least Saturday was! The team experienced all sorts of weather, from hot & scorching to wet & dreary. However, in a hard-fought battle with the defending champs Bozeman Barracudas, as well as 40 other teams from across the western United States, Wave edged out Bozeman to win the Firecracker Classic for the first time.

After the first day, Wave was 150+ points behind the Bozeman… but then we staged a wild comeback. The second day brought us within 50 points, and the last day the scores flip-flopped all day long! It was a nail-biter to the last race. The final score was Wave Aquatics 2392, Bozeman Barracudas 2376! We won by only 16 points! That means that almost every swimmer could claim to have earned the winning points for the team!

The meet came down to little victories, such as the 10&Under Girls Medley Relay C Team pulling out 5^th Place (a lot of points for the team and many congrats to Anika Lichtenberg, Lingyi Li, Abby Gray, and last-minute replacement Ella Gao!!), or Boston Borg earning his first-ever Senior Zones cut in the final race of the day…as well as a 10^th Place finish, or Kyra Yuan picking up 3^rd place in the 100 Breast on her birthday! Not to mention Nicholas Imig returning from college for summer break and swimming a AAAA time in the 50 Free!

One of the most exciting races was 12-yr-old Adrian Juco swimming in the 200 Breast with nearly the entire Senior Team at the far end cheering him on to a narrow victory against one of Oregon’s top swimmers! That raced summed up Wave’s overall team spirit the entire meet. Congratulations to everyone for a spectacular meet!

Senior 1

The Senior 1 Group had 11 swimmers compete at the meet. The older swimmers really stepped up and did a wonderful job of putting points on the board helping us to an overall team victory. At a meet that was more about racing and placing than best times, we saw some incredible time drops as well as a first-time Senior Zones Qualifier. It was such a treat to watch our swimmers give it their all and reap the rewards of the hard work they have been putting in.

Highlights:

Anouk Balog swam well all weekend being just off her best times in most of her races. She managed to make finals in the 200 Fly the first day of the meet and even moved up a spot from 16^th to 15^th in finals.
Boston Borg was on fire all meet long. He turned in monster swims in both the 200 Free and 200 Breast to make finals. His most impressive moment came in the last race of the meet where he dropped 6 seconds in his 400 Free and qualified for his first Senior Zones in the process.
Nik Brusilovski had a great meet across the board, dropping time in half his races. His big contribution to the team came in the 800 Free where he put up a stout time that earned him a 6^th place finish and a lot of points!
Rik Brusilovski finished the meet with a strong performance in the 400 Free breaking the 5-minute barrier his first time swimming the race.
Carr Chellis competed hard all weekend. Carr was competing mostly in events he did not already have long course times in. He now has plenty of benchmarks on the list to improve upon. He looks forward to getting back to some serious training and improving his times.
Alex Claux turned in some fine swims over the weekend achieving best times in several events. His biggest drop came in the 200 Free where he beat his old mark in the event by almost 9 seconds.
Henry Geitz turned in great swim after great swim all weekend, dropping time in all but one event. He had amazing swims in both the 100 and 200 Back where he dropped 1.6 seconds in both races qualifying him for PNS Age Group Champs.
Peter Hansen had some great swims over the weekend dropping time in multiple races. His biggest swim came in the 50 Breast where he made finals, dropped time in finals, and moved up a spot.
Vidhi Mehrotra had some up and down performances, but she did not let that stop her from putting her all into every single race she swam. She turned in great races in the 200 Breast dropping 6 seconds and in the 200 Free dropping 9.5 seconds.
Dylan Vu wasn’t feeling on the top of his game for the weekend, but he didn’t let that stop him from going out and competing hard in everything he swam. He was right off his best time in the 50 Free and raced hard in the 200 Back finishing just outside of scoring position.
Andy Wang competed in his first long course meet of the season and enjoyed some incredible time drops. He put up best times in every race he swam over the weekend. The most impressive drop came in the 200 Free where he chopped off 25.75.

Senior Epic

The Senior Epic Group had 18 swimmers compete at the meet. This group showed amazing leadership throughout the entire weekend motivating each other and their younger, less-experienced teammates to perform the best they could and ultimately helped us bring home the victory. Every single one raced to the absolute best of their ability, many of them moving up spots in finals and dropping times from their prelims swims. It was a ton of fun to watch this group step up and compete at such a high level.

Highlights:

Kaitlyn Blackmon displayed great leadership all weekend and turned in some great racing to match. She made finals in several races her best performance coming in the 50 Breast where she finished 4th overall and was just off her best time in the event.
Kyler Brumfield turned in several good swims over the weekend. She continues to prove that she is a finals swimmer, she moved up spots in every single finals she competed in. Her biggest breakthrough swim came in the 400 Free where she went 4:59 to finally break the 5-minute mark.
Grant Gallagher had a very nice weekend overall. He continued his breaststroke hot streak making finals in all three breast events and scoring in the Top 8 in the 50 and 100. His biggest drop of the meet, however, came in the 200 Free where he improved by more than 5 seconds.
Melis Gursoy had a bit of an up and down weekend. She didn’t let this stop her from having Sunday be her best day of the meet. She started off by dropping 1.4 seconds in the 100 Fly and finished by going just off her best time in the 400 Free. She is looking forward to what she can do moving forward this season.
Jenna Kimborowicz started off the meet with a strong swim dropping 8 seconds in the 1500 Free. She kept the ball rolling from there racing her way into several finals swims and raking up quite a few points for the team.
Tyler Kong had a great weekend finishing in the Top 8 in 4 events. He had a huge swim in the 100 Breast, finishing 3^rd overall and was just off the Senior Sectionals Cut in the event. His other Top 8 swims were the 50 Breast, 200 Breast, and 200 IM.
Fredrik Larsen had a great meet racing well and making finals in all his races. He had a wild showdown in the 100 Back with a Bozeman swimmer, keeping his cool and relied on his training to win the duel and finish 3^rd in the event.
Julia Larsen had several very nice swims at the meet. Her two best came in the 50 and 100 Back. She battled her way through both races to best times a 3^rd place finish in the 50 and a 6^th place finish in the 100.
Owen Ledrick put up strong swims all weekend. He battled a knee injury to make finals in the 50 Breast and moved up a spot in finals on his way to a new best time in the event. His biggest drop came in the 200 Free where he was 6 seconds faster than his time from the May meet.
Blake Nilsen put in some amazing swims achieving best times in several races. His best event was the 200 Fly where he raced himself into finals, then moved up two spots on his way in his finals swim where he dropped another 1.4 seconds.
Alex Popov was on fire all weekend turning in big swim after big swim. He had a phenomenal showdown in the 200 Breast with two other swimmers. He ended up dropping 7 seconds in the race and absolutely smashed the Sectionals cut, adding to his count.
Ella Reedy was feeling a little under the weather over the weekend. She didn’t let that stop her from putting her all into every race and contributing to the team points total. She turned in a solid 50 Back just off her best time to get herself into finals on the first day of the meet.
Lola Reynolds had an awesome weekend, turning in six best times and making finals in two races. Her biggest swim came in the 200 Breast where she dropped 8.7 seconds and moved up three places from her prelims finish in finals.
Noah Sattari put his game face on and went out to race to his best ability. He turned in several great swims over the weekend and made his way into finals in the 50 Back. He dropped twice in the race once in prelims to qualify and again in finals to keep his 11^th place finish secure.
Gianna Tan stepped up and raced hard every time she got up on the blocks. Her efforts paid off as she achieved several best times over the weekend. Her biggest swim came in the 200 Free where she dropped 2.5 seconds.
Alex Werth heated up the pool turning in some hot swims over the weekend. He had a monster 9-second drop in the 400 Free. In the 200 Breast he dropped 1 second while leading the B Final from start to finish.
Andrea Wu raced incredibly hard all weekend. They turned in good swim after good swim making finals every race they swam. The most exciting races came in the 50 Fly and 50 Free where all the Top 8 swimmers finished within 1 second of each other.
Renee Yin raced very well all weekend. She did a great job of executing the race strategies that we talked about and was right on her best times in all her events. She had an awesome performance in the 50 Back that earned her a spot in finals where she moved up a place.

Age Group Select

Alex Arlouski: This was Alex’s long course launch and he had a great meet. He earned his first 8 long course times, including 3 new motivational times! His 50 Back was his first event on his first day of the meet, in 93 F weather, and he hit the water swimming, landing closer to an A than BB, and nearly besting his SCY time!
Bimu Beibit earned Wave the most individual points at the meet (141) and logged 4 more A times and his first AA time in his 100 Back—without a ceiling for navigation or a single long course practice. He was only half a second from his 2^nd and 3^rd AA times in his 50 Free and 50 Fly. With his head down and hips up, it looks like he was made to fly!
Kamilla Bugaitsova churned out best time after best time, going 7-for-8 (including big drops in her 50 Back and 50 Breast), and finished 6^th in her first-ever 200 Back!
Claire Gao the most miserable winner at the meet, she was easily Wave’s top scoring girl with 126 points not including her two relays (both 1^st place for 80 points). Coach Kyle looked at the 50 Free times and was convinced that Claire’s time must be a typo, but it wasn’t! And she shaved it down more to land only 0.34 seconds from AAAA in the 50 Free, with no long course practice! With 2.5 hours of lightning delay, shivering in the rain, wind, and sleet!
Abby Gray scored a LC Champs time in her 200 Free, and her first ever BB time (50 Back)! She was barely seconds away from scoring her 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th BB times in three more events. She was unflappable - not by the pool size (her first LCM meet), not by the thunder & lightning delays, not by the missing ceiling, and not by Anika Lichtenberg!
Olivia Henaire improved all her events…except free. She earned 3 more BB times where she didn’t even have SCY BBs, and looked good doing it. She also brought Coach Robin gummy worms (well, her mom), so she won the meet! 😉
Yihan Li on the first day of the meet, she was the only 10&U who got to swim the 50 Back, 200 Free and the 200 IM, earning B times in the 200s. When day 2 and 3 got stormy and cloudy, well Yihan is evidently solar powered, and her battery lasted for the first 50 Free where she dropped 2.7 seconds (only 1.5 from a first BB time). After that, the battery was empty, the sun was hiding…and the water park was calling to her…
Olivia Lui dropped time nearly every time she dove in…until she discovered the water park next door! Maybe she earned it, however, as she shaved a total 17 seconds off, and logged two firsts!
Molly Mayfield swam her first LC meet, and was a bit nervous at first, but after she crushed her first event, she gained more and more confidence with every race she swam. Her best swim was her final race. Tired and worn out, she did not give up but instead hopped in for the 200 Back and showed the true meaning of Never Give Up! Never Surrender! Not only did she end up placing 9^th, but she also made her first-ever PNS Champs cut! Good Golly Miss Molly!!
Prisha Parikh grew a lot this meet! Not in height or weight, but eyes widened! Each day, her first event was her best. She shaved 0.57 seconds off her 50 Free leaving her closer to AA than A! But then the warmup wore off and shiver/distraction set in. On the last day, age groupers and seniors swam together, and she got to see how the pros prepare for a race (jumps, arm swings, slaps, shakes). That day, her last event was her best by far, shaving 2 seconds off her SCY time for the 50 Fly!
Ally Yuan: Outdoor meets in colder climates are especially hard on smaller swimmers with more surface area than volume, and Ally froze solid after the first event each day. But she showed up, had a great time, killed the fly in the medley relay, and ate cupcakes. So a win.
Kyra Yuan turned 11 at the meet! For her birthday, she got cupcakes and lost time. She cut time off both Breast swims, swimming like there was a cupcake at the end of the lane. Happy second decade Kyra!
Grace Zhang earned her 2nd and 3rd BB times in Breast, and a first B in the 50 Free by landing precisely on the cut-off time.

White Group

Adi Beibit earned a staggering 131 points at the meet, just shy of his Big Bro Bimu’s totals, and that doesn’t even count the two relays (74 points) they swam together. He just beat his rival on the Bozeman Baracudas, Elliott O’Connor, who scored 126. Adi bagged two new BB times, including his first ever 200 IM on the first day of the meet! In the Medley Relay, one judge muttered that his Fly was ‘ridiculously good’. All this for an 8-year-old!
Anika Lichtenberg was voted the loudest and most energetic white grouper at the meet (by Coach Robin) and still had the power and lung capacity to do great things in the pool. She bagged her first 6 long course times, all within spitting distance of B times! Her 50s were all less than a second from B!
Joshua Xia earned his first seven long course times, including a solid B time in his 50 Back (with no ceiling for guidance). He was also part of two relays that earned 74 points for the team!
Jasper Huang was the newest Wave swimmer at the meet, and didn’t know that the 200 Free was impossible, so he did it. He also didn’t know that long course is daunting, that lightning delays are upsetting, and that 8 hours is a long commute to a meet! So he won!!

Black Group

Ella Gao: Of all Wave-rs in the meet, Ella should get the most credit for the win. Wave entered 3 Girls 10&U Medley Relays, but one of the girls couldn’t come and we didn’t know until the day of the relay! So Ella saved the relay, which earned 30 points for the team! We would have lost the meet without her!
Lingyi Li was also on the relay that saved the meet with Ella…and another Free Relay as well! On top of that, she inched closer to B times than she’s ever been before - barely 3 seconds away in her first-ever 100 Back (including some landline collisions), and just 0.3 away in her 50 Back and 50 Free!
Alex Wang: The youngest Wave-r in the meet was on target all meet long, landing all his events legally and taking time off most of his short course times...where he had short course times. He earned his first 100 Back time without any ceiling or stars to navigate by!

High School

Rina Yuan was the only member of the High School group to attend, and she had a great Firecracker Meet, achieving best times in every event! Her strokes looked so polished, especially in the beginning of every race. Her 50 and 100 Breaststroke and 100 Backstroke races stood out as her best swims of the meet. Well done, Rina!

Senior Prep

Senior Prep had an excellent Firecracker Meet with 158 successful swims where 116 swims were best times, which is 73% of all our races. We had another eight swims that were within 0.01 to 0.50 of our best time. The average time drop for all swims was 1.67 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. We also had 75 new swims where a swimmer swam a long course event for the first time! Really solid meet results, we had some new impressive motivational time achievements including a new AAA time for Lena Duryee and a new AA time for Adrian Juco! Nice Job Senior Prep!

Top 20 Time Drops from Sr Prep:

Adrian Juco dropped 26.19 seconds in the 200 IM, 12.87 seconds in the 100 Back, 9.01 seconds in the 100 Fly, and 8.25 seconds in the 50 Back!
Anton Mazepa dropped 15.55 seconds in the 200 Free and 14.65 seconds in the 200 IM!
Deming Gates dropped 10.93 seconds in the 200 IM and 5.13 seconds in the 50 Back!
Amelia Pletosu dropped 9.33 seconds in the 200 Free!
Lasya Viswanadham dropped 8.46 seconds in the 200 IM, 3.19 seconds in the 50 Free, and 3.13 seconds in the 100 Back!
Bennett Geitz dropped 5.41 seconds in the 200 Breast!
Karolina Pastusiak dropped 4.05 seconds in the 50 Back!
Kirsten Hau dropped 4.04 seconds in the 50 Fly, 2.21 seconds in the 50 Back, and 1.87 seconds in the 50 Breast!
Cora Ledrick dropped 3.18 seconds in the 50 Fly, 2.72 seconds in the 200 Free, and 1.82 seconds in the 50 Back!

Top 3 Finishers

10&Under Girls A Free Relay (Prisha Parikh, Olivia Liu, Olivia Henaire, Claire Gao – 1^st)
10&Under Boys A Free Relay (Alex Arlouski, Joshua Xia, Adi Beibit, Bimu Beibit – 2^nd)
10&Under Girls A Medley Relay (Olivia Henaire, Kyra Yuan, Claire Gao, Prisha Parikh – 1^st)
10&Under Girls B Medley Relay (Grace Zhang, Olivia Liu, Ally Yuan, Yihan Li – 2^nd)
10&Under Boys A Free Relay (Joshua Xia, Bimu Beibit, Adi Beibit, Alex Arlouski – 1^st)
Adi Beibit (six including four 1^st places)
Bimu Beibit (eight including two 1^st places)
Lena Duryee (three including 2^nd place in the 100 Fly)
Claire Gao (six including four 1^st places)
Deming Gates (1^st in the 1500 Free)
Bennett Geitz (two 3^rd places)
Nicholas Imig (three including two 1^st places)
Adrian Juco (two including 1^st in the 200 Breast)
Fredrik Larsen (3^rd in the 100 Back)
Julia Larsen (3^rd in the 50 Back)
Lingyi Li (two including 1^st in the 50 Free)
Anton Mazepa (two including 1^st in the 400 IM)
Prisha Parikh (2^nd in the 50 Free)
Alex Popov (3^rd in the 50 Breast)
Kyra Yuan (3^rd in the 100 Breast)