PNS Age Group Champs Meet Recap

Jay Pearson

PNS Age Group Champs

Seventy Wave swimmers showed up in Federal Way ready to rock and roll this past weekend, along with another 700 swimmers from across Western Washington, and we stormed our way to a 9^th place team finish. A special shout out goes to all our officials and volunteer timers who worked through a very long, humid four-day weekend!

Some of the highlights include Adi Beibit shattering the 8&U 200 IM team record by 8 seconds, Claire Gao earning her first two AAAA times and winning three silver medals, and Yuzuki Ishizuka stepping up to cover for an injured swimmer and leading our 10&U Girls 200 Medley Relay to a silver medal.

Many of our 11&Over swimmers returned to swim in finals each night. Lena Duryee scored in all six of her events, topped by a silver medal in the 1500. Adrian Juco earned two silver medals and a 4^th place in his three breaststroke events.

Purple Group

Purple sent three swimmers to Champs, Alex Belkin, Neel Borate, and Cassy Nguyen. Neel earned a best time in the 50 Free, dropping more than 1 second, while Cassy earned a B time in the 200 Free.

Age Group Select

So many highlights! How to squeeze them all into a single report? 31 out of 38 AGS swimmers qualified for champs, and all of them had at least one outstanding swim! My very favorite was the 10&Under Girls Medley Relay where Yuzuki Ishizuka needed to step up to replace an injured swimmer…and we won the silver medal as Claire Gao blasted past three other swimmers on the final leg, including beating one on the final stroke! Other highlights included Claire earning her first-ever AAAA times, Ellen Feng skipping AA entirely to get a AAA time in the 50 Fly, and Olivia Henaire and Dami Jung earning their first-ever A times in back-to-back heats of the 100 Breast.

Kamilla Bugaitsova swam her first 1500 ever and ended up winning a medal as the youngest swimmer in the event! Ellen Feng, Beata Sobol, Bimu Beibit, and Max Stevenson were our four entrants in the 400 Free, and all four medaled! Andy Yang proved how regular attendance and consistent hard work at practice pays off by not only earning five best times and two new motivational cuts, but his monster swim in the 100 Breast earned him a 6^th Place medal! To top it off, Bimu and Claire both scored in all six of their events! Well done, AGS! Other highlights include:

Alex Arlouski had a rough meet until he raced his 200 Free, where he smoothed out his stroke and dropped 2.37 seconds!
Deniz Cankaya had three best times, including a monster -2.62 drop in his 50 Back!
Ethan Chan had a huge 400 Free where he just missed scoring and earned his first motivational time of the season in the 100 Back!
Abby Gray came in as a relay substitute and did an awesome job! She also put together a fabulous 200 Free where she dropped almost 7 seconds and earned a BB time!
Nora Herman dropped every time she dove in, with three races of 5+ seconds improved and two new BB times. Her biggest drop was the 100 Fly, cutting almost 7 seconds!
Yuzuki Ishizuki not only moved up to the A Team in both relays, she also scored in the 200 Free by chopping off 7 seconds from her best time!
Yihan Li had two best times, highlighted by a rip-roaring 100 free where she just missed breaking the 1:30 barrier and earned another BB time!
Olivia Liu also had two best times, including a fabulous 100 Breast where she dropped 2 seconds to grab a new BB time!
Molly Mayfield made the most of her two races, dropping exactly 8 seconds in the 200 Free and 17.49 in the 200 Back, which was the biggest drop of any swimmer in AGS at this meet!
Theresa Nguyen had one of the biggest drops of any AGS swimmer, also in the 200 Back, where she crushed her old time by more than 11 seconds!
Irene Qu had three best times, all by more than 2 seconds. Her biggest drop was -3.96 in the 50 Breast! She also stepped up into the B Relay Medley that scored big points for Wave!
Aayush Rane swam two events and earned best times in both!
Navya Sainani had two best times, highlighted by a superb 100 Breast!
Max Stevenson won his medal in the 400 Free in a come-from-behind race where he dropped almost 12 seconds and ran down another swimmer on the final length!
Alison Wang popped out an amazing 100 Breast, earning herself a new BB Time!
Kailyn Wing was almost perfection, earning five new best times and missing a sixth by only 0.37! Three of those swims were new motivational times!
Isshin Yokoyama had a great meet, most notably his monster 4.50-second drop and 14^th place finish in the 100 Back!
Grace Zhang put up three excellent swims, with two new best times, and was a key leg in the B Medley Relay that scored big points for Wave!

Senior 1

The Senior 1 Group sent six swimmers to the PNS Age Group Championships this past weekend. Everyone who participated put their all into every swim, many of them ended up with multiple best times and qualifying for finals. It was a great end to the season and a great way for the swimmers to see all their hard work pay off. I can’t wait to see what this young crew can accomplish moving into next season and beyond.

Highlights:

Nik Brusilovski was coming back from an illness and was out of the water the whole week leading up to the meet. He didn’t let this stop him from competing as he toughed it out and swam two days at the meet. Given the circumstances he performed very well going right at his best time in all his races. His best race was his 200 Free where he was only 0.05 from his seed time.
Rik Brusilovski really stepped up his training this summer and worked hard to improve his racing as well. He turned in good swims in all his events and was right on his best times. His best race of the weekend was his 50 Free.
Hailey Crawford has been working very hard to improve her freestyle and backstroke racing. All her hard work paid off as she crushed her best times in all but one of her races. Her best races were her 100 Breast where she made finals and finished 8^th overall and her 200 Free where she dropped 3.5 seconds.
Henry Geitz had near perfect attendance this season only missing one practice all summer. His time in the pool showed as he turned in fantastic swims in his races. He had a phenomenal 200 Back dropping 3.3 seconds from his time in Montana.
Ethan Na finished his season on a high note dropping time in four of his races at champs. He has really improved his butterfly this summer and that showed as he dropped a whopping 29 seconds in the 100 Fly. He then finished it off with a stellar 50 Free dropping a half second and going under 28 for the first time.
Dylan Vu was on vacation leading up to the meet, but he is a racer. He put his game face on and put everything he had into all his swims. He managed to be close to his best times in his races and even dropped in a few. His best race was the 50 Free where he dropped almost a half second and broke the 28-second barrier for the first time.

Senior Prep

We had a fantastic 2022 Summer PNS Championship Meet! There were 149 successful swims with an average time drop of 0.71. We also had another 21 swims that were between a 0.01 to 0.50 off their best. There were lots of learning opportunities, especially around Odd/Even heats on separate ends of the pool, finals, and how important warm down is when you are swimming that many races in a four-day period. Shout outs to Lena and Adrian for getting the highest place in the group, 2^nd! Adrian in the 50 and 100 Breast, and Lena in the Mile. Shout out to Lena for the biggest drop of the meet in her 800 Split of her mile! 18+ second drop! And another shout out to Lena, Adrian, and Kirsten for making it into the Championship Finals (Top 8) for an individual event(s)! A final shout out to Deming, Bennett, and Olivia for making the Consol Finals (Top 16) for an individual event(s)! Sr. Prep swimmers, I am proud of your hard work that you all have put in this season. Great Job!

Biggest Senior Prep Time Drops at Champs

Lena Duryee dropped 18.78 seconds in the 800 Free
Kirsten Hau dropped 16.72 seconds in the 200 Fly
Amelia Pletosu dropped 16.27 seconds in the 400 Free and 6.94 seconds in the 200 Breast
Sophia Gorveatt dropped 9.9 seconds in the 400 Free and 3.57 seconds in the 100 Fly
Adrian Juco dropped 7 seconds in the 200 IM, 6.64 seconds in the 200 IM, 6.39 seconds in the 200 Breast, and 3.92 seconds in the 100 Breast
Lauren Hizzey dropped 6.3 seconds in the 200 Back
Thomas Claux dropped 5.7 seconds in the 200 IM and 4.14 seconds in the 200 Free
Vien Pogue dropped 4.83 seconds in the 100 Back
Iris Huang dropped 4.69 seconds in the 100 Fly
Daniel Xia dropped 4.67 seconds in the 200 Breast
Karolina Pastusiak dropped 4.53 seconds in the 200 IM
Anton Mazepa dropped 3.82 seconds in the 200 Back
Bill Wang dropped 3.76 seconds in the 200 Back
Shir Netz dropped 3.62 seconds in the 100 Back

We also had 12 new swims where a swimmer was swimming an event for the first time for the 50-meter course! Nice work, Sr. Prep! Have a great time being away from the pool in August!

White Group

White sent seven kids to PNS Champs, who all earned several feathers in their caps!

First meet at the ‘Aquadrome’: Landon Jonah, Ahana

Landon Yuan: In his first champs, he dropped 2 seconds in his 50 Breast, and crushed his yards time by 15 seconds on his 200 Free with a piece of pizza and coke ‘n’ board!
Karina Maksyutov, in the Medley Relay, swam her 50 Free leg with a split only 1 second off an A time! She also earned a B time in her first-ever 200m IM!
Emily MacDonald dropped another second from her 50 Free that she swam just two weeks earlier, and earned a BB time in her first-ever 100m Back!
Adi Beibit, in what could be 'the swim of the meet', dropped 15.63 seconds off his 200 IM time—which was only a month and a half old—and smashed the team record! Most of the time he cut was in his backstroke, which he de-bobbed! He dropped time in all six events, swam in both A relays, and scored twice…as an 8-yr-old in 10&U events!
Ahana Bhattacharya had a rough start but finished with a new best time in the 50 Breast and swam a great fly leg in the Medley Relay!
Maria Kokhan dropped time in both of her events, including a massive 2.6 seconds in her 50 Free!
Jonah Lynn had a nice 1-second drop in his 50 Back, but in his 100 Free he blasted his way to a 7.67-second drop! He was also a key member of both B Relay teams that scored big points for Wave!

Top 16 Finishes

All these swimmers scored points for Wave. Individual Top 8 and Relay Top 3 finishes won medals.

Adi Beibit: 10^th 200 IM, 14^th 100 Fly
Bimu Beibit: 4^th 100 Breast, 5^th 400 Free, 9^th 200 Free, 10^th 100 Back, 11^th 100 Free, 12^th 100 Fly
Kamilla Bugaitsova: 8^th 1500 Free
Hailey Crawford: 8^th 100 Breast
Olivia DeAmicis: 16^th 50 Fly
Lena Duryee: 2^nd 1500 Free, 8^th 50 Back & 50 Free, 9^th 200 Free, 13^th 100 Free, 15^th 100 Back
Ellen Feng: 5^th 50 Fly, 6^th 400 Free, 12^th 100 Back
Claire Gao: 2^nd 50, 100 & 200 Free, 4^th 50 Fly, 6^th 50 Back, 7^th 100 Back
Deming Gates: 11^th 100 Breast, 16^th 200 Free
Bennett Geitz: 14^th 200 Breast
Kirsten Hau: 5^th 1500 Free, 13^th 200 Fly
Olivia Henaire: 10^th 100 Breast, 11^th 50 Breast, 14^th 200 IM
Yuzuki Ishizuka: 16^th 200 Free
Adrian Juco: 2^nd 50 & 100 Breast, 4^th 200 Breast
Dami Jung: 9^th 100 Breast, 13^th 50 Breast
Beata Sobol: 7^th 400 Free, 12^th 100 Fly
Andy Yang: 6^th 100 Breast, 10^th 50 Breast
Isshin Yokoyama: 14^th 100 Back
10&Under Girls 200 Free Relay:
- A Team 4^th (Ellen Feng, Yuzuki Ishizuka, Dami Jung, Claire Gao)
- B Team 11^th (Olivia Henaire, Emily MacDonald, Karina Maksyutov, Beata Sobol)
10&Under Girls 200 Medley Relay:
- A Team 2^nd (Yuzuki Ishizuka, Olivia Henaire, Ellen Feng, Claire Gao)
- B Team 6^th (Irene Qu, Grace Zhang, Beata Sobol, Dami Jung)
11-12 Girls 200 Free Relay 7^th (Lauren Hizzey, Olivia DeAmicis, Radha Shiriam, Lena Duryee)
11-12 Girls 400 Free Relay 7^th (Olivia DeAmicis, Lauren Hizzey, Sophia Gorveatt, Lena Duryee)
11-12 Girls 200 Medley Relay 13^th (Lauren Hizzey, Kirsten Hau, Olivia DeAmicis, Lena Duryee)
11-12 Girls 400 Medley Relay 11^th (Lauren Hizzey, Kirsten Hau, Olivia DeAmicis, Lena Duryee)
10&Under Boys 200 Free Relay 10^th (Andy Yang, Jonah Lynn, George Ursulenko, Max Stevenson)
10&Under Boys 200 Medley Relay
- A Team 6^th (Bimu Beibit, Andy Yang, Adi Beibit, Isshin Yokoyama)
- B Team 12^th (Jonah Lynn, George Ursulenko, Max Stevenson, Alex Arlouski)
11-12 Boys 200 Free Relay 11^th (Adrian Juco, Bennett Geitz, Daniel Chen, Deming Gates)
11-12 Boys 400 Free Relay 8^th (Adrian Juco, Bennett Geitz, Daniel Chen, Deming Gates)
11-12 Boys 200 Medley Relay 6^th (Deming Gates, Adrian Juco, Bennett Geitz, Daniel Chen)
11-12 Boys 400 Medley Relay 5^th (Deming Gates, Adrian Juco, Bennett Geitz, Daniel Chen)
13-14 Boys 200 Free Relay 10^th (Ethan Na, Rik Brusilovski, Kyle Fontelera, Dylan Vu)
13-14 Boys 400 Free Relay 16^th (Ethan Na, Rik Brusilovski, Oleg Arlouski, Dylan Vu)
13-14 Boys 200 Medley Relay 12^th (Nik Bruskilovski, Rik Brusilovski, Kyle Fontelera, Ethan Na)