Spring Showdown Meet Recap

Jay Pearson

Spring Showdown Meet Recap

Wave ended the Short Course Season in fine fashion with a fantastic performance at the Spring Showdown, earning our highest team finish since last year’s Montana travel meet. We grabbed 4th place out of more than 30 teams and 900+ swimmers! We were led by Daniel Cho, who not only won the 100 and 200 Breast, but also qualified for Senior Sectionals, by Daniel Chen, who scored more points than any other Wave swimmer (107 points!), and by Sophia Gorveatt, who scored a hat trick as our only swimmer to win three events and scored the most points for our girls (94)!

Wave Parents

Wave asked a lot of our parents, and they stepped up big time and showing all PNS who well we can run a meet at the King County Aquatic Center. We want to thank and appreciate all the volunteers who stepped up and helped make the meet run as smoothly as it did. Thank you so much. We want to highlight people who went above and beyond:

  • All the Senior athletes who volunteered to time on Saturday night for Finals. It was so cool to see all the kids in their Purple shirts behind the block supporting their teammates!
  • Nhu Dang - worked two sessions as a Safety Marshall
  • Mallory Edwards - worked two sessions as a ribbons person and runner
  • Don Tulanon - covered two sessions as a Safety Marshall
  • Jennifer Lundy - covered two sessions as a timer
  • Jennifer Mensching - covered two sessions as a Clerk of Course and Hospitality worker
  • Veslava Ovendale- covered two sessions as a timer
  • Xiaohan Wang - covered two sessions as a timer and hospitality worker
  • Derek Wing - covered two sessions as a Deck Marshall
  • Our Prelim Announcers – Molly Hepkin, Martha DeAmicis, Junghee Pogue, and Florin Stanciu – for announcing at a meet format they have never done before and flawlessly announcing the heats and the swimmers who made finals. Announcing two pools simultaneously is never easy!

We also want to thank all the Boosters for putting a lot of time prepping for the weekend and working the weekend:

  • Steven Blackmon for all his work – this meet could not have happened without him!
  • Joe & Jing Yin – For working all day Saturday with Steven and making sure the meet was running on time and coming back for Sunday Finals to help with the cleanup and packing things up to bring back to Wave
  • Heidi Reynolds & Feyrouz Kurji – For working all day Sunday with Steven making sure the meet was running on time.
  • Renee & Oliver Yin – For being there Saturday and Sunday doing the many out of normal things that needed to be done so that the meet continued

We also want to say a big thank you to the officials who came out and worked the meet. As part of being a host, it is important to have a large group of our own officials there working the meet as much as it is important for our parent volunteers to fill the jobs to run the meet.

The officials who came out to work a session were Holly Alleva, Keiko MacDonald, Peter Lewis, Binlong Li, Ashley Song, Iris Wang, Olga Werth, Flora Wu, and Tatiana Brusilovski.

A special thank you to the following officials for working more than one session or working a Finals session, which allowed us to put on a really fun and exciting finals for the swimmers: Katrina Bugaitsova (2 sessions), Dick Chapman (all 4 sessions), Heather Clarke (1 session & 1 Finals), Guy Duryee (1 session & 1 Finals), Joanne Gates (2 sessions), Mike Hansen (2 sessions), Sriram Viswanadham (all 4 sessions), Xiaobing Wang (2 sessions), and Nikki Watrous (2 sessions)

Finally, a special shout out to Lorraine Masse (meet referee) and Alan Cardwell (meet director) for getting this meet put together, even with the last minute changes and redid the sessions and timeline multiple times so that the swimmers had the best experience we could give them!

White Group

At the Showdown, we only had one swimmer qualify, and boy did Henry Cheng make us proud! He charged his breaststroke, scoring First Place in both his 100 Breast (-1.8s improvement) and his 50 Breast (-2.7s improvement). In his 100 Breast, he won by more than 2 seconds and in his 50 Breast, he landed a scant 0.5 from his first A time!

Senior 1

We had 15 swimmers compete at the Spring Showdown Meet. It was an awesome meet for the group. The swimmers really stepped up and put everything they had into all their races. We had many swimmers qualify for finals and even snagged a couple of first place finishes. There were two swimmers who achieved cuts for new meets, 1 Senior Zones qualifier and 1 Senior Sectionals qualifier. This group put in tons of hard work this season and to see it pay off the way it did at their end of season meet was such a wonderful experience. I am so proud of everyone in the group, they all really rose to the occasion and embraced the Excellence part of our new Wave Way. I am excited to see what we can accomplish moving forward into our Long Course season.

  • Rik Brusilovski had an awesome showing at the meet, going best times in five races and making finals in three. His standout swim was the 200 IM where he dropped 2 seconds, qualified for finals, then raced incredibly well in finals, finishing 2nd in the B Final.
  • Daniel Cho started the meet off with a huge drop in the 200 Free. That, however, was not his main goal at the meet: he would absolutely tear it up in the 100 and 200 Breast events. In the 100, he swam blisteringly fast in prelims qualifying for Senior Sectionals and finishing 1st in both prelims and finals. He followed that up by winning the 200 Breast and dropping 3 seconds.
  • Aarohi Gandhi showed up after battling illness all week but did not let that stop her from having a great meet. She put everything she had into her races and ended up with four new best times. Her best race was her 50 Fly, dropping almost a second and qualifying for finals where she went right at her time from prelims in an incredibly strong race.
  • Henry Geitz has been crushing it all season and this meet would prove no different. He went best times in all is races and qualified for finals in the 100 and 200 Free. He turned in monster swims in both races, dropping 1.72 seconds in the 100 Free and 3.5 seconds in the 200 Free on the way to 5th place.
  • Peter Hansen has been showing steady improvement all season. He finished it off with a strong showing at the meet, where he was right at his best time or better in all his races. He had a great 100 Breast, dropping almost 2 seconds and going 1:10 for the first time ever. He had an awesome 50 Fly as well dropping a second in prelims then going right at his best time and moving up a place in finals.
  • Iris Huang has been working very hard on increasing her sprint speed to last for 100s. Her training really paid off as she turned in four amazing races over the weekend. The first day she had huge swims and time drops in the 50 Free and 100 Fly and finishing 3rd in both races. She followed that up by winning the B Final in her 100 Free and 200 IM on her way to best times in both of those races. She is glad to be finding her speed in the longer sprints!
  • Aditi Kandiah finished off a season filled with super hard work with some awesome racing and best times in three of her events. She turned in a stellar swim in the 50 Fly in prelims going right at her best time and earning a spot in finals. She then turned around and absolutely crushed it, winning the B Final and dropping another half a second. She is excited to swim more fly events in the future!
  • Kyle Li has been training hard and it really showed in his racing over the weekend. He has been hungry to get a new best time in the 200 Free, which is exactly what he accomplished. He also had some great sprint races going under 26 for the first time in the 50 Free and dropping a second in his 50 Back on the way to an 8th place finish.
  • Ethan Na made the absolute most out of his final meet of the season. He stepped up and raced hard, going best times in all six events. He had huge swims in the 200 IM and 200 Fly, finishing 3rd in both races and looking super strong. His biggest race of the whole meet was his 50 free, where he had a near-perfect race going under 23 seconds for the first time and qualifying for Senior Zones.
  • Joseph Nguyen showed up completely prepared to race. He put everything he had into all his swims and came out the other side with five new best times. His biggest drop of 2.5 seconds came in the 100 Free while his standout race was his 50 Fly. He dropped almost a full second and qualified for finals, and then raced incredibly well moving up a spot.
  • Sonny Nguyen had himself a solid finish to the season. He was right at or better than his best time in all his races. He had a great 200 IM racing his way to a solid finish to qualify for finals. In finals he would finish with the fastest last 50 in his heat moving up a place from his prelims finish and achieving a new best time.
  • Neha Phatak has been working hard and that training really helped her succeed in her middle distance races. She had stellar showings in both the 200 Free achieving a best time and the 200 IM having a massive 3-second drop. She is excited to keep pushing herself and getting better and better at the longer races.
  • Neil Rawal has been getting faster all season. This meet would prove to be no different for him. He turned in some awesome swims, dropping time in four events and qualifying for finals in two. He has been working hard on his breaststroke and that hard work paid off in the 100 and 200. His biggest drop of the weekend was a huge 15 seconds in the 200 Breast.
  • Boris Shakhov raced hard in all his events. His best race was the 50 Free where he sprinted his way to a new best time. He is looking forward to returning to training hard and improving his racing as we head into the new season.
  • Dylan Vu came to the meet totally prepared to crush it. He ended up achieving best times in all six events. He was all business when it came to the 200 Free, dropping 1.3 seconds and swimming the best split race so far. He kept the ball rolling with a huge swim in the 100 Back, dropping 1.6 seconds and breaking the 1:00 barrier for the first time. He capped off his strong showing with a best time and 6th place finish in the 100 Free.

Senior Epic

Senior Epic had two swimmers racing at Spring Showdown and another eleven who volunteered to be timers on Saturday Finals. That was a perfect way to finish a successful Short Course Season for our group. They raced extremely well at all three Champs Meets and closed the season helping out Wave to run a wonderful meet at Federal Way.

  • Aadhav Saravanan had double work last weekend. On Saturday, he was part of the group who volunteered and timed Finals, and on Sunday he showed up ready to swim! Aadhav has been working more on his breaststroke and it showed at the meet. He qualified for finals and dropped almost 3 seconds going under 2:30 for the first time. He also swam the 200 IM where he won the B Final and swam right at his best time. Way to go, Aadhav!
  • Andy Wang finally had his comeback! That was his first swim meet since October 2022 when he got an injury and was prevented from attending swim practices until a month ago. Andy had a light schedule swimming only two events and he did incredibly well! In his strongest event, the 100 Fly, he swam right at his time, going only 0.02 off his best time, qualifying for the A Final, and scoring 12 points for the team. He also joined his teammates after swimming his final and timed the remaining events until the end of the meet. Welcome back, Andy!

High School

We had a great meet, ending the short course season with some incredible swims from these five athletes!

  • Ori Ami ad: -0.70 in the 100 Breast and -1.50 in the 50 Breast to place 17th! That was a great swim with so much effort!
  • Zander Brumfield: -3.00 in the 50 Back, finished 8th in prelims then swam like a beast in the A final to finish 6th! He dropped -1.58 in the 50 Fly, which may be the best fly he has ever swum. He also picked up a best time in the 50 Free, dropping -0.30 second.
  • Ian Chow: -1.85 in 50 Breast and placing 14th in the B Final! He swam with great intensity and had a phenomenal race. He also dropped -1.58 in the 50 Fly.
  • Will Rinehart: -4.40 in 200 Free, which might be the hardest he’s ever swam in that event. He did a great job racing and running down his competitors in the last 50!
  • Oliver Wang: -4.41 in 100 IM placing 22nd, -3.06 in 50 Breast, and -0.71 in 50 Fly placing 19th! The last was his best swim by far. He raced and chased his competitors down in his heat!

Purple Group

Landon Yuan and Dario Giuliani held it down at Spring Showdown for Purple Group. Landon made it back to finals both days for his 100 IM and 50 Breast as well as earning the biggest drop for all of Wave, cutting off more than 1 minute in his 200 Free! Dario went all best times in his races and dropped almost 8 seconds in his 50 Fly! Good job boys on a great weekend and some awesome swims!

Age Group Select

AGS had eight swimmers at the meet, and all our hard work paid off big time with several excellent swims, including first place finishes by Fiona Herman and Deniz Cankaya.

  • Dami Jung had two best times and another swim right at her best time. Her best swim was an astonishing 200 Free with near-perfect splits where she blasted more than 10 seconds off her old time!
  • Beata Sobol had a rough Saturday, but did not give up and came back on Sunday to score best times in all her events led by her superb 200 IM where she dropped more than 2 seconds and picked up a new BB time!
  • Deniz Cankaya not only won the 100 Back with a 3-second drop and outstanding finish, he picked up a 3rd place in the 50 Back and 9th in the 50 Free. All three swims were best times!
  • Fiona Herman dropped time in three events, including a 5-second drop in her 200 Free, and scored Top 8 in all four events. The only event in which she didn’t drop time was the event she won, the 100 Fly, where her superior finish moved her from 3rd to 1st on the final stroke to out-touch her two competitors! What a gritty swim!!
  • Maria Kokhan scored in three races, highlighted by a 6th place in her 50 Back and a .6-second drop in her 100 Free!
  • Yihan Li had an outstanding day, dropping more than 1 second in all three of her swims, and scoring every time she dove in. Her biggest drop of almost 2 seconds came in the 50 Back!
  • Olivia Liu’s day started off rough, adding time in her first three races. However, she overcame that adversity by focusing on her final race and believing in herself and matched her best time ever in the 50 Free for a victorious finish!
  • Isshin Yokoyama—who turned 11 just two weeks before the meet—made finals in four events, including the A Final in his 100 IM, where he dropped two seconds off his best time in prelims, then came back for finals and dropped another second to earn a new BB time!

Senior Prep

Sr. Prep had an outstanding Spring Showdown meet. We had lots of finalists and lots of energy with teammates cheering for and supporting each other. I was very proud of how our team conducted themselves at the meet with warming up and down, checking in with me before and after their races, and doing the things needed to be able to do their best. We had 178 successful swims and 125 of those were time drops, 70% of our races! We had another 13 swims that were exactly at our best time or within half a second. Our average time drop per race was 1.03 seconds. I wanted to call out our 200 Butterfly finalists Bennet Geitz, Amelia Pletosu, Sophia Gorveatt, and Nora Herman, who each swam the race twice! I really enjoyed coaching you all in Sr. Prep this short course season, and I am looking forward to a fun Long Course season.

Top 30 Improvements:

  • Amelia Pletosu dropped 14.42 seconds in the 200 Fly
  • Sophia Gorveatt dropped 13.21 seconds in the 200 Fly, 7.84 seconds in the 200 Free, 4.62 seconds in the 100 Free & 4.03 seconds in the 100 Fly
  • Madeleine Cheng dropped 7.92 seconds in the 200 Breast
  • Lasya Viswanadham dropped 7.85 seconds in the 200 Free, 5.32 seconds in the 200 Breast
  • Gahl Ami Ad dropped 7.34 seconds in the 200 Free & 3.07 seconds in the 200 Back
  • Daniel Chen dropped 5.77 seconds in the 200 Breast, 2.66 seconds in the 200 Free, & 2.65 seconds in the 100 Back
  • Penelope Hepkin dropped 5.70 seconds in the 200 IM
  • Radha Shriram dropped 5.37 seconds in the 200 Free
  • Liya Wu dropped 5.13 seconds in the 200 Free
  • Nora Herman dropped 4.41 seconds in the 200 IM, 4.14 seconds in the 200 Fly
  • Karolina Pastusiak dropped 4.40 seconds in the 200 Breast
  • Rahul Purkayastha dropped 3.95 seconds in the 100 IM & 3.90 seconds in the 100 Back, & 3.77 seconds in the 200 Back, & 3.02 seconds in the 100 IM
  • Tandisse Rahimi dropped 3.84 seconds in the 200 IM
  • Bennett Geitz dropped 3.35 seconds in the 200 Free & 3.27 seconds in the 200 IM
  • Vien Pogue dropped 3.06 seconds in the 200 Breast
  • Ella Tulanon dropped 2.91 seconds in the 100 Fly
  • Kamilla Bugaitsova dropped 2.89 seconds in the 200 IM
  • Deming Gates dropped 2.77 seconds in the 100 Breast & 2.51 seconds in the 200 Breast

Top 8 (A Final) Finishes

  • Zander Brumfield – 6th (50 Back)
  • Deniz Cankaya – 1st (100 Back), 3rd (50 Back)
  • Daniel Chen – 1st (100 Back & 200 Free), 2nd (100 & 200 Breast, 50 Back), 3rd (50 Breast)
  • Henry Cheng – 1st (50 & 100 Breast), 8th (50 Back)
  • Daniel Cho – 1st (100 & 200 Breast), 3rd (100 IM)
  • Bennett Geitz – 4th (200 Fly), 8th (100 Fly)
  • Henry Geitz – 4th (200 Free)
  • Sophia Gorveatt – 1st (100 & 200 Fly, 200 Free), 2nd (100 Free and 50 Fly)
  • Fiona Herman – 1st (100 Fly), 3rd (50 Fly), 6th (200 Free), 8th (50 Free)
  • Nora Herman – 4th (200 IM)
  • Iris Huang – 3rd (100 Fly, 50 Free)
  • Maria Kokhan – 6th (50 Back)
  • Kyle Li – 8th (50 Back)
  • Yihan Li – 6th (100 Back), 8th (50 Back)
  • Olivia Liu – 5th (100 Fly)
  • Ethan Na – 3rd (100 & 200 Fly, 200 IM, 50 Free)
  • Sonny Nguyen – 8th (50 Breast)
  • Karolina Patusiak – 3rd (200 Breast)
  • Amelia Pletosu – 2nd (200 Fly), 5th (100 Fly), 6th (50 Fly, 100 Free)
  • Vien Pogue – 5th (200 Breast), 8th (50 Breast)
  • Ani Purkayastha – 1st (50 & 100 Back), 4th (50 Fly)
  • Lasya Viswanadham – 2nd (50 Breast), 3rd (100 Breast, 200 Free), 4th (200 Breast), 6th (50 Free), 7th (50 Fly)
  • Dylan Vu – 3rd (50 Back), 5th (200 Free), 6th (100 Free, 200 IM)
  • Andy Wang – 7th (100 Fly)
  • Isshin Yokoyama – 5th (100 IM)

New US Motivational Times

AA

  • Daniel Cho – 100 Breast
  • Sophia Gorveatt – 50, 100, & 200 Fly
  • Iris Huang – 100 Fly

A

  • Ric Brusilovski – 200 Free, 200 IM
  • Daniel Chen – 100 Back, 200 Breast
  • Bennett Geitz – 200 Free
  • Henry Getiz – 100 Free
  • Sophia Gorveatt – 100 Free
  • Nora Herman – 200 Free
  • Ethan Na – 200 Fly, 200 Free
  • Sonny Nguyen – 50 Free
  • Amelia Pletosu – 50 & 100 Free, 200 Fly
  • Vien Pogue – 100 IM, 50 Fly
  • Lasya Viswanadham – 50 & 100 Breast, 200 Free, 50 Fly
  • Dylan Vu – 200 IM

BB

  • Kamilla Burgaitsova – 200 IM, 50 Fly
  • Daniel Cho – 100 Free
  • Deming Gates – 100 Breast
  • Bennett Geitz – 200 Breast
  • Peter Hansen – 100 Breast
  • Penelope Hepkin – 200 IM
  • Nora Herman – 200 Fly
  • Joseph Nguyen – 100 Free
  • Rahul Purkayastha – 100 Back, 100 Free
  • Neil Rawal – 100 & 200 Breast
  • Radha Shriram – 200 Free
  • Beata Sobol – 200 IM
  • Kailyn Wing – 100 Breast
  • Liya Wu – 200 Free
  • Isshin Yokoyama – 100 IM
  • Landon Yuan – 50 Breast

B

  • Dami Jung – 100 Breast
  • Joseph Nguyen – 100 Breast
  • Beata Sobol – 50 Breast

WAVE ON 3!!