Missoula Firecracker Classic Meet Recap

For the second year in a row, Wave won this big meet, which featured 18 teams from four states. This time, however, we won big by running away from the competition on Day 3, beating the 2^nd place team by more than 380 points (2848 to 2465.5)! Way to go Wave!!

Huge shout outs to Noah Sattari, who broke the 15-16 Boys Team Record in the 50 Fly; to Daniel Xia, who picked up his first-ever Sectionals cut in the 200 Breast; and to Sophia Gorveatt and Yushi Chong, who were our only multiple event winners!

A big shout out to our 10&U relay teams who scored huge points for our team (there were no relay events for older age groups):

• 10&U Girls 200 Free Relay A (1^st Place): Abby Gray, Ally Yuan, Vedah Tuladhar, Eleanor Lopez
• 10&U Girls 200 Free Relay B (4^th Place): Yushi Chong, Margaret Ursulenko, Natalie Whitbeck, Berit Dunn
• 10&U Girls 200 Medley Relay A (1^st Place): Vedah, Ally, Eleanor, Yihan Li
• 10&U Girls 200 Medley Relay B (4^th Place): Berit, Lingyi Li, Abby, Natalie
• 10&U Girls 200 Medley Relay C (8^th Place): Margaret, Avani Yadav, Yushi, Navya Arora
• 10&U Boys 200 Free Relay A (1^st Place): Max Malinovskyi, Nicolas Palfreyman, Mudit Singh, George Ursulenko
• 10&U Boys 200 Free Relay B (3^rd Place): Joseph Foster, Leo Steijn, Timothy Rakovchuk, Ben Ovendale

Age Group Select

• Alex Arlouski had a huge meet, particularly with outstanding swims in finals. He swam his first-ever 200m Back earning not only a B time but moving up from 5^th place in prelims to 3^rd place in finals! He repeated this in the 50m Fly, moving up from 9^th to 4^th, and earning a BB time in finals. He also dropped time in six of his events, highlighted by a 10.95-second improvement in his 100m Back and a 14.66-second overall improvement in his 50 Fly!
• Bani Bhuyan had four first-time long course swims, including outstanding swims in her 200m Free, 200m Back, and 200m Breast! She also picked up a best time in her 50m Back!
• Berit Dunn had two best times and two first-time swims, including a BB time and 3^rd place finish in her 100m Breast! She also scored in her 50m Fly (5^th place) and 50m Breast (14^th place)!
• Abby Gray had a phenomenal meet, scoring five times and earning four best times. She dropped more than 8 seconds in her 100m Breast and finished 7^th in two of the tougher events (100m Fly and 200m Free)!
• Maria Kokhan persevered with sore shoulders, grabbing three best times of 2.7 seconds or more in the 100m Back, 50m Breast, and 50m Free!
• Lingyi Li raced the 100m Breast long course for the first time and earned a B time there, while also racing to some strong new best times in the 50m and 100m Free
• Yihan Li scored four times, highlighted by a 4^th place finish in her 100m Back and a 3.64-second drop in her 100m Breast!
• Eleanor Lopez looked very good in her races and especially her butterfly looked very nice with some excellent skills. She swam her first-ever 100m Fly…and finished 2^nd! She scored in four other races, swam her first-ever 200m Free and 200m IM, and slashed off 24.49 seconds in her 100m Breast!
• Max Malinovskyi was an absolute star, scoring in all 8 of his races, including three 2^nd places and a 6^th place in his first-ever 200m Free. He dropped time in every race he swam and picked up four new motivational times!
• Irene Qu had a monster meet, swimming her first-ever 200m Breast, 200m Free, and 200m IM. She blasted her way to a 6^th place finish in 50 Back in finals, dropping a full second from her prelims swim and moving up two places. To top it off, she cut 11.25 seconds in her 100m Breast!
• Leo Steijn scored three times, topped by an 7^th place finish and new B time in his first-ever 100m Breast. He also swam his first-ever 200m Free, scoring a 12^th place finish!
• Vedah Tuladhar scored in 7 out of 8 races, led by a 4^th place finish in her 50m Back and two 5^th places. She also picked up a BB time in her first-ever 100m Fly and B times in her first-ever 200m Free and 200m IM.
• George Ursulenko was the AGS Male Star of the Meet, winning the 100m Breast and scoring in all 8 races. He also picked up 3^rd place in the 200m Free, 4^th place in the 50m Breast, and top 8 in three other races!
• Audra Whitbeck had a fantastic meet, earning seven new best times, including a 7.61-second drop in the 100m Free. She also swam four events for the first-time ever!
• Natalie Whitbeck raced really well all weekend using her strong kick to power her through the water. She swam six events for the first time ever in long course and earned best times in her other two races, topped by a 6.75-second drop in her 50m Free where she also earned her first-ever B time!
• Ally Yuan was the AGS Female Star of the Meet, winning the 100m Back with a new A time and scoring every time she dove in. She also placed 2^nd in the 50m Fly, grabbed three 3^rd places (all of which were new BB times in first-ever long course swims), and 4^th place in her 50m Free. She earned a best time in all her races, including an amazing 21.36 seconds drop in her 100m Breast!
• Grace Zhang had a great meet, including her first-ever 200m Back and 200m Breast. She also had an excellent 100m Free, dropping almost 2 seconds!

Purple Group

We had a great meet in Montana with great time drops as well as great first long course swims!

• Thomas Ovendale dropped time in all his 50m events!
• Joshua Xia dropped 21 seconds in his 50 Breast, 23 seconds in his 100 Free, and 17 seconds in his 50 Fly!
• Kyra Yuan dropped 4 seconds in her 50 Breast and also made Top 8 and dropped another second in finals!
• Honorable mention to Eka Bhuyan, Arjun Yadav, and Raina Tuladhar for making the trek down to Montana and swimming some great races as well!

Black & White Groups

Our 10&U swimmers did a fantastic job in adjusting to all the changes: new state, new pool length, different backstroke flag distances, and even swimming at altitude.

These things didn’t seem to matter too much, and the athletes worked through all these adjustments in warm-up, then when it was time for the meet to start they did what they know how to do- swim fast.

Our 10&U swimmers swam with great effort throughout the meet which led to some impressive results.

For all the athletes from Black, this was their first time ever swimming long course so everything they swam was a first time:

• Yushi Chong - 100 Back, 100 Breast, 100 Free, 50 Back, 50 Breast, 50 Fly, 50 Free with new B times in the 100 Back, 100 Breast, 50 Back and 50 Breast
• Viyan Gupta - 100 Breast, 100 Free, 50 Back, 50 Breast, 50 Fly
• Vladislav Kalyuzhin - 100 Back, 100 Breast, 100 Free, 50 Back, 50 Breast, 50 Free
• Margaret Urulenko - 100 Back, 100 Breast, 100 Free, 50 Back, 50 Breast, 50 Free
• Avani Yadav - 100 Back, 100 Breast, 100 Free, 50 Back, 50 Breast, 50 Fly, 50 Free

Lots of new first-time swims from White Group athletes:

• Navya Arora - 100 Back, 100 Breast, 100 Free, 200 Free, 50 Back, 50 Breast, 50 Fly, 50 Free
• Joseph Foster - 100 Back, 100 Breast, 100 Free, 200 IM, 50 Back, 50 Breast, 50 Free including a B time in his 50 Back
• Ben Ovendale - 100 Back, 100 Breast, 100 Free, 200 IM, 50 Back, 50 Breast, 50 Fly, 50 Free with new B times in 5 of those races- 100 Breast, 100 Free, 200 IM, 50 Back, 50 Free
• Nico Palfreyman - 100 Back, 50 Breast, 50 Fly, 50 Free with a new B time in the 100 Back as well as a time drop to earn a B time in his 50 Back
• Tim Rakovchuk - 100 Breast, 100 Free, 200 IM, 50 Back, 50 Breast, 50 Fly, 50 Free with new B times in the 200 IM and 50 Back
• Mudit Singh - 100 Back, 100 Breast, 100 Free, 200 IM, 50 Back, 50 Breast, 50 Fly, 50 Free with new B times in the 50 and 100 Free

Senior Epic

Senior Epic had a phenomenal meet in Missoula. All swimmers in the group swam one or more best times during the weekend while we are still in the heavy training block of our program. We had some very exciting races, tons of swimmers coming back for Finals, going best times, achieving new PNS and Zones cuts. A big shout-out to Noah Sattari who broke the 15-16 Boys Team Record in the 50 Fly winning his race! I am excited to see what else our group can do once we finish our preparation and get ready for our Champs Season in July!! Enjoy some highlights from our group:

• Boston Borg has been recovering from a back injury yet still swam a best time in the 200 Free twice (Prelims & Finals) and also grabbed a bronze medal.
• Kyler Brumfield dropped time in all three backstroke events during the weekend (50, 100 & 200 Back) demonstrating an amazing consistency.
• Nik Brusilovski went a best time in the 100 Back, 100 Fly, and 50 Back. He also swam the 1500 Free for the first time and won the silver medal.
• Rik Brusilovski got sick during the meet and swam only a few events. Despite that, he was able to gather some energy and swim a lifetime best in the 100 Breast and 200 IM.
• Caroline Bryant went to Missoula for the first time and brought home four new personal bests in the following events: 50 & 200 Free, 50 & 200 Back.
• Henry Geitz has been improving his butterfly and had a fantastic 8-second drop in the 100 Fly. He also got his first PNS Champs cut in the 400 IM finishing in 4^th place!
• Jenna Kimborowicz had a solid meet and went best times in the 100 Fly and 50 Back. She posted another strong swim in the 200 Free where she raced really well.
• Fredrik Larsen brought home five personal best times, one gold medal, four silvers, and one bronze! His outstanding swim was the 200 IM where he dropped almost 3 full seconds.
• Owen Ledrick had an exciting meet and went three lifetimes best. He was happy to drop time and update his 200 Breaststroke after a few years not dropping his LC time.
• Ethan Na was very consistent during the weekend and swam within a second of his best times in almost all his events. He did drop 4.5 seconds in the 200 Breast and finished 4^th in the 50 Free.
• Aadhav Saravanan went four best times, earned an A Time in the 400 IM, and had an excellent 200 Back with a monster 14.49 second drop.
• Noah Sattari was flying at the meet! In breaking the team record in the 50 Fly, he soared with a 27.73, winning his race with ease! He also went a best time in the 100 Fly.
• Alexander Werth had an excellent meet and dropped time in five events. His biggest drop came in the 400 IM, where he cut almost 18 seconds from his previous time.
• Rina Yuan swam right at her times in the 50 & 100 Free and sprinted her way to swim Finals in the 50 Fly and 50 Back, going best times in both events.

Senior Prep

15 swimmers from Senior Prep battled the cold mornings and hot evenings in Missoula at the Firecracker Classic. This group was on fire all weekend, turning in awesome swim after awesome swim. There were tons of best times and a few amazing victories. This group did an incredible job contributing to the overall team success and our win at the meet.

• Gahl Ami ad was on fire all weekend, dropping time in four races. He had a smashing swim in the 200 Free where he dropped 13 seconds. He is looking forward to continuing to train and improve with the group.
• Kamilla Bugaitsova caught a little bit of illness on the first day of the meet. She didn’t let that keep her down though as she rallied her way to four best times and two finals appearances. Her biggest drop of 8 seconds came in her 400 Free.
• Olivia DeAmicis turned in six successful swims over the course of the weekend. She was right on her best time and raced hard in all her swims. Her highest finish was the 400 IM which she swam for the first time ever in long course.
• Lena Duryee had some very good swims over the weekend. Her best finish came on the first day where she finished 5^th in the 1500. She would go on to sneak into finals in the 200 Free then moved up two places in finals.
• Deming Gates had some ups and downs, but the good swims far outweighed the not-so-good swims. He raced his way into finals in both the 100 Fly and 200 Breast.
• Bennett Geitz was on fire going five best times and qualifying for finals in four races. The most exciting swim was his 100 Fly where he ended up in an epic showdown with his older brother and swam his way to a 3-second drop.
• Sophia Gorveatt continued to make her mark as a butterfly swimmer. She produced wins in both the 100 and 200 Fly and won the latter by 15 meters, dropping 5 seconds from prelims to finals and achieving an A time in the event.
• Kirsten Hau had a ton of successful swims, dropping time in four races. Her highest finish of 11^th place came in the 400 IM scoring her points and helping out the team. Her biggest drop of 11 seconds came in the 200 IM.
• Lauren Hizzey had four successful swims at the meet where she was at or below her best time. She turned in a massive 21-second drop in the 50 Breast.
• Lainey Meyer posted great first long course times in many of her events. She blasted her way to a 4-second drop in the 50 Free and an even bigger 8-second drop in the 100 Back.
• Kumail Mukadam competed in his first long course meet. He did an awesome job racing hard in all his events and posted solid baseline times for moving forward. 
• Karolina Pastusiak swam her way into finals in four events with strong swims in each. She had a stellar 3-second drop in her 200 Back. Her highest finish of 6^th place came in her 200 Breast, also a best time.
• Amelia Pletosu went a perfect 8/8 qualifying for finals in everything she swam. She had a busy 16-swim weekend, generating tons of points for our team as well as producing many huge best times. Her 23-second drop in the 200 IM was her biggest of the weekend.
• Ella Tulanon had a sweet weekend with five successful swims. She had an awesome 200 Free where she raced her way into finals then proceeded to drop from her prelims time in her finals swim. She also finished 11^th in the 400 Free scoring points and helping the team out.
• Lasya Viswanadham was our other perfectionist also going 8/8 qualifying for finals. She posted some solid best times and did a wonderful job coming back and racing in finals, often moving up spots from where she finished the morning sessions. She turned in an 11-second drop in the 200 IM for her biggest drop of the meet.

Senior 1

The Senior 1 Group had 14 swimmers compete at the Firecracker Classic. We battled through some brutally cold mornings to overcome the weather and get many swimmers qualified for finals. The finals sessions would prove to be much nicer as the sun came out and it warmed up quite a bit, making for some very awesome racing. The swimmers did an absolutely amazing job of leaving it all in the pool and turning in some stellar performances. It was a blast to watch everyone crush their times and to see all the hard work they have put in the last two months really pay off. Based on the success of this meet, I am incredibly optimistic for our future performances.

• Oleg Arlouski was chasing his THSC Meet cuts all weekend and ended up producing two in the 100 and 200 Fly. The latter was incredible: he had a solid prelims swim dropping a little bit of time then absolutely smashed finals to win the race by a landslide and dropping 4 seconds from his prelims swim.
• Daniel Cho was on a breaststroke mission over the weekend. He qualified for the A finals in all three races: the 50, 100, and 200. He turned on the jets to win the 50 then proceeded to battle his way to 2^nd place in the 100, turning in solid times in both races.
• Ananiah Gashaw had a fabulous weekend of racing, achieving best times in five races. She had an amazing 200 Free, dropping 11 seconds and going under 3:00 for the first time. It was awesome to see her hard work pay off in such big ways.
• Nethaniah Gashaw—not wanting to be outdone by her twin—stepped up big time and produced four drops of her own as well as a few swims that were right on her best time. Her biggest drop of 7 seconds also came in the 200 Free while her best race was her 100 Fly where she achieved a new best time while swimming an incredibly clean and strong race.
• Penelope Hepkin has been working very hard and it paid off in her races. She has been doing really well at aerobic training and that showed up huge in her longer events. She had stunning swims in the 200 Breast (7 second drop) and the 200 IM (3 second drop).
• Iris Huang was right at her best times in all her races. She had a strong swim in prelims of the 50 Breast, then during finals turned in a much faster time and moved up a spot to win the C final.
• Adrian Juco was part of the breaststroke bonanza that Wave sent to the meet, qualifying for finals in all three races. He turned in solid swims in each event, going right at his best time in the 100 and 200 while dropping 3 seconds in the 50. His biggest drop, however, was in his 100 Fly where he improved by 15 seconds.
• Cora Ledrick started the meet off with a bang by qualifying for the THSC meet in the 1500 Free. She never looked back from there, turning in big swim after big swim. Her other most exciting race was the 200 Free where she doubled down and again qualified for THSC.
• Anton Mazepa competed all weekend down one ankle. Despite his limited ability to kick, he still produced several stellar swims and made finals in all the backstroke events where he somehow dropped time in both his 50 and 100 Back to finish 10^th in both races.
• Ani Purkayastha had a very solid meet going close to her best times in all her races. She had an awesome 200 Back with strong underwaters and great tempo throughout qualifying her for finals in the event. She turned around and swam an even better race in finals, dropping 2 seconds from her prelims time.
• Rahul Purkayastha showed up for a good time and fast swimming and he accomplished both. He turned in some awesome swims dropping time in five races. He knocked it out of the park in the 50 Back, going a best time in prelims qualifying him for finals, where he then turned in a solid swim going just off his prelims time.
• Radha Shriram was right at or under her best time in all her races. She put her game face on for the weekend and had several very strong swims. Her 2-second drop in the 50 Fly was very impressive as she swam a super solid race with good strokes and good breathing. I am looking forward to the rest of her meet season.
• Dylan Vu was right on his best time and qualified for finals in several of his races. He had a strong showing in the 50 Free, qualifying for B finals then moving up a few spots with an even cleaner finals swim.
• Daniel Xia was another member of the breaststroke brigade. He had a fantastic 200 Breast where he outsplit the entire field in the final 50 and charged his way to 2^nd place and his first Spring Sectionals qualifying time.

Event Winners

• Oleg Arlouski: 200 Fly
• Daniel Cho: 50 Breast
• Yushi Chong: 50 Breast, 50 Free
• Sophia Gorveatt: 100 & 200 Fly, 400 Free, 400 IM
• Fredrik Larsen: 200 Free
• Amelia Pletosu: 50 Fly
• Noah Sattari: 50 Fly
• George Ursulenko: 100 Breast
• Ally Yuan: 100 Back

New US Motivational Times

AAA

• Daniel Xia: 100 & 200 Breast

AA

• Oleg Arlouski: 200 & 400 Free, 100 Fly

A

• Nic Brusilovski: 1500 Free
• Ric Brusilovski: 100 Breast
• Bennett Getiz: 400 IM
• Sophia Gorveatt: 200 Fly, 400 Free
• Adrian Juco: 200 Free
• Cora Ledrick: 1500 Free
• Amelia Pletosu: 200 IM, 400 Free, 50 Fly
• Aadhav Saravanan: 200 & 400 IM
• Lasya Viswanadham: 100 Free
• Alex Werth: 200 IM
• Daniel Xia: 200 IM
• Ally Yuan: 100 Back

BB

• Alex Arlouski: 50 Fly
• Kamilla Bugaitsova: 100 Back
• Berit Dunn: 100 Breast
• Bennett Geitz: 100 & 200 Fly
• Henry Geitz: 100 Fly
• Sophia Gorveatt: 400 IM
• Kirsten Hau: 200 & 400 IM
• Penelope Hepkin: 400 Free
• Iris Huang: 200 Free
• Adrian Juco: 100 Fly
• Owen Ledrick: 1500 Free
• Eleanor Lopez: 100 Fly, 200 Free
• Max Malinovskyi: 50 Fly
• Karolina Pastusiak: 50 Free
• Amelia Pletosu: 200 Breast, 200 Fly
• Aadhav Saravanan: 200 Back, 200 Breast
• Vedah Tuladhar: 100 Fly
• Lasya Viswanadham: 200 Free, 200 IM
• Alex Werth: 400 IM
• Ally Yuan: 100 Breast, 100 Fly, 200 Free, 200 IM

B

• Alex Arlouski: 200 Back, 50 Free
• Daniel Cho: 200 Free
• Yushi Chong: 50 & 100 Back, 50 & 100 Breast
• Berit Dunn: 200 Free
• Joseph Foster: 50 Back
• Ananiah Gashaw: 100 & 200 Free
• Deming Gates: 400 IM
• Bennett Geitz: 100 Back
• Abby Gray: 200 IM
• Lauren Hizzey: 400 IM
• Eleanor Lopez: 100 Breast, 200 IM
• Max Malinovskyi: 50 & 100 Breast, 200 Free
• Lainey Meyer: 50 Free
• Benjamin Ovendale: 100 Breast, 50 & 100 Free, 200 IM, 50 Back
• Nicolas Palfreyman: 100 Back
• Irene Qu: 50 & 100 Breast
• Timothy Rakovchuk: 200 IM, 50 Back
• Mudit Singh: 100 Free
• Leo Steijn: 100 Breast, 50 Free
• Vedah Tuladhar: 200 Free, 200 IM
• George Ursulenko: 200 Free
• Lasya Viswanadham: 200 Back
• Dylan Vu: 100 Breast
• Natalie Whitbeck: 50 Free
• Kyra Yuan: 50 Breast

Wave on 3!!