Wave Cranks It Up for AGI Invitational

February Age Group Invitational Meet Recap

Age Group 1

• Adele Bokach had an amazing weekend with lots of great time drops. Her stand out was going out fast in the 100 Fly and holding her stroke and kick together to get her very first Age Group Regional Cut. Great work.
• Norah Braun was another swimmer with nothing but best times over the weekend. Her standout swim was her 100 Breast where she took it out strong and pushed the second 50 and earned her very first Age Group Regional Time. Nice job.
• Kenshin Yokoyama has been working hard every day in practice over the past few months and it was awesome to see that hard work pay off in the pool. He went nothing but best times with his 50 Fly being his standout swim. With great underwater work off the start and long strong tempo on the second 25, he pulled out his very first Age Group Regional Cut. Nice work.
• Max Sun crushed the meet with nothing but best times. He earned each one at practice over the past month leading lanes and focusing on his technique. His best swim was his 50 Breast where he rushed out to an early lead and held onto it through the second lap WINNING the event for 10&U Boys. Congrats!
• Andrew Ouyang had a great meet weekend with all best times and another athlete whose hard work and focus in practice is showing up in his swim times. His standout swim was his 100 Breast where he was able to keep his pull outs consistent and keep his kick power strong to race him with a great time. Great work!

Age Group Select 2

• Rhea Dawani scored her first-ever A time in both the 50 and 100 Breast, placing Top 8 in both events. She might be the quietest swimmer in AG2 but she doesn’t let anyone outwork her in practice! What a big payoff!
• Ally Yuan picked up her first two AA times during the weekend in the 50 Back and 50 Free. These are well-earned times as she sets the standard at our practice of what it means to give 100% in practice both in the pool and in dryland. Well earned, Ally!
• Olivia Henaire dropped time in all her races and made the A Final in the 50 Breast. She earned an A time in her 400 IM after slashing 5 seconds off her best time while picking up her first 11-12 AA time in the 50 Breast. She is another swimmer who gives it her all every day, every practice, so her success comes as no surprise!
• Andy Nguyen made two A Finals, garnering a new A time in his 100 Breast. His best swim of the weekend, however, came in the B Final of the 200 Breast. He squeaked in, swimming a bit slower than his best time in prelims, but roared back in finals, running the entire field down on the final length to win the race. His ability to come from behind was expected, as not only does he give his all in every workout, but he has missed only two workouts all year!
• Isshin Yokoyama made finals in all six events, and so swam 12 races in just two days! In just his second-ever 200 Fly, he dropped 11 seconds to make the B Final, then outpaced other swimmers in finals to move up one place. In his last two events, he blasted his way to two new A times, and swam his first-ever :27 in his 50 Free. Again, another athlete who isn’t afraid to practice hard so he can achieve such great success!
• Han Sun made his first-ever finals in two different strokes, a very impressive feat! In both races, he moved up at least one place in finals. His 200 Back was especially impressive, as he dropped 9 seconds in prelims then came back to drop another 1.1 seconds in the B Final! He is a great example of what happens when you average nearly 100% workout attendance!

Senior 1

• Bianca Bensen has been putting in great work in the pool. She is working on improving her raw speed while keeping her already excellent endurance. She continues to succeed at the middle distance events, crushing the 200 Free with a 2-second drop and getting super close to breaking the 2 minute mark. She followed that up by dropping a second in the 200 Back and qualifying for finals.
• Logan Downing showed off that his breaststroke speed has greatly improved. He was excited to get another shot at the 200 Breast to show off he has built up his endurance as well. He turned in a strong swim in prelims dropping 6 seconds, then turned around in finals and dropped 3 more seconds putting him just 0.7 off the Sectionals cut.
• Adrian Juco had a very busy weekend as he qualified for finals in four of his races, giving him ten races overall on the weekend. He had an awesome 50 Breast finishing 1st in prelims. He stepped up in finals and turned on the jets the last 10 yards to secure the win.
• Megan Nilsen has been training very hard lately and is finally starting to build up her endurance in races beyond the 50 and 100 Free. She had an awesome 50 Fly going right off her best time and qualifying for finals. In finals, she turned in an even better swim moving up four places to win the C final. She followed up by dropping 1 second in the 100 Fly, showing improvement in the back half of the race.
• Amaris Rus was out of town the week leading up to the race but was determined to still make the most out of his meet. He accomplished just that. In his first race, he blasted his old best time in the 200 Fly by 3 seconds and qualified for Age Group Regionals. He continued to have strong swims as he went best times in the 50 Fly, 50 Back, and 200 Back as well.

Senior Epic

• Hailey Crawford had a phenomenal meet and got her first-ever Spring Sectionals cut! And she did it twice (200 & 100 Breast). In the 200 Breast, she dropped a total of 5.39 seconds between prelims and finals and in the 100 Breast she dropped another 1.17 seconds. Both cuts were achieved in finals and she demonstrated a great capacity to follow and apply in her swims the race strategies we have been working on at practice.
• Caroline Bryant was feeling fast and went two best times at AGI! She dominated the 50 Free, qualifying for finals and swam her fastest-ever 50! She had a fantastic race and got so close to the Sectionals cut, missing it by only 0.16, but she is motivated to get them this month at AGR! She also went a best time in the 100 Fly, a stroke that she has been working consistently at practice.
• Boston Borg is back! He has been recovering from a back/neck injury since last summer and hasn’t been training much since then. However, he is finally getting better and has been able to add more consistency to his practices and has been training with the group again. He was very happy with his results at AGI! He qualified to swim finals in the 200 Free, going only 1.5 seconds off his best time, then went a lifetime best in the 50 Free and swam only 0.08 off his best in the 100 Free. Welcome back, Boston!
• Anouk Balog was recovering from a sore throat that she felt during the week but managed to swim a strong 200 Fly in prelims. She came back to finals excited to swim one more time and almost went a personal best, going only 0.34 off her best time. She crushed her last 50 and her reaction when she looked at the scoreboard and saw her time was the best part of the race!
• Megan Traina had a great weekend and earned her first AA Time going a lifetime best in prelims by dropping 0.38 tenths of seconds in the 100 Back. She demonstrated strong and consistent dolphin kicks on both 100 and 200 Back paying off the work she has been putting in at practice. She also went a best time in the 100 Breast with a solid 3.51-second drop and a best time in the 500 Free. 

Purple Group

• Emily Dong dropped 0.97 on her 50 Free. Arguably one of the hardest events to drop time in as you get older, she pushed through with speedy arm turnover and strong kicks to get her this time drop!
• Adam Kantor dropped more than 1.5 seconds in his 200 Breast, earning him a B time! He put emphasis on having fast walls and focused on his pacing to be able to finish the race strong!
• Alizeh Kurji dropped more than 1 second in 200 Free also earning her a B time! She has worked hard in her body position as well as her pacing which has helped her have solid race all the way through!
• Emily MacDonald dropped 0.83 in her 50 Back. She has focused on her kicks but also having a strong flip turn and making sure she also gets those underwater in as well!
• Karina Maksyutov dropped more than 1.5 seconds in her 100 Free. She always makes sure to check in before her races for last minute tips and tricks then has strong races with that knowledge! 
• Landon Yuan had a strong meet dropping in all six events! The highlight of his meet was racing his opponents down and dropping 2 seconds in his 50 Breast to get not only the Regionals cut but also his first A time! 

White Group

• Eva Kalicinski dropped time everywhere she could, including -3 seconds off her 50 Breast, which is now closer to an A time. Her first legal 100 Free also landed in BB territory with 0.1 to spare. However, her most breath-taking swim was her 100 Fly, which cut 36 seconds off her recent time trail and missed the BB mark by just 1 second! 
• Ella Gao cut another second off her 50 Fly, landing just 0.3 from a first BB time! That’s just one more good dolphin kick! She also crushed her first 200 IM, legally - even her backstroke flip turn! It was so smooth and turbocharged that she touched 10 seconds under the B time cut-off, making it look easy and fun.
• Hayley Chou attacked her 50 Back, burning off another second to land a second from a first BB. But that was just a warmup for her 100 Fly, where she locked in a first legal swim that shaved 30 seconds off her time from our practice trial. Even more impressively, it was her second B time!
• Flora-May Lawrence hit the water swimming in her 50 Fly, dropping 10 seconds in two months, even though her goggles fell off and she couldn’t breathe or see! Even so, she finished just 0.8 from a first BB time! Think what she could do if she could breathe!! 
• Ethan Pan dropped another couple seconds off his 50 Back for a first BB time! Then he earned a first 200 Free time by the skin of his teeth, jumping up onto the blocks just in time! 
• Maja Wang only just earned her first B time in the 50 Back in January, but she cut another 2.5 seconds off it for a first BB time at the AGI! She may not know her secret, but I do: it’s a phenomenal kick and a fast flip. She finished her first 100 Fly, very legally! 
• Maksim Nikitenko burned up all of his best times, dropping over a second in …all…six...events, including his first legal 100 Fly! He earned two new B times (50 Fly, 100 Fly) and two new BB times (50 Back, 50 Free). He is a force of nature. 
• Aditeya Verma qualified for the AGI in his 50 Free, but his first 100 Fly was even more impressive. Not only was it legal, but it air-mailed the B time to land inches from the BB time cut. It also earned him the highest place of any white grouper at the meet (14th). He didn’t know he was a flyer, but he has the wingspan of a golden eagle and the muscle power to match. 

High School Group

• Thomas Claux: -4.89 in the 100 Back for a BB time, -2.66 in the 100 Free for an A time, and -2.82 in the 50 Back and placing 12th in finals. He has been practicing hard and working on fast starts and finishes!
• Feynman Chen: -0.42 in the 50 Fly and placed 7th in finals, -0.60 in the 100 Free for an A time and scored big points for the team. He has been working hard on the mental and physical aspect. He has been trying to master the exact number of kicks and strokes per 25.
• Dario Giuliani: No time drops but some great swims in his 100 Free and 50 Breast. He was able to race well in all his events!
• Devon Gordon: -9.49 in the 50 Back and made the C Final. She had a great swim in her 100 Breast and is very close to her regionals cut!

Senior Prep

• Lasya Viswadnadham had a challenging set of races especially on Saturday where she had the 200 Fly and 200 Breast. She absolutely crushed those races in finals and altogether dropped 27.60 seconds on her 200 Fly and 2.16 seconds on her 200 Breast. She has always been a strong breaststroker, but it looks like she’ll be a butterflyer soon too!
• Kirsten Hau also had the 200 Fly and 200 Breast on the same day and raced hard next to Lasya in finals. She had a strong 200 Fly and went the fastest time in the event for this year! She has been working really hard on her catch in breaststroke and it was apparent in her 200 Breast where she dropped 2.43 seconds. 
• Arya Bhatt deserves a shout out not only because he dropped time in all his races and made finals, but because he stepped up and swam a strong 200 Fly at finals, dropping 7.47 seconds from his previous time, even though he was the only person in his heat. That required a strong mentality to be able to push through the race!
• Lena Duryee had many strong swims across the board and came under a second near her best times in most of her races. Even though she had a bit of a rocky start to the meet, she was able to bounce back, reset, and focus on her next race. She showed her resilience and eagerness to improve by analyzing areas that she could work on from her prelim swims to get a faster time in finals! 
• Bryan Lin had amazing swims all across the board and dropped time in each one. He dropped almost a second in his 50 Fly and earned a new A time, as well as an impressive 10 seconds in his 400 IM, which got him a new BB time. His most impressive swim to watch though, was the 100 Fly where he dropped more than 3 seconds from his best time and qualified for finals!

New US Motivational Times

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WAVE ON 3!!