BBST Seize the Day Invitational Meet Recap

Nearly all of Wave trekked up to Snohomish Aquatic Center for the last meet of the Short Course season before championships begin. It was a fun weekend, and the Snohomish Pool is always a great place for meets, and we saw many of our swimmers earn first-ever cuts for Age Group Regionals. Many of our 11 & Over swimmers qualified for finals, with some swimming all 13 possible races in only 2½ days! For many in Select, this was their second prelim/final meet in two weekends, so several swimmers racked up 20+ races in only 9 days! That is epic swimming!

The first highlight of the meet came when Fiona Herman shattered the Team Record in the 10&U Girls 200 Fly by a whopping 10 seconds! The record was one of the oldest for Wave, dating back to 1997. Congrats, Fiona!

The second highlight was Phoebe Anderson’s swim-off to start Sunday night finals. By the time the officials came on deck, Wave and SRST swimmers were rocking the joint as loudly as a Seahawks playoff game, with Phoebe winning the race on an phenomenal flip turn that put her ahead for good. Congrats, Phoebe!

Age Group 1

AG1 had another weekend of great swimming dominating the 10&Under sessions. It was a great weekend all around with tons of best times, lots of Top 10 finishes, and an amazing Conga Line! I was very excited with the groups improvement and look forward to seeing the kids finish off the Short Course Season with their respective Champs Meets!!!

• Elaina Jiang had a masterful weekend of swimming dropping time in all her events. Her standout swim was definitely her 50 Fly that she took off and got her very first Regionals cut. Nice work!!!
• Clara Stephenson had an awesome weekend of swimming with three big times drops. Her standout swim came in her 100 IM where she was able to put together four great laps of excellent stroke, with all that technique work showing through. Great Job!!!
• Leo Chen competed in his first meet as an 11&Over and dominated the weekend making finals in four of his six events and dropping time throughout the weekend. His standout swim came during his 200 Free where he went out aggressively and held on for a fantastic 20+ second time drop. Solid Swimming!!!
• Rory Geitz had an awesome weekend of swimming, with his backstroke, freestyle, and butterfly catching up to his breaststroke. His standout swim came in his 100 Fly, where he was able to keep his arms long and kick consistent throughout the full 100. Awesome work!!!
• Anika Lichtenberg had a great weekend of swimming dropping time in five events. It was great to see her hard work and focus at practice paying off in the pool. Her standout swim was in the 200 Free, where she also took the swim out strong and aggressive and held on to a great 16-second time drop. Awesome work!!!

High School

• Saanvi Adgaonkar had a fantastic meet! She’s been working hard on improving everything in practice. She dropped -8.40 in her breast and came to race!! She made B finals in her 100 IM. -4.05 in 100 Back. -14.46 in 100 IM.
• Feynman Chen came to swim two new events: 500 Free and 200 Back. He swam fast in both events and got a BB time in the 500 and a B time in the 200. Great way to start off a new event. He also swam his way to three A times, three BB times, and a B time. He has been dedicated to improving every aspect of his strokes and the quality of his races. He also swam fast in his 50 Fly in the medley relay! -2.42 in 100 Fly. -0.61 in 50 Free. -1.98 in 200 Free. -4.90 in 200 IM. -1.59 in 100 Free.
• Dario Guiliani has been working hard in practice on his underwaters, speed on and off the wall, and breakouts. His goal was to get under 1:00 in his 100 Free, and he did it! His time drops show his improvements! He swam fast and picked up four BB times and two B times! – 1.17 in 50 Free. -4.25 in 100 Fly. -11.65 in 100 Back. -0.97 in 100 Free. -2.11 in 100 Breast.
• Paolo Villanueva is back after a year-long break. He came back stronger and faster than ever! Huge time drops! -1.84 in 100 Breast. -14.66 in 200 Back. –6.01 in 200 Breast. -7.83 in 200 Free. -1.15 in 50 Free.
• Jay Song is somewhat new to the sport but has the heart of a racer. He can pick up and go anywhere in a practice or a meet. Great qualities to have. His best race of the meet was swimming his heart out in his 200 Breast, dropping -15.61 seconds, and getting a BB time. He wanted that time drop! Two BB times and one B time. -4.43 in 100 Breast. -10.43 in 200 IM. -1.07 in 200 Free.
• Liya Wu has been one of the hardest working athletes in the high school group. She swam great at the meet! All her hard work has paid off. Great time drops. She swam hard in her 50 Free in the free relay. She swam three B times and three BB times. -2.96 in 100 Breast. -0.52 in 100 Free. -1.11 in 200 IM. -2.36 in 100 Back. -0.28 in 50 Free.

Purple Group

Purple Group had a fantastic meet at BBST!! We saw a lot of great swims as well as a lot of athlete grit especially in the finals swims. Congratulations to all athletes who swam and competed and a special shout out to all who made and swam in finals!!

• Karina Maksyutov dropped more than 7 seconds in her 200 IM. She swam this event in both prelims and finals and was able to have a strong back half of her race by pushing her breast and free legs, which ultimately had her passing people during that final 50.
• Rylan Jones had a strong 200 Back swim, keeping her stroke long and strong throughout the race while also having solid underwater and breakouts off each of her walls.
• Carlo Villanueva dropped more than 4.5 seconds in his 100 Breast. He was smooth with the swim while he kept pushing forward in his stroke getting out there and out touching some of his opponents.
• Hannah Zhao dropped more than 8.5 seconds in her 100 Free. This was a solid swim as she focused on her tempo and getting after her race as well as having a strong finish into the wall at the end.
• Landon Yuan had a fantastic meet, earning his Regionals cut in the 200 Breast as well as making finals for all his events where he showed great grit coming back and swimming double the usual amount.
• Alizeh Kurji dropped more than 2.5 seconds in her 200 Free. She churned out a strong swim by working on her body position and pacing, which ultimately secured her spot to re swim this event in finals as well.
• Anika Arvan had a great meet, dropping time in almost every event she swam! She also excelled in taking feedback and consistently checking in and out for races.
• William Zhang shattered his previous 100 and 200 Breast times and displayed great endurance by keeping his technique smooth. These breaststroke wins have come from all the hard work he puts into his favorite stroke during practice!
• Anuraag Fadnavis swam excellent at this meet, especially in his 200 IM where he dropped 13 seconds! In most of his heats, he got to race his teammates balancing having fun and racing competitively.
• Apolline Abram-Profeta always leads the lane on practice days focused on endurance. This was evident when watching her 200 Free in both prelims and finals where she honed in on pacing and technique. She accomplished great control and showed great grit during her races!

Senior Prep

Congratulations to everyone who swam at this meet, especially to those that went to February AGI the previous week as well! These back-to-back meets are tough, especially with prelims (no cooldown or warmup pool!), finals, and no taper. Despite all that, Senior Prep swam fast and earned 4 B, 22 BB, 14 A, and 7 AA times! Special Shout Out to Amelia Pletosu, who broke 1:00 in the 100 Free for the first time!

• Phoebe Anderson gets a special shout out for her 50 Free swim-off where she dropped a whole second from her prelims time! This was one of the loudest and most fun swim-offs I’ve ever seen. It was great to see such team spirit and support. Thanks to everyone who cheered for her and your other teammates!
• Piper Wiegand led the meet off to a great start with a 9.44-second drop in her 400 IM, followed by a 12.84-second drop in her 100 Fly and a new A time. She dropped time or came very close to her best time in all her races, but the most exciting one to watch was the 200 IM in finals where she raced hard next to five of her teammates. Even though she may not have gotten a best time, her constant effort and focus throughout the race was phenomenal!
• Bennett Geitz dropped time in 5/7 of his events and achieved a bunch of new motivational times: A times in his 100 Breast and 200 Back, and AA times in his 200 Free and 200 IM! He had a very impressive 13.14-second drop in his 200 Back, and a 4.04-second drop in his 200 IM. My favorite swim Though was the 100 fly, where he was open to trying a new approach to the race and broke the 1:00 barrier!
• Sophia Gorveatt had a strong meet–all her swims came very close or were faster than her best times. Her strength, endurance, and ability to push through the entire race without holding back never ceases to amaze me. Her most memorable races were the 200 Free, where she had constant kick through the entire swim, and the 100 Fly, where she dropped almost a second from her best time in finals after applying a different breathing pattern from prelims!
• Karolina Pastusiak had a great meet despite being out of the water for a (very) long time. She put her best foot forward and defied her own expectations with each race, especially in the 400 IM, where she was within 0.02 of her best time! Her best swim to watch was the 100 Free, where she came in with the fastest tempo I’ve ever seen from her and dropped 2.01 seconds off her best time!
• Lauren Hizzey had a strong meet across the board. She started off with an astounding 27.50-second drop in her 400 IM as well as a new BB time! She dropped time in four of her events and stayed very close to her best times in the others. She has been working hard on elongating and reaching out on each stroke and it showed, especially in her 100 Fly where she dropped 3.43 seconds, as well as in her 100 back!

Black Group

The coaches and swimmers from our Black Groups had a great time at the BBST Seize the Day meet! Lots of opportunities for swimmers to try some new races and improve on old ones. Overall, the kids did a terrific job of managing the meet, from warm-ups to getting to their races in time. Despite numerous DQs, the coaches saw a whole lot of improvements from the swimmers which was fun to see! Congratulations to all the Black Group athletes who raced at this meet- they were awesome!

• Agastya Agrawal still struggles with fly and breast, but he’s made solid strides in free and back, as well as much improved push off skills. Coach Misho and I noted him crushing his backstroke streamline push offs the other night. At the meet he dropped a chunk of time off his 50 Free, while also completing the 50 Back and 100 Free for the first time.
• Moses (Mo) Chen had an awesome meet with a successful first-time swim of the 100 IM. He also looked improved in his 50 Free, 25 Back, and 25 Breast events. Keep up the good work at practice, Mo!
• Lucas Hernandez hadn’t done a meet in a while but the improvements between meets really showed as he raced all six events legally and significantly faster than before. He really turned on his jets on a couple of races and won one heat and finished second in another.
• Ryan Hu - This was his first meet, but you wouldn’t have known it. He completed all six races without a disqualification and had no problems getting to his races. For a 6-year-old, this was very impressive!
• Remington Kalicinski was also competing in his first meet with Wave, and he too swam all six races without a disqualification. He raced really hard and posted some excellent results for his first meet, including a 7^th place finish in the 25 Free. Very solid for a new 7-year-old!
• Finley Meier also had her first meet with Wave, and crushed her races competing hard regardless of where she was in the race. Six successful swims, a 2^nd and 3^rd place finish, and an excellent race in her 100 IM!
• Avani Yadav has really done a great job at practice, and has been steadily improving over the past several months. Those in-practice improvements showed at the meet in her long, strong strokes and good wall skills that helped her destroy her previous bests. Super glad to see the big improvement in her fly!

Age Group 2

We had another fantastic meet where the swimmers saw how much their hard work and focus on improving their technique can pay off, even when they’re still tired from a long meet the weekend before. Special shout outs to Serena Zhang and Elizabeth Luo, who both swam their first-ever 200 Fly, with both making the A Final, as well as Ilia Maksimchuk, who won the 1650 Free the first time he’s ever swum it! Well done AG2!

• Grace Zhang has been our most improved swimmer in practice since the start of the year and her hard work really paid off as she dropped time in every event, made finals in four events including a 4^th place in her 200 Breast and a 17-second drop in her 200 Back. Her best race, however, was her 100 IM, where she just squeaked into the B Final after dropping almost 6 seconds in prelims, then came back in the evening to drop another 2 seconds with a phenomenal back half and moved up 4 places!
• Rihit Gandhi churned out the best meet of his life, earning his first-ever Regionals cut in the 200 Free by dropping almost 3 seconds by going out fast, nailing his flip turns and breakouts, and picking up 3^rd place in the A Final. He also broke :30 for the first time in the 50 Free B Final after going 30:02 in prelims. He only took two breaths on the second 25 to finish in a 29:96!
• Ahana Bhattacharya turned in a masterclass of swimming, making the A Final in four events and B Final in her other two. She either dropped time or swam right at her best time in all 12 races, with her best swims being freestyle. She’s worked hard at perfecting her technique and mastering her flip turns, and ended up with excellent times in all three distances, especially her 100 Free, where she dropped from a 1:08 to a 1:05!
• Henry Cheng had a superb meet, making the A Final in all six races and earning a best time in five. He used to be only a breaststroker, but he’s worked so hard on fixing his flutter kick that he’s now an equally talented backstroker, scoring 2^nd in the 100. The 200 Back, however, was his swim of the meet, as he dropped 11 seconds in prelims, earning a BB time. He then came back for finals to drop another second more and use excellent pacing to race past two opponents on the last 50 to move up two places.
• Eleanor Lopez wasn’t looking forward to her first 200 Fly, but she did it anyways, scoring 3^rd in the A Final and picking up her first-ever Regionals cut! She also dropped time in all her other events, making the B Final twice and picking up her BB cut in the 50 Free!
• Olivia Liu had a tough time adjusting to 11&O events, but her consistent hard work in practice really paid off at the meet as she finaled in all her events, dropping time in every event, including swimming faster in finals in several races. Her highlight of her 13 races, however, was her 500 Free where she dropped 22 seconds, easily breaking 7:00 for the first time, and finishing 5^th.

White Group

1st BB:

• Victor Shirshov earned his first-ever BB time in his 50 Back shortly after earning a B time in his first-ever legal 100 Fly! That 100 Fly scared him a little, but he landed it 9 seconds under the cut, much closer to a BB than a B!

• Aditeya Verma hit the water flying, cutting 6 seconds off his 50 Fly in just three months to earn a first BB time with 0.6 to spare. He didn’t know he had that superpower, but he is definitely super powerful, cutting time and earning Bs in every event.

• Eric Zhao has developed a smooth speed that earned him B times in all his back and free events, and a BB time in his 50 Back with a 6-second drop. Much has been ‘clicking’ for him recently, and it showed with his total time losses amounting to 47 seconds in the four events that he could drop time!

1st B:

• Ostap Lytvynovskyi came out of nowhere, dropping 3 seconds off his 50 Breast, landing 2 seconds under the cut just by lining up his glide! His kick is so strong, all he had to do was get out of the way! He also earned a pile of respectable first times as well as steep improvements on all his personal bests.

• Doyeol Yang DQ’d his 100 Back in the flip turn on the first day, but that only galvanized him to get it right on Day 2 in his 50 Back. And he did, dropping 4 seconds to earn his first-ever B time. In fact, he slam-dunked it so deep that he’s now just 1 second off a first BB time!

• Sebastian Chan earned the longest overdue B time of them all. He has had more close calls than a Marvel Superhero’s stunt double. But this time, he cut 8 seconds off his 50 Back for his first B time, right after he swam his first legal 100 Fly! It couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

• Piper Meier - On the first day of her first meet, ever, she threw herself at her 100 Back and landed it legally for a first B time! She didn’t know that it was even possible, or that she was supposed to get nervous and DQ her first attempts… so she didn’t! In fact, she landed all six events legally!

• Feifan Gong didn’t have to get it wrong to get it right. He earned his first B time in his first-ever 100 Back with 3 seconds to spare. He also earned a first legal 100 Fly time, followed by a second B time in his 50 Back, also with 3 seconds to spare! He was on a tear, earning first times and best times every time he stepped up or in.

• Jason Gao scored a first B time in his 100 Back, dropping 5 seconds to land just 0.1 under the line. He didn’t know he had a chance, and he wasn’t aiming at it, but he hit his mark anyway. What else can he achieve without hardly trying? And what if he really throws himself at it?

Other shoutouts:

• Olivia Wu and Emma Lu did their first-ever 200 Breast twice because they both made it into finals! Olivia even dropped 10 seconds in finals from her prelims time that morning!

• David Rondel cut 0.55 off his 50 Fly to land just 0.15 from a first A time, then (only 12 minutes later), cut 5 seconds off his 100 Back to earn another Regionals cut.

• Duru Ussakli just missed earning her first B time in the 100 Breast but for a rare DQ! Fortunately, it’s an easy fix, and now that she knows it’s possible, she’s hungry for it!
• Asmi Sarkar dropped 12 seconds in her 50 Fly in just three months. Now she lies just 1 second short of her first B time, but she knew that before we had a chance to tell her. That’s how turned on she is. What she didn’t know, is that she had the fastest 50 Fly in White B, and nearly the fastest in White A!

New US Motivational Times

 AA 

• Addy Clarke – 50 Free
• Berit Dunn – 100 Breast
• Claire Gao – 100 Breast, 200 Back
• Bennett Geitz – 200 Free, 200 IM
• Dami Jung – 100 IM
• Ethan Lin – 200 IM
• Max Smagley – 50 Free

 A 

• Adele Bokach – 50 Fly
• Kamilla Bugaitsova – 100 Free
• Bennett Geitz – 100 Breast, 100 Fly, 200 Back
• Olivia Henaire – 100 Breast, 100 IM
• Nora Herman – 200 Fly
• Dami Jung – 100 Breast
• Bryan Lin – 100 Fly
• Ethan Lin –400 IM
• Amelia Pletosu – 100 Free, 200 IM
• Irene Qu – 100 Back, 100 Breast, 100 IM
• Max Sun – 100 Fly
• Lasya Viswanadham – 100 Free
• Piper Wiegand – 100 Fly
• Andy Yang – 200 & 400 IM

 BB 

• Gahl Ami ad – 100 Breast
• Adele Bokach – 100 IM, 50 Free
• Norah Braun – 100 IM
• Lucy Broyles – 200 Breast
• Roman Byelykh – 500 Free
• Deniz Cankaya – 100 IM
• Daniel Chen – 200 Back
• Feynman Chen – 200 IM
• Henry Cheng – 200 Back
• Lucas Deng – 50 Breast
• Evan Deng – 100 Breast
• Rihit Gandhi – 50 Free
• Dario Giuliani – 50 Free
• Devon Gordon – 100 Free, 200 IM
• Cayden Grey – 400 IM
• Blakely Hansen – 50 Breast
• Kirsten Hau – 100 Back
• Olivia Henaire – 100 Back
• Lauren Hizzey – 400 IM
• Olivia Horng – 100 Breast, 200 Free
• Vivian Hu – 100 Fly
• Yuzuki Ishizuka – 500 Free
• Arnav Jha – 200 Back
• Elaina Jiang – 100 Back
• Elise Kabakci – 100 IM
• Evangeline Kalicinski – 100 Breast
• Maria Kokhan – 100 & 200 IM, 200 Breast
• Anika Lichtenberg – 100 Breast, 200 Free
• Bryan Lin – 500 Free
• Olivia Liu – 100 Free, 100 IM
• Eleanor Lopez – 50 Free
• Emily MacDonald – 100 Back
• Rinat Maksyutov – 50 & 100 Breast, 200 Free
• Lainey Meyer – 200 Free
• Andy Nguyen – 100 & 200 IM, 500 Free
• Karolina Pastusiak – 50 Free
• Amelia Pletosu – 200 Back
• Vien Pogue – 500 Free
• David Rondel – 100 Fly
• Rachael Rose – 100 & 200 Free, 200 IM
• Victor Shirshov – 50 Back
• Sanvi Shrivastava – 100 IM
• Max Smagley – 100 Back, 200 Free
• Jay Song – 200 Breast
• Keira Spitze – 100 IM
• Siena Stahlkopf – 100 IM, 50 Back
• Leo Steijn – 100 Back, 100 Free
• Han Sun – 100 & 200 IM, 50 Free
• Max Sun – 200 Free
• Maya Surugiu – 200 Fly
• Anna Ventura – 50 Fly, 50 Free
• Aditeya Verma – 50 Fly
• Lasya Viswanadham – 200 Back
• Alex Wang – 100 Fly, 50 Breast
• Natalie Whitbeck – 50 & 100 Breast
• Owen Wilson – 100 Fly
• Alyssa Yang – 100 Breast
• Andy Yang – 200 Back, 50 Free
• Isshin Yokoyama – 100 Breast, 400 IM
• Kenshin Yokoyama – 100 IM, 50 Back, 50 Breast
• Landon Yuan – 200 Breast, 200 IM, 100 Fly
• Grace Zhang – 200 Breast
• Eric Zhou – 50 Back

 B 

• Aman Bhatt – 100 Back
• Arya Bhatt – 200 Breast, 200 IM
• Adele Bokach – 100 Back
• Lucy Broyles – 50, 100 & 200 Free
• Roman Byelykh – 100 Free
• Deniz Cankaya – 200 Breast
• Sebastian Chan – 50 Back
• Feynman Chen – 200 Back
• Lola Cheng – 200 IM
• Hayley Chou – 100 Back, 50 Breast
• Ann Ding – 50 Back
• Mira Erdim – 100 Fly
• Evan Galuska – 100 Fly
• Ella Gao – 100 Back
• Jason Gao – 100 Back
• Rory Geitz – 100 Back
• Dario Giuliani – 100 Back, 100 Fly
• Thomas Godbout – 100 Back
• Feifan Gong – 50 & 100 Back
• Blakely Hansen – 200 Free
• Roohi Indurkar – 50 Back
• Arnav Jha – 50 Free
• Rylan Jones – 50 Free
• Haim Jung – 50 Free, 100 IM
• Kirill Kadach – 100 Fly
• Evangeline Kalicinski – 100 Back
• Arvin Kandiah – 100, 200 & 400 IM, 100 Breast, 50 Free
• Alizeh Kurji – 100 Breast, 100 Free
• Flora-May Lawerence – 100 Back, 100 Free
• Avery Lee – 100 Fly
• Yihan Li – 100 & 200 IM
• Jonathan Liu – 200 Free
• Lydia Liu – 200 Breast
• Olivia Liu – 200 Back
• Daniel Luckowski – 200 Back, 200 IM
• Ostap Lytvynovskyi – 50 Breast
• Emily MacDonald – 100 Free
• Karina Maksyutov – 100 & 200 Breast, 200 IM
• Max Malinovskyi – 100 IM
• Piper Meier – 100 Back
• Lainey Meyer – 100 Back
• Kumail Mukadam – 200 Free
• Maksim Nikitenko – 100 Breast
• Roshni Padmanabhan – 100 Back
• Beatrix Pressman – 50 Fly
• Victor Shirshov – 100 Fly
• Sanvi Shrivastava – 400 IM
• Max Smagley – 200 Fly
• Jay Song – 200 IM
• Han Sun – 500 Free
• Nika Svirydovich – 100 Breast, 100 IM, 50 Free
• Vedah Tuladhar – 100 IM
• Aditeya Verma – 100 Back
• Maja Wang – 100 IM
• Lexie Watrous – 50 Breast, 50 Fly
• Natalie Whitbeck – 100 Back
• Arjun Yadav – 100 IM, 200 Back
• Doyeol Yang – 50 Back
• Zachery Zeng – 50 & 200 Free
• Grace Zhang – 100 Free, 100 IM, 200 Back
• Eric Zhou – 100 Back, 100 Free
• Maggie Zhou – 100 Breast, 100 IM
• Andrew Zhu – 50 Free

WAVE ON 3!!