Wave 10&U Championship Meet Recap

Two weekends ago, Wave hosted its first-ever championship meet for 10&Unders. The meet (along with the 11&O meet this coming weekend) replaced the Spring Showdown meet that was dropped from the PNS schedule. The 8&U got the chance to race a pentathlon (all four strokes + a 100 IM) while the 9-10 year olds got to swim in a true Prelim/Finals meet with A, B, and C heats in the evening session. Enjoy some highlights from our team:

Black Group

Lots of improvements showed at the meet for our Black Group athletes, even when the scoreboard or DQ slips said otherwise. It’s not as simple as DQ: bad or add time: bad. From the perspective of the coaches, we could see the athletes swimming better and executing skills better.

While there were still a number of DQs that we will work on as always, there were a number of successes for the athletes as well. Lots of good takeaways for our youngest swimmers!

In the 8&U Pentathlon, we had 51 swimmers who competed. Of those 51, 17 were able to complete all five races without a DQ, so I want to highlight some of those athletes along with our 9-year-old athletes who earned a second swim by making finals.

• Abha Acharya completed the pentathlon, including first time success in both the 100 IM and the 25 Fly, both of which she had been working hard at in practice. She also posted a strong swim in her 50 Free to round out the meet.
• Aaradhya Bharadwaj completed the pentathlon, and looked very strong in her 25 Fly and 50 Free
• Ziad ElGamal completed his first 100 IM, made finals in it, and came back to swim seven seconds better that night. Awesome! He also completed the 100 Free and 50 Fly for the first time at this meet.
• Yeim Jung showed off his all around skills and dashing good looks (he is Handsome Guy!) completing the pentathlon, and showing how much he has worked to improve with a big drop in his IM.
• Conner Li has really made some strides and completing the pentathlon validates how much he has improved at practice. First time for him to legally swim both the 25 Fly and 100 IM!
• Aashay Rane is a good listener and worker at practice, so no surprise that he aced the pentathlon and threw in a sneak peek at his improving butterfly.
• Steven Wang has developed strong all-around skills and used those at the meet, including a strong swim in his 50 Free
• Cameron Watrous used a first IM to complete the pentathlon, along with a much improved 25 Back
• Owen Yan gave the coaches a look at what he can do by completing the pentathlon, swimming a first time IM, and showing a strong freestyle
• Aaron Yang completed the pentathlon, showed good wall skills in his races, and displayed some improved skills in his 50 Free
• Ping Yang used a first time 100 IM to complete the pentathlon, showing all the wall work he’d been doing at practices to nail this event.
• Bella Zhang earned a second swim in the 50 Back, and did a wonderful job in finals of cleaning up a skill from the morning that led to a nice improvement in her race. She also completed the 100 Free and 50 Breast for the first time at the meet.

Congratulations to ALL our Black Group athletes who raced at this meet!

White Group

1st BB:

• Ann Ding (50 Breast) - It is a RARE swimmer who feels the water well enough to keep breaststroke together in a race, but Ann did that and more. She actually got faster by the stroke! On the first day she dropped 4 seconds in her 100 Breast, then 2 more seconds in finals to land just 1.5 from a first BB time. Then, on Sunday, she dropped 3 seconds in her 50 Breast, and another 3 seconds in Finals to earn her first BB time ever with 0.02 to spare! And she took it all in stride - just a girl doing a job that she’s wildly overqualified for!

1st B:

• Arifin Capiral (50/100 Back, 50/100 Breast) was a force of nature with his first four B times, and some of the steepest improvements in the meet! He dropped time and made Finals everywhere he could, landing several events closer to a BB than B times by the end of Finals! It was as if he guzzled some gillyweed and grew fins and gills for the space of a race - every race!

• Akira Andhare (100 Free, 100 IM) was bummed because she wasn’t entered in the 200 Free, where she thought she had the best chance of a first B time, so she was blindsided by her first B time in the 100 IM Finals (dropping 17 seconds). Her second B time came in Sunday’s 100 Free Finals. She not only made it look easy, she hardly broke a sweat!

• Otis Lloyd (100 Free) - After a ‘‘false alarm’ in his 50 Back on Saturday (missed the mark by just 0.5), he cleared the bar with a second to spare in his 100 Free on Sunday . And he ran away with it, dropping 9 seconds off his seed time, and three full Otis-lengths out in front of the ‘pack’!

• Katelyn Chen (50/100 Breast) - Her breaststroke was so smooth and efficiently fast that her first B-times looked almost too easy! But that’s the mark of excellence: making difficult things look effortless. And her breaststroke is fantastic enough to earn her two first B times!

• Duru Ussakli (50/100 Breast) crushed her 50 and 100 Breast events earning two shiny new B times after narrowly missing it last meet. She dropped time nearly every time in spite of a debilitating allergy to streamlines! However, she plans to tackle that head-on, so anything is possible!

• Ethan Ghiondea (50 Back) has been so close for so long that it would have taken an act of nature to keep him from a B time this meet. He even got close in his 100 Back. In fact, his 100 Back was so fast, it beat his 100 Free by 4 seconds!

• Perrie Lam (50 Breast) is our White B group leader: he’s scrappy, spunky and the kind of kid that everyone cheers for whether or not they know him. His secret superpower is breaststroke, and he dropped 3 seconds off his 50 Breast in just three weeks, landing 0.4 from a first B time. That would normally be a giant fizzle and 1.5 months of galvanizing for the next meet, but he made Finals! On the last day, in the last finals, in the second to last event, he lobbed an impossible Hail Mary shot right before the buzzer and scored to win the game! He was seeded next to one of the fastest swimmers in White group, and raced him. He lost that battle, but beat the B time by 1.5 second! Never underestimate an underdog!

Other shoutouts:

• 200 Free: Hayley Chou, Eva Kalicinski, Flora-May Lawrence, Maja Wang, Eric Zhou, Maks Nikitenko and Aditeya Verma all made Finals in the 200 Free, so got a chance to swim it twice! Maks and Aditeya earned first and second place, and Maya dropped 15 seconds in Finals!

• 200 IM: Thomas Godbout, Flora-May Lawrence, Ethan Pan and Aditeya Verma got a rare chance to swim the 200 IM, twice, because they all made Finals! Aditeya even placed 6^th!

• 100 Fly: Ishana Goella was our sole legal finisher and finalist for the 100 Fly. In her second 100 Fly of the day in Finals, she had the pool to herself, but it was more impressive than a pool full of flyers. She dropped 12 seconds off her prelim time to earn 7^th place in the event - making her one of only four in White B to place!
• Maks Nikitenko dropped steeply in ALL his events! He added two new BB times to his quiver and stands inches from A times in several events! And he’s done it by getting a grip on the water! He’s no longer a muscle car burning donuts in a parking lot - he’s going places!

Age Group 1

Age Group 1 and 2 combined up for the 10&Under Championship Meet and dominated the meet with every athlete from the two groups making it back to finals in at least one event with the vast majority of the kids making it back in multiple events each night. It was great to see all the hard work from the Short Course Season show up and pay off in such a fast weekend of swimming. Great Job to all the kids in AG1 and AG2.

AG1 Shout Outs:

• Mira Erdim only swam one day of the meet but she made it count with two fantastic swims. She crushed her 100 Free on Sunday going out strong and holding on for a 12-second time drop.
• Alex Hor had a great weekend, finaling in three events. His standout race was his 100 Free, dropping 3 seconds by going out strong and working his turns to finish fast.
• Haim Jung had a fantastic weekend making it back for Finals in five events. His stand out swim of the weekend was his 100 Breast, where he worked his pullouts and turns to earn a BB Time.
• Siena Stahlkopf had a strong weekend of swimming, making it back to Finals in five events. She crushed her 200 IM by racing a strong middle 100 with a good 50 Back and a great 50 Breast to drop 11 seconds.
• Dan Sun had a great swim meet, coming off being sick, he stepped up and raced hard all weekend long. He finaled in all his events and lead off one of the 200 Medley Relay teams where he earned a BB time. His swim of the weekend was his 50 Free as he spun and kicked and fought for that 1-second time drop.
• Natalie Whitbeck had a dominant weekend. She finaled in all six swims and hit BB times in three events. Her stand out swim has to be her 1^st place finish in the 50 Fly where she kept her kick consistent and stroke long to win the event.
• Finley Wiegand also dominated the weekend, finaling in all 6 swims and hit BB times in three events. Her stand out swim was her 50 Free where she raced home hard on the second 25 for a strong finish to win the event.
• Maggie Zhou had a fantastic meet weekend and made Finals in all six events. She crushed her 50 Fly, keeping her hips up and rhythm together for a 5-second drop and a B Time.
• Lexi Watrous had a strong weekend with five finals. She crushed it with some great swims and some fast times in the water. Her standout swim was her 100 Fly where she kept her stroke long and dropped a full second.
• Yuna Ma had a fantastic swim meet. She finaled in her 2 events and came back dropped more time between Prelims and Finals. Her standout swim was her 100 Free where she stayed consistent with her stroke, keeping it together to drop 9 seconds.
• Sophie Liu had a great weekend of swimming, making Finals in two different events. Her stand out swim was her 100 Free with a 3.5-second time drop. She kept her turns consistent and did a great job of racing the last 25 for a great finish.
• Tyler Fernandez had a strong weekend, making it back to Finals in all his events. His standout swim was definitely his 100 Free where he dropped 6.5 seconds by working his turns correctly and working to kick out off the wall better each turn.
• Kaito Falk had an amazing swim meet making finals in five events. He crushed his 50 Fly, dropping more than 4 seconds by keeping his arms consistently throughout the 50 and keeping his going strong on the back 25.
• Blakely Hansen was our sole 8&U for the Pentathlon and she dominated the weekend with two 1^st places, one 2^nd place, and two 3^rd places. Her dominant swim came in her 100 IM where she earned a BB Time and dropped 1.5 seconds.

Age Group 2

We only had two swimmers at the meet, and they churned out some seriously excellent swims with multiple first places. No surprise, as they have both worked very hard in practice on perfecting their technique. Well done Keira and Lucas!

• Keira “KK” Spitze had a dominant weekend with five Finals swims over the weekend. Her big swim of the meet came in her 100 Back where she kept her kick high in the water and kept those legs going the whole 100 for a great 1-second time drop.
• Lucas “Little T” Deng had an amazing swim meet, making it back for finals in five races and leading off one of our 200 Medley Relays. He crushed the competition with FOUR 1^st place finishes. His stand out swim was his 2-second drop in his 50 Free where he kept his kick going crazy for a great swim.

Great Job to all the AG Swimmers at the 10&Under Meet. The kids did amazing and Coach Jay and Coach Chad can’t wait to see the success continue during the Long Course Season.

8&U Pentathlon Finishes

Girls:

• Blakely Hansen (1^st)
• Eloise Maine (5^th)
• Finley Meier (6^th)
• Aaradhya Bharadwaj (9^th)
• Raya Hari (11^th)
• Julie Dong (12^th)
• Abha Acharya (13^th)

Boys:

• Heim Jung (3^rd)
• Aashay Rane (4^th)
• Steven Wang (6^th)
• Remy Kalicinski (7^th)
• Owen Yan (8^th)
• John Tang (9^th)
• Aaron Yang (10^th)
• Mo Chen (12^th)
• Cameron Watrous (13^th)
• Qifan Gong (14^th)
• Ping Yang (15^th)
• Connor Li (16^th)

9-10 Top 6 Finishes

• Aman Bhatt – 2^nd (50 Back, 50 Breast), 3^rd (100 Breast, 100 Fly, 200 IM), 5^th (100 Free)
• Arifin Capiral – 4^th (100 Breast), 5^th (50 Breast)
• Hayley Chou – 5^th (200 Free)
• Lucas Deng – 1^st (50 Free, 50 & 100 Back, 50 Fly, 100 IM), 4^th (50 Breast)
• Mira Erdim – 6^th (100 Free)
• Kaito Falk – 5^th (200 IM)
• Tyler Fernandez – 3^rd (50 Back)
• Ella Gao – 4^th (50 Fly)
• Rory Geitz – 6^th (50 Free, 50 Fly, 100 IM)
• Thomas Godbout – 4^th (100 Back)
• Olivia Horng – 3^rd (100 Free)
• Vivian Hu – 1^st (50 Breast, 200 IM), 2^nd (100 Free)
• Haim Jung – 1^st (100 Breast), 2^nd (100 Free, 100 Fly), 3^rd (50 Breast), 4^th (200 IM)
• Evangeline Kalicinski – 2^nd (200 Free, 50 Breast, 100 IM), 4^th (50 Free, 100 Back)
• Flora-May Lawrence – 4^th (200 Free)
• Avery Lee – 3^rd (100 Back), 4^th (50 Breast, 200 IM)
• Anika Lichtenberg – 2^nd (50 Back, 50 Fly), 3^rd (100 Fly), 5^th (100 Free)
• Ostap Lytvynovskyi – 6^th (100 Breast)
• Maksim Nikitenko – 1^st (100 & 200 Free), 2^nd (50 Free, 100 Back), 4^th (100 IM)
• Andrew Ouyang – 1^st (50 Breast), 2^nd (200 IM), 3^rd (100 Free)
• Beatrix Pressman – 6^th (50 Free)
• Timothy Rakovchuk – 1^st (100 Fly, 200 IM), 3^rd (100 IM), 5^th (100 Breast)
• Victor Shirshov – 3^rd (50 Fly), 5^th (100 Back)
• Keira Spitze – 1^st (100 Breast), 3^rd (50 Breast), 5^th (100 IM)
• Siena Stahlkopf – 4^th (100 Fly), 5^th (50 Breast), 6^th (100 Breast)
• Clara Stevenson – 1^st (100 Back, 100 Fly), 2^nd (100 Breast), 3^rd (50 Back, 200 IM), 4^th (100 Free)
• Dan Sun – 4^th (50 Fly), 5^th (50 Free, 100 IM), 6^th (100 Free, 50 Breast)
• Anna Ventura – 1^st (100 Free, 100 IM), 2^nd (100 Fly, 200 IM), 6^th (50 Breast)
• Aditeya Verma – 2^nd (200 Free, 50 Fly), 3^rd (50 Free), 6^th (100 Back, 200 IM)
• Maja Wang – 1^st (50 Back), 2^nd (100 Back), 3^rd (200 Free)
• Lexie Watrous – 5^th (100 Fly)
• Natalie Whitbeck – 1^st (50 Fly), 2^nd (50 Free), 4^th (50 Back, 100 IM)
• Finley Wiegand – 1^st (50 Free), 6^th (50 Fly)
• Alyssa Yang – 5^th (200 IM)
• Doyeol Yang – 3^rd (100 Back)
• Eric Zhou – 4^th (100 & 200 Free), 5^th (50 Fly)
• Maggie Zhou – 3^rd (50 Fly)

New US Motivational Times

 BB 

• Aman Bhatt – 50 & 100 Breast, 50 Back
• Lucas Deng – 50 & 100 Back, 50 Fly, 50 Free
• Ann Ding – 50 Breast
• Blakely Hansen – 100 IM
• Olivia Horng – 100 Free
• Vivian Hu – 50 & 100 Free, 200 IM, 50 Breast
• Haim Jung – 50 & 100 Breast
• Evangeline Kalicinski – 100 IM, 50 Breast
• Avery Lee – 200 IM, 50 Breast
• Anika Lichtenberg – 50 & 100 Fly, 100 Free, 50 Back
• Maksim Nikitenko – 100 Back; 50, 100 & 200 Free
• Andrew Ouyang – 50 Breast
• Timothy Rakovchuk – 100 Fly, 200 IM
• Keira Spitze – 50 & 100 Breast
• Siena Stahlkopf – 50 Breast
• Clara Stevenson – 50 & 100 Back, 100 Free, 100 Breast, 100 Fly, 200 IM
• Dan Sun – 50 Back
• Anna Ventura – 100 Fly, 100 Free, 100 & 200 IM, 50 Breast
• Aditeya Verma – 50 Fly
• Maja Wang – 50 & 100 Back
• Natalie Whitbeck – 100 IM, 50 Back, 50 Fly, 50 Free
• Finley Wiegand – 100 IM, 50 Back, 50 Free
• Alyssa Yang – 50 Breast

 B 

• Akira Andhare – 100 Free, 100 IM
• Aman Bhatt – 100 Fly, 200 IM
• Arifin Capiral – 50 & 100 Back, 50 & 100 Breast
• Sebastian Chan – 100 IM
• Katelyn Chen – 50 & 100 Breast
• Ann Ding – 100 Breast, 100 IM
• Mira Erdim – 100 Free, 50 & 100 Breast
• Kaito Falk – 50 & 100 Breast, 200 IM
• Eric Feng – 50 Back
• Tyler Fernandez – 100 Free, 200 IM, 50 Back
• Ella Gao – 50 Breast, 50 Fly
• Rory Geitz – 50 & 100 Breast, 50 & 100 Free, 100 IM, 50 Fly
• Ethan Ghiondea – 50 Back
• Thomas Godbout – 100 Back
• Feifan Gong – 100 Back
• Blakely Hansen – 50 Free
• Alexander Hor – 100 Back, 50 & 100 Free, 200 IM
• Olivia Horng – 100 Back, 50 Breast
• Roohi Indurkar – 50 & 100 Breast
• Haim Jung – 100 Fly, 100 Free, 200 IM
• Evangeline Kalicinski – 100 Back, 50 & 200 Free, 50 Fly
• Yu Yan Lam – 50 Breast
• Flora-May Lawrence – 100 IM, 50 & 200 Free, 50 Breast
• Avery Lee – 100 Back
• Sophie Liu – 100 Breast
• Otis Lloyd – 100 Free
• Ostap Lytvynovskyi – 50 & 100 Breast
• Yuna Ma – 50 & 100 Breast, 50 Back
• Maksim Nikitenko – 100 IM, 50 Breast
• Andrew Ouyang – 100 Free, 200 IM
• Beatrix Pressman – 50 & 100 Free, 100 IM, 50 Breast, 50 Fly
• Timothy Rakovchuk – 50 & 100 Breast, 100 Free, 100 IM
• Victor Shirshov – 100 Back, 50 Breast, 50 Fly
• Keira Spitze – 100 Back, 50 & 100 Free, 100 IM
• Siena Stahlkopf – 100 Breast, 100 Fly, 100 Free, 200 IM
• Clara Stevenson – 50 Free
• Dan Sun – 50 & 100 Free, 100 IM, 50 Breast, 50 Fly
• Duru Ussakli – 50 & 100 Breast
• Anna Ventura – 100 Breast
• Aditeya Verma – 100 Back, 50 & 200 Free, 200 IM
• Maja Wang – 50 & 200 Free
• Lexie Watrous – 50 & 100 Fly, 100 Free, 100 IM, 50 Breast
• Natalie Whitbeck – 100 Free, 50 Breast
• Finley Wiegand – 100 Free, 50 Breast, 50 Fly
• Alyssa Yang – 100 & 200 IM, 50 Fly, 50 Free
• Doyeol Yang – 50 & 100 Back
• Eric Zhou – 50 & 100 Free, 50 Fly
• Maggie Zhou – 50 & 100 Breast, 100 & 200 IM, 50 Fly

WAVE ON 3!!