VAST Sprint/Distance Invitational Meet Recap

Wave's Select Team had an impressive performance at VAST’s Sprint/Distance Invitational held at the King County Aquatic Center. This was a unique meet with all the sprint events on Saturday while on Sunday were three events followed by Time Trials. The meet saw numerous personal bests, Champs cuts, and new US Motivational Times achieved by our swimmers. Next up, many of the swimmers will be headed to Montana to attempt to defend our crown at the Firecracker Classic. Looking forward to some great swimming coming up!

A special congratulations goes to Adrian Juco for breaking the 13-14 Team Record in the 100 Breaststroke and earning his first AAAA Time! Great job, Adrian, and congratulations to all the swimmers for their hard work and achievements!

Senior 1

We had 33 swimmers compete at the meet and the group performed incredibly well. Knowing we had a sprint meet coming up, we have been focused on race pace training and executing the strategies well. We didn’t rest before as we wanted to see what the swimmers could do while they were still tired. The group really stepped up and pushed themselves. We had a lot of swimmers seeing time drops in the sprint events showing off improved speed. Not wanting to be too focused on just the short races, the swimmers in the distance events performed equally well. They all did a really good job of sticking to the race plans we talked about and swimming the races the way we have trained to swim them.

Two of the most exciting swims came during the time trial session where Peter Hansen took on the 200 Fly, finishing much stronger than he did at May Flowers and earned a Champs cut. Not wanting the fireworks to end, Gabe Traina stepped up and crushed his 200 Back, swimming a much stronger back half than a month ago and also earning his Champs cut.

• Tanvi Bathe was destined for this meet. She fancies herself a sprinter and much prefers the shorter races. She put her speed on full display as she dropped time in all her events. She started off with a blistering 2-second drop in the 50 Free then doubled down and dropped 4 seconds in the 100 free.
• Tanay Boda is finally done with high school sports and has put in some serious training in the pool. His hard work paid off big as he was on fire, crushing swim after swim. He went best times in all his races, dropping a half second in the 50 Free and also doubling down dropping a full second in the 100 Free.
• Abby Gong was able to go a bunch of best times at the last meet. This meet would prove no different as she would go best times in all her races. She has been training hard and is really seeing the payoffs. At the last meet, her goggles fell off in her 400 Free and she still went a best time. This meet would offer redemption as her goggles stayed on and she raced her way to a monster 10-second drop.
• Ethan Lin is another one who fancies himself a pure sprinter and loves to show his speed. He got off to a screaming fast start in the 100 Fly then was able to hold on all the way back turning in a massive 3-second drop. Not happy being only a sprinter, he showed he can take on anything by tackling the 400 IM and dropping 9 seconds in the process.
• Amaris Rus has been working on his butterfly speed and stamina at practices. Both showed that they are paying off as he was able to produce best times in all three distances, getting some much-needed vengeance for a DQ in the 100 Fly at the last meet. His most impressive race though would come in the 400 IM. He got off to a super strong start then produced the strongest breaststroke leg he’s ever had and closed well resulting in a 30 second drop.
• Ella Tulanon had a good first day of sprints turning in best times in both the 50 and 100 Free. She really hit her stride on the second day when she took on the 1500 Free. She has been doing increased yardage at practices and was ready to rock the race. She found the pace early on and then was able to dial it in for most of the race and steadily swam her way to a huge 56-second drop in the event.

Senior Epic

Senior Epic has been training hard and this meet was a great opportunity to race while we are still training and finishing a heavy block of our season plan. I was satisfied to see many fast swims and some best times during the weekend especially because that was not our main goal for this meet. Enjoy some highlights from our group:

• Bianca Bensen had a strong meet and all her races were solid. Her outstanding swims were the 100 Free where she dropped almost 2 seconds, got an AA Time and a Senior Zones cut, and the 400 Free where she was able to hold pace and swim a great race in the long course pool.
• Anton Mazepa swam three best times at the meet and grabbed another Spring Sectionals cut dropping a full second in the 100 Back. He also swam an excellent 200 IM where he had a monster drop of 22 seconds from an old time and earned an AA.
• Oleg Arlouski has been crushing practices and it showed at the meet. He swam personal best times in both 100 Free (-0.95 & AA Time) and in the 200 IM (-1.67). Another strong swim was the 100 Fly where he was able to swim strong and go right at his time.
• Kieran O’Gorman went two best times and demonstrated good improvements in his breaststroke and freestyle. He went a best time in the 100 Breast, cutting 6 seconds from his old time and crushed the 400 Free with a solid 8-second drop swimming under 5:00 for the first time.
• Daniel Cho has been recovering from a moderate injury he had last season and has been feeling better to swim breaststroke. His results at the meet were encouraging and he was happy to go a lifetime best in the 50 Breast and to swim right at his time in the 100 Breast.

Age Group 1

AG1 did a very good job at the meet this past weekend. We had a lot of great swims along with many time drops. The kids have been putting in a bunch of work at practice to get prepared for long course.

• Elaina Jiang got multiple champs cuts in her 50 Free, 50 Breast, and 50 Fly
• Avery Lee got her first A time in the 50 back just two days before turning 11
• Max Sun got an AA time in his 50 Back
• Kenshin Yokoyama got his first A time in the 50 Fly
• Maya Razdan dropped 16 seconds in her 50 Fly

Overall, the kids in AG1 did very well in their first long course meet of the season.

Senior Prep

Sr. Prep had an excellent meet with 147 successful swims where 136 (92%) were best times. We had another 6 swims that were exactly at our best time or within half a second of our best time. The average time drop for all swims was 4.70 seconds per race! We also had 50 new swims where a swimmer completed a race legally for the first time. Amazing meet results, Sr. Prep!

A big shout out to Yuzuki Ishizuka and Emily MacDonald for earning their first-ever A times! Here are some more shout outs to some highlights from the meet:

• Kumail Mukadam has really improved dramatically in terms of his ability to focus on his technique and race that way as well. This really showed in his 16.72-second improvement in his 200 IM. He also dropped more than 5 seconds in his 100 Back and had a solid drop in his 50 Free as well. I am proud of how hard you have been working at changing your stroke technique, Kumail!
• Sophia Gorveatt swam a blazing fast 400 IM with a 43-second improvement. She really showed off how much she has improved year over year in all four strokes. She also had 3-second drops in both the 50 Breast and 100 Back. Nice job working on your stroke technique!
• Watch out PNS backstrokers and freestylers, Lauren Hizzey has learned to kick with a 6-beat kick! She has been competing with arms only for a long time. It is amazing how much better her body position is with a constant kick. She dropped 32 seconds in her 400 IM, 30 seconds in her 50 Fly, 8 seconds in the 200 Back, and 5 seconds in her 100 Back. Way to put it all together Lauren!
• Yihan Li improved over 20 seconds in her 100 Breast and over 10 seconds in her 50 Braest events! WOW! Great job on your pull/shoot, you have improved your breaststroke dramatically year over year. She also swam the 400 IM, 200 Free and 100 Fly for the first time in a long course pool. Nice job, Yihan!
• Lainey Meyer improved more than 15 seconds in her 100 Fly with excellent rhythm and tempo for much of the race. She posted a monster drop of more than 10 seconds in her 100 Free and solid 3+ seconds better in the 50 Free and 200 Back. She was also very excited to swim the 400 IM for the first time in long course. Excellent meet, Lainey!
• Andy Yang has improved dramatically in his freestyle at practice. He has learned to catch water beautifully, and it showed with his 55+ second improvement in the 400 Free and an almost 9-second improvement in his 100 Free. He dropped more than 10 seconds in his 200 IM, and in his best events he dropped more than 4 seconds in both the 50 and 100 Breast! Andy, great job focusing on your drill work and applying it to your strokes and races!
• Han Sun improved an incredible 11.32 seconds in his 50 Fly at the meet and showed off this new fly technique improvements in his 100. He swam the 400 IM, 200 IM, and 100 Fly for the first time in long course meters! I love how quickly you have put together a flowing butterfly. Excellent job Han!
• Arjun Yadav improved almost 10 seconds in his 100 Back! He swam the race with much improved tempo and kick coordination than when he first started in the group. He also swam three long course meter events for the first time, the 400 Free, the 200 IM, and the 100 Fly. Super spinning on that backstroke, Arjun!

Age Group 2

AG2 had a solid meet with loads of first long course swims, best times everywhere, and a lot of PNS Champs cut! A huge shout out to Rhea Dawani, who earned her first two AA times in both her breaststroke races, and to Lucas Deng, who earned his first A time in the 50 Back.

• Eleanor Lopez swam in her final Wave meet before moving to Virginia and went out with a bang, earning her first motivational time in the breaststroke after a lot of very hard work to improve her #4 stroke. In her final race, her first long course 400 IM, she was not feeling well but gutted it out and turned in a well-paced race
• Aditeya Verma has worked extremely hard in practice and it showed big time in his 50 Free where he blasted 6 seconds off his previous best, earning both a B and BB time in the same race! He also swam his first-ever long course 100 Free and 50 Breast
• Eva Kalicinski has been learning to work hard in practice and it paid off in a big way in her 50 Back and 100 Free with big speed and new BB times. She picked up a third BB time in her best stroke, the 100 Breast
• Mira Arora, in her first meet for Wave cranked it up for her 50 Free, dropping 2+ seconds, and her 50 Back, where she showed excellent arm tempo
• Albert O has put a lot of effort in practice to change from a No-beat flutter to a 6-beat and wow, did it show up in his 50 Free as speed to a B time! He also had a monster 7-second drop in his 50 Fly and raced the 200 IM in long course for the first time
• Alex Yang gives his all in both the pool and in dryland every day and it showed with a vastly improved 50 Fly where his timing is really coming together
• Deniz Cankaya has worked on improving in all his strokes so he’s not merely a backstroke wonder. In no race did it show up more than in his 100 Fly where his technique was actually better in the back half. He also had an 18-second improvement in his 400 Free with excellent splits and a 5-second drop in his 50 Fly

New US Motivational Times

 AAAA 

• Adrian Juco – 100 Breast

 AAA 

• Ellen Feng – 50 Fly
• Claire Gao – 50 Fly
• Ethan Lin – 100 Fly
• Anton Mazepa – 100 Back

 AA 

• Oleg Arlouski – 100 Free
• Bianca Bensen – 100 Free
• Rhea Dawani – 50 & 100 Breast
• Berit Dunn – 50 Breast
• Claire Gao – 50 & 100 Breast
• Bennett Geitz – 200 IM
• Sophia Gorveatt – 400 IM
• Dami Jung – 50 & 100 Breast
• Rinat Maksyutov – 50 Back
• Anton Mazepa – 200 IM
• Irene Qu – 50 & 100 Breast
• Max Sun – 50 Back
• Maya Surugiu – 1500 Free
• Daniel Xia – 400 IM
• Andy Yang – 50 & 100 Breast

 A 

• Quinn Anderson – 400 IM
• Bradley Barkans – 50 & 200 Free
• Bianca Bensen – 400 Free
• Nik Brusilovski – 200 IM
• Daniel Chen – 50 & 400 Free, 200 IM
• Hailey Crawford – 400 Free
• Lucas Deng – 50 Back
• Ellen Feng – 100 Back, 100 Free
• Henry Geitz – 50 Free
• Olivia Henaire – 400 Free
• Yuzuki Ishizuka – 50 Fly, 50 Free
• Adrian Juco – 400 IM
• Dami Jung – 400 IM
• Avery Lee – 50 Back
• Ethan Lin – 400 IM
• Anton Mazepa – 100 Fly
• Irene Qu – 50 Fly
• Amaris Rus – 100 Fly, 200 IM
• Joshua Rus – 1500 Free
• Max Sun – 50 Free
• Maya Surugiu – 100 Free
• Gabe Traina – 200 Back
• Andy Yang – 100 & 400 Free, 200 IM
• Isshin Yokoyama – 50 Free, 50 Fly
• Kenshin Yokoyama – 50 Fly

 BB 

• Gahl Ami ad – 100 Breast
• Bianca Bensen – 100 Fly
• Aman Bhatt – 50 Breast, 50 Free
• Ahana Bhattacharya – 400 Free, 50 Back
• Lucy Broyles – 100 Breast
• Deniz Cankaya – 50 & 100 Fly, 200 IM, 400 Free
• Aaron Chakraborty – 50 Free
• Henry Cheng – 50 & 100 Back, 200 IM
• Hayley Chou – 50 & 100 Back
• Addy Clarke – 50 Fly
• Rhea Dawani – 50 Fly
• Lucas Deng – 100 Free
• Evan Deng – 100 Free
• Ellen Feng – 400 Free, 50 Breast
• Abby Gong – 50 Free
• Abby Gray – 50 Free
• Peter Hansen – 400 Free, 200 Fly
• Olivia Henaire – 100 Back
• Nora Herman – 100 Fly
• Lauren Hizzey – 400 IM
• Olivia Horng – 50 Fly
• Vivian Hu – 50 Fly, 200 IM, 50 Breast
• Iris Huang – 400 Free
• Yuzuki Ishizuka – 400 Free
• Elaina Jiang – 200 IM, 50 Back
• Adrian Juco – 100 Back
• Kirill Kadach – 100 Free
• Eva Kalicinski – 100 Free, 100 Breast, 50 Back
• Maria Kokhan – 200 IM, 50 Fly
• Lingyi Li – 200 IM, 50 Back
• Yihan Li – 400 IM
• Olivia Liu – 200 & 400 IM, 50 Back
• Elizabeth Luo – 50 Free
• Emily MacDonald – 100 Fly, 50 Free
• Max Malinovskyi – 50 Fly
• Lainey Meyer – 50 & 100 Free, 400 IM
• Ethan Na – 400 Free
• Kieran O’Gorman – 100 Breast
• Vien Pogue – 200 IM, 400 Free
• Irene Qu – 100 Fly
• Anika Razdan – 50 Free
• Amiris Rus – 50 Free, 400 IM
• Joshua Rus – 50 Free, 100 Back
• Sanvi Shrivastava – 200 IM, 50 Breast
• Beata Sobol – 400 IM
• Siena Stahlkopf – 50 Fly
• Clara Stevenson – 50 Fly, 50 Free
• Han Sun – 200 & 400 IM, 50 Fly
• Max Sun – 50 Fly
• Nika Svirydovich – 50 Free
• Megan Traina – 1500 Free
• Ella Tulanon – 100 Free
• Edi Vasilescu – 100 Back
• Bella Vasilescu – 1500 Free
• Anna Ventura – 50 Fly
• Aditeya Verma – 50 Free
• Lasya Viswanadham – 400 IM
• Natalie Whitbeck – 50 Fly
• Finley Wiegand – 50 Free
• Piper Wiegand – 100 Fly, 1500 Free, 200 IM
• Isshin Yokoyama – 400 Free, 50 Back
• Kenshin Yokoyama – 50 Breast
• Landon Yuan – 50 Free

 B 

• Mira Arora – 50 Free
• Aman Bhatt – 50 Fly
• Arya Bhatt – 100 Fly
• Ahana Bhattacharya – 100 Breast
• Norah Braun – 200 Breast
• Aaron Chakraborty – 100 & 400 Free, 50 Fly
• Leo Chen – 200 IM
• Daniel Cho – 100 Fly
• Hayley Chou – 50 Fly, 50 Breast
• Evan Deng – 400 Free
• Kaito Falk – 50 Breast
• Tyler Fernandez – 50 Breast
• Kevin Flannery – 1500 Free
• Rihit Gandhi – 50 & 100 Breast, 400 IM
• Ella Gao – 50 Breast
• Abby Gray – 50 Fly
• Blakely Hansen – 50 Breast, 50 Fly
• Fiona Herman – 100 Back
• Alexander Hor – 50 Breast
• Ellie Hsu – 50 Breast
• Elise Kabacki – 100 Back, 100 Breast
• Arvin Kandiah – 400 IM
• Adam Kantor – 50 Back
• Avery Lee – 50 Fly
• Yihan Li – 50 Breast, 200 Free
• Jonathan Liu – 50 Back
• Olivia Liu – 100 Fly
• Elizabeth Luo – 50 & 100 Back
• Karina Maksyutov – 50 Breast
• Max Malinovskyi – 200 IM
• Lainey Meyer – 100 Fly
• Albert O – 50 Free
• Neha Phatak – 100 Fly
• Beatrix Pressman – 50 Fly
• Irene Qu – 400 Free
• Tim Rakovchuk – 100 Free, 50 Breast
• Anika Razdan – 100 Back, 100 Free, 50 Breast, 50 Fly
• Maya Razdan – 50 & 100 Breast, 50 Fly, 50 Free, 50 Back
• Clara Stevenson – 50 Breast
• Han Sun – 100 Fly
• Nika Svirydovich – 200 IM
• Aditeya Verma – 100 Free
• Natalie Whitbeck – 50 Breast
• Finley Wiegand – 50 Back
• Piper Wiegand – 50 Free
• Arjun Yadav – 200 IM, 400 Free, 50 Back
• Alyssa Yang – 50 Back, 50 Fly
• Grace Zhang – 50 Free
• Serena Zhang – 50 Fly

WAVE ON 3!!