Cheers to Wave Swimmers: Best Finish in Years at Senior Seattle Open!

Jay Pearson

Senior Seattle Open Meet Recap

Wave swimmers showed up at the 103rd Annual Seattle Senior Open and turned in some truly amazing swims. The hard work the entire Senior Team (High School, Senior 1, Senior Epic) has been putting in really paid off. The swimmers were rewarded with a number of best times, new Champs cuts, and new Senior Zones cuts. The Wave boys swam themselves to a 2nd place overall finish while the Wave girls swam themselves to 4th. The two solid showings resulted in 3rd place for the team. Wave also had the highest scoring individual boy at the meet, Jaiden Sreenivasan. It was an awesome meet for our team and a great preview of our Champs season. GO WAVE!!

Senior 1

The Senior 1 group had 32 swimmers compete at the meet. Many of the swimmers were coming off very short rest as they competed in the Missoula Firecracker Meet just four days prior. The group did an amazing job of stepping up and racing. We had a ton of very good swims and some really awesome time drops. This group has been training very hard and it was incredibly rewarding to see them perform so well. I am excited to see what they can do at the end of season meets.

  • Tanvi Bathe had herself a very nice weekend of racing. She turned in best times in four races and swam two others for the first time. She fancies herself a freestyle and backstroke sprinter, which turned out to be true as she dropped time in both 100s. She also showed that she can take on longer races as she put in solid drops in both 200s in addition to taking on the 400 Free for the first time, swimming a solid race and getting a solid baseline time.
  • Bennett Geitz has been working hard at his distance freestyle training lately. That work really showed in his 400 Free. He got off to a great start then found the pace right away and pushed himself all the way to a fast finish and a 5-second drop. He was pleased to show off his sprint speed as well, going a best time in the 100 Free and getting himself closer to breaking the 1:00 barrier for the first time.
  • Kirsten Hau is one of the swimmers who competed at back-to-back meets. She showed up at the meet ready to rock and roll. She took on a grueling list of events swimming two 200s, one 400, and the 1500. She took on her challenge like she does most things with a smile on her face going out and racing her best. She had an awesome 200 IM finishing with a strong back 100 resulting in a 3-second drop. Not done there she would drop even more time, 5 seconds, in her 200 Breast.
  • Aditi Kandiah took on her own tough schedule of events swimming three 200s and one 400. She took it in stride even though she wasn’t super excited to swim the 200 Fly. She stepped up and rocked her 400 Free splitting evenly throughout on her way to a massive 76-second drop. Then came the final race, her 200 Fly, where she got off to a fast start then stayed tough throughout the rest of the race all the way to a strong finish.
  • Gabe Traina has been chasing a Senior Zones cut all season and finally was able to break through for his first one. He had an electric 400 Free where he went head-to-head with another Wave swimmer all the way to the finish resulting in a huge time drop for both, which is amazing considering he dropped 10 seconds just a week prior. His big race was the 100 Free; after just missing the Zones cut in Montana, he was on a mission. He put up a blistering swim, dropping a full second from Montana and smashing the Zones cut.
  • Josh Rus has become a distance aficionado. This meet, he took on the 800 Free with the goal of getting the Champs cut. He got into a dead race with another swimmer in his heat and they pushed each other all the way to the finish, with Josh winning on guts and superior turns, giving him not just a Champs cut but a Zones cut in the event as well. He also had a very exciting 400 Free doing the same thing as his 800, racing all the way to the finish and a 7-second drop from a week ago.

Senior Epic

We have been training extremely hard for the past eight weeks and we could see all that work showing at both meets our group swam by the end of June. We had fantastic swims at both Missoula and Senior Seattle Open and I am proud of the work this group has put in so far. With just two days of light workouts before the meet, they demonstrated what they are capable of doing in terms of speed and fast swims. We are quickly approaching our Champs Season and we will continue our work focused on getting faster, stronger and better in the upcoming weeks!

  • Jaiden Sreenivasan won five events and four lifetime bests at the Seattle Open to grab the Men’s High Point Trophy for the first time!! His outstanding swims were the 200 Breast and 200 Fly. He dominated the 200 Breast and dropped 2.63 seconds from a previous best time achieved in May. In the 200 Fly, he had an impressive closing speed which resulted in a time drop of almost 3 seconds, missing a Winter Junior Nationals cut by only 0.14.
  • Anouk Balog had a fantastic weekend going best times in two of her strongest events. In the 800 Free, she dominated the race from the beginning and dropped almost 10 seconds to get a new Zones cut! In the 200 Fly, she was in control of her speed, felt strong for the entire race and dropped 2.60 seconds to get a Bonus Zones cut. With these two new cuts, she added a few more events to her meet schedule at Senior Zones.
  • Hailey Crawford had many fast swims during the weekend and her outstanding swim was the 400 Free where she dropped 1.43 seconds and got a new Regionals cut. She has been swimming this event in every long course meet this season and has been dropping her time every time she swims it! Another great swim for her was the 100 Fly where she managed her energy throughout the race and finished strong to get a new time in the 50-meter pool.
  • Ethan Na went five best times throughout the weekend. His best event was the 200 Free where he was able to execute a smart strategy, feeling strong during the race and dropping almost 7 seconds from his previous time. He has been working more on his breaststroke and it showed in the 50 Breast and also in both 200 & 400 IM where we went best times. He dropped 1.64 seconds in the former and a full second in the later demonstrating his improvement in the breaststroke leg of the IM.
  • Megan Traina felt strong on her freestyle and managed to drop time in both the 400 & 800 Free. She swam a great 800 Free pushing herself in the first part of the race and holding it together to drop a lot of time—26.68 seconds—earning an A time in the process. In the 400 Free, she was consistent for the entire race, dropped 2.54 seconds and finished the meet happy and motivated to swim more distance events in the upcoming meets.

Congrats for a strong meet and let's stay focused on our Champs Meets coming up in a few weeks!

High School Group

  • Alvin Chang swam long course for the first time and got a few BB times! He did great powering through his events. He got a BB time in his 50 Free, BB in his 100 Free, B in his 200 Free, a B time in his 200 IM.
  • Dario Giuliani was out there to race! He was fresh off the Montana meet a weekend before and he used that as a warmup for this meet, dropping more time in just a week! -2.22 in 100 Breast for a BB time. -0.62 in 50 Free for a BB time.
  • Devon Gordon also raced at Montana and dropped more time in just a week! -3.09 in her 100 Breast for a BB time. -3.47 in 100 Free for a B time. -0.55 in her 200 Breast for a BB time. -3.54 in her 200 Free for a B time. -12.66 in her 200 IM for a BB time. -1.96 in 50 Free for a BB time.
  • Miranda Range is another member of the Montana squad who came back to drop more time! -1.02 in 100 Free for a B time. -7.31 in 200 Breast. -1.10 in 200 Free. -3.33 in 200 IM.
  • Andy Wang is just returning to us from a long hiatus. He has come back to race and stand his ground! -0.47 in 100 Fly for an A time. -6.04 in his 200 Fly for a BB time qualifying him for Long Course Champs!! -1.35 in his 200 Free for a BB time. -0.94 in 50 Breast. -0.74 in his 50 Fly. -0.30 in his 50 Free for a BB time.
  • Kennedy Trembley went in nervous to a few of her events and destroyed her times! She really raced her last 50s and put her heart into it! -3.90 in her 100 Back for a B time. -2.71 in 100 Free for a BB time. -11.18 in her 200 Free for a BB time. -2.91 in 200 IM for a B time.

New US Motivational Times

 AA 

  • Anouk Balog – 800 Free
  • Bennett Geitz – 100 Free
  • Amelia Pletosu – 100 Free
  • Joshua Rus – 800 Free
  • Gabe Traina – 100 Free

 A 

  • Quinn Anderson – 400 Free
  • Oleg Arlouski – 800 Free
  • Daniel Chen – 400 IM
  • Logan Downing – 100 Free
  • Kirill Kadach – 100 Free
  • Ethan Lin – 100 Back
  • Anton Mazepa – 200 Fly
  • Ethan Na – 200 Free
  • Joshua Rus – 400 Free
  • Maya Surugiu – 800 Free
  • Megan Traina – 800 Free
  • Andy Wang – 100 Free
  • Piper Wiegand – 1500 Free

 BB 

  • Lucas Blat-Phillips – 100 Free
  • Alvin Chang – 100 Free
  • Feynman Chen – 200 Free
  • Hailey Crawford – 100 Fly
  • Logan Downing – 200 Free, 200 IM
  • Bennett Geitz – 200 Back
  • Henry Geitz – 200 Fly
  • Abby Gong – 800 Free
  • Devon Gordon – 200 IM, 50 Free
  • Peter Hansen – 200 Free
  • Penelope Hepkin – 800 Free
  • Ani Purkayastha – 400 Free
  • Neil Rawal – 100 Breast
  • Amaris Rus – 200 Free
  • Maya Surugiu – 100 Back
  • Gabe Traina – 100 Fly
  • Kennedy Tremblay – 100 & 200 Free
  • Isabella Vasilescu – 800 Free
  • Julien Wang – 50 Free
  • Andy Wang – 200 Fly

 B 

  • Oleg Arlouski – 200 Breast
  • Tanay Boda – 400 Free
  • Alvin Chang – 200 Free, 200 IM
  • Feynman Chen – 200 Back
  • Ian Chow – 100 Breast, 50 Free
  • Thomas Claux – 100 Breast
  • Logan Downing – 100 Back
  • Devon Gordon – 200 Free
  • Peter Hansen – 100 Back
  • Ani Purkayastha – 200 Fly
  • Kennedy Tremblay – 400 Free
  • Julien Wang – 100 Free

WAVE ON 3!!