Senior Swimmers Make Splash at Washington State Championships

Kyle Kallin

Senior Champs Recap

 

Wave swimmers continued upon our success at Age Group Champs by turning in a fantastic performance at the Washington State Senior Championship Meet. Our team placed 6th overall (out of 29 teams). It was an awesome weekend full of very fast swims. We had an incredible number of top 16 swims led by Jaiden Sreenivasan for the men and Molly Traina for the women. We had 20 swimmers score points for the team to go along with 10 scoring relays. Our swimmers achieved a number of team records, we had 19 new Senior Sectionals qualifying swims, and 1 new Winter Junior Nationals qualifying swim. The swimmers stepped up each day and did a wonderful job staying strong throughout the meet having more finals swims each day of the meet. It was an amazing weekend for the coaches and swimmers. We are all so proud of the hard work they have put in and so excited for their accomplishments. GO WAVE!!!

 

Senior 1

 

The Senior 1 Group had 17 swimmers compete at the Washington State Senior Championship Meet. It was a weekend filled with fun and fast racing. Everyone who came did an incredible job of stepping up and putting everything they had into their swims. For all of their efforts they were rewarded with second swims, sectionals cuts, team records, SSDL cuts, and tons of dropped time. This group trained hard all season and it was so fun to see them rewarded for everything they have done, I had an absolute blast watching them compete and swim so well.  I hope everyone enjoys their hard earned break, we will be ready to get right back to the hard work. 

 

Highlights

 

Lena Duryee has been on a mission with her training since the end of the cross country season. The hard work she has been putting in really paid off in her swimming at the meet. She turned in some incredible swims and showed off great speed. She blazed her way to a new best time in the 200 free dropping almost 4 full seconds. She showed off her speed in the 100 free 3 times dropping a full second in her individual event and repeating that performance as the anchor leg of the 400 Medley and 400 Free relays helping both teams score. Lena scored 3 points for Wave.

 

Bennett Geitz came off a long weekend of racing at Age Group Champs but was eager to get right back to it and turn in big swims. He kicked things off dominating the 1000 free, splitting it totally evenly, dropping 24 seconds, and getting the Sectionals cut and team record in the process. He finished the meet with another statement swim in the 200 IM, breaking 2:00 for the first time in prelims then turning around and lowering his time again in finals.

 

Dario Giuliani has been on the rise since moving into the group in September and qualifying for his first Champs meet at the November AGI. He continued to ride that momentum turning in some stellar swims at his biggest meet. He focused mainly on sprint events and went a perfect 4/4 on best times. He was all smiles after his races. His 50 fly was amazing as he showed off great form and tempo all the way to his first time under 30 seconds in the event.

 

Abby Gong was very excited to compete at her first champs meet. She has been working hard all season and she is really starting to have big breakthroughs. She kicked things off with a strong 200 back going just off her best time, posting her second fastest swim ever in the event. Her best race was the one she was initially the least excited to swim, the 500 free. She got off to a great start then dialed it in, holding the pace all the way down the stretch giving her a huge 4 second drop.

 

Sophia Gorveatt was another brave swimmer who took on double meet duty. She produced some very strong swims going right at or better than her best times from just a week prior. She had an awesome 200 fly qualifying for the B final. In finals she swam the race with incredible toughness finishing 11th overall and posting her 4th fastest time ever in the event. She was a valuable member of the 800 free relay team helping them finish in the top 8. Sophia scored 12.5 points for Wave.

 

Kirsten Hau was another member of the back to back club. She was in good spirits heading into the meet determined to achieve at least one best time even though she was feeling tired from the previous weekend. She showed great toughness in the 400 IM going 8 seconds faster than her Age Group Champs swim. She finished the meet with a white hot 50 breast, dropping a half second and ending on a high note.

 

Penelope Hepkin had a fantastic high school season where she showed great improvement in her mid distance freestyle events. She was excited to continue to improve in those races and that is exactly what she did. She was excited to drop time in the 100, 200, and 500 free. She showed great toughness in the longer races and held her pacing well giving her solid 1 second drops in both. Her most exciting however was the 100 free. It has been her mission to break the 1:00 barrier all season, she started the race focused and put everything she had into it. For her efforts she was rewarded by not just breaking 1:00 for the first time but skipping 59 all together.

 

Lauren Hizzey was another swimmer who decided to test her mettle by competing back to back weekends. She has a very positive attitude towards her racing and stays very mentally tough and composed. She used this to turn in some very strong swims for the second meet in a row. Last weekend she dropped 2 seconds in the 200 back, this weekend she worked on having cleaner turns and stronger underwater dolphin kicks which paid off with another full second drop. 

 

Cora Ledrick was unfortunately coming off being sick just days prior to the meet. Thankfully she is incredibly tough and as the meet progressed she was feeling better and better and her swimming was getting stronger and stronger. She started off with a good swim in the 100 free, holding off the fade in the second 50 and going close to her best time. She would improve upon that performance in the 400 free relay where she got out a little faster and closed well resulting in her fastest swim of the season in the event. She had a strong 500 holding pace well then closing fast.

 

Ethan Lin likes to swim fast. He did just that over the weekend. He had an awesome 100 breast taking out super fast then finishing strong putting him under the 1:00 mark for the first time. He followed that up with a very strong 200 breast. His plan was to go out fast and just keep swimming as fast as he could for as long as possible. His training really showed through as he was able to maintain his speed throughout the race giving him a huge 25 second drop and the Senior Sectionals cut. Ethan scored 9.5 points for Wave.

 

Vien Pogue was coming off a strong showing at Age Group Champs and was excited to just swim for fun and see what she could do. This carefree attitude coupled with her strong training ended up giving her some very good results. She was able to drop another full second in the 100 breast going under 1:12 for the first time. She put a second solid 100 breast together helping her 400 Medley Relay to a top 16 finish. The race she was most excited for was the 50 breast. Her readiness for the race earned her a trip to finals where she stepped up and dropped from prelims, both swims finally breaking through the 33 second barrier for her. Vien scored 1 point for Wave.

 

Neil Rawal is another speedster in the group. He got off to a hot start in the 100 free keeping good tempo and a fast kick all the way to a half second drop. He finished the meet with his favorite event, the 50 breast. He has been steadily improving in the race and has been eager to finally break 30 seconds. Using good underwater pullouts and a great tempo he did just that going 29 for the first time.

 

Maya Surugiu was hungry for another shot at the 100 breast after just missing the Senior Sectionals cut at the High School State Meet. She got her chance and made the absolute most out of it. She put together a fantastic race, dropping a half second, and finally getting that Sectionals cut. She followed it up with an even wilder performance in the 200 breast. After discussing what she wanted to do differently from prelims to finals she went out and executed the race strategy to perfection giving her the Summer Sectionals cut. She would finish the meet winning the C final and going 31 for the first time in the 50 breast. Maya scored .5 points for the team. Maya scored .5 points for Wave

 

Gabe Traina was ready to show off that he could sprint but also carry his speed up into longer events. He made a statement in his first swim of the meet, the 200 back, looking smooth the whole way and keeping his tempo consistent giving him a huge 7 second drop. He then decided to show off his pure speed by going under 23 for the first time in the 50 free, going just off the Sectionals cut. Not quite content he would swim an incredible 500. Using the strategy we had practiced he got off to a fast start the first 200 then settled into his pace for the next 200 and sprinting to the finish the last 100. For his efforts he was rewarded with his first sub 5:00 swim.

 

Molly Traina was coming into the event riding a wave of good performances from Age Group Champs. She rode that wave all the way through the meet turning in amazing swim after amazing swim. She ended up in a swim off in the 100 fly, she put her game face on and crushed the competition winning her swim off, breaking the 1:00 barrier, and getting her first Senior Sectionals cut. She went on to have 2 more major breakthrough swims, going under 2:00 in the 200 free as the lead off leg of the 800 free relay and breaking 1:00 in the 100 back for the first time. Molly scored 28 points for Wave.

 

Bella Vasilescu was excited to swim at her first champs meet. She had a tough schedule of events but she took them all on in stride with a smile on her face. She has really worked to make the 200 fly a strong race for her and it is really paying off. She had a strong swim in it at the November AGI to qualify for champs then stepped up and performed even better. She used her experience in the race to start out strong but not overly fast then built her way through the middle and kicked it into the finish dropping a full second.

 

Lasya Viswanadham was excited to swim some of her off-events this weekend after having a strong showing at Age Group Champs the previous weekend in her main events. She has been eying the SSDL cuts all season and was excited to take some shots at achieving one. She had a great 50 free dropping a half second but felt like she still had more speed in the event. She decided to time trial it on the final day and turned in an even faster swim, dropping another half second and securing her SSDL qualifying time.

 

Senior Epic

 

Oleg Arlouski swam a fantastic meet and went 9 best times over 4 days!! He had a monster swim in the 500 Free where he dropped 15.67 seconds and qualified for the A final. All of that after swimming a best time in the 200 Fly by 2 seconds.  In the evening Oleg came back to swim both events again in finals and crushed the 200 Fly with a great race strategy, going a best time again and dropping another 1.21 seconds (3.33 seconds overall). Then he had another amazing swim in the 500 Free and finished in 7th place. He also qualified for finals in both 50 Fly (-1.97 second drop) and 100 Fly (-1.85 second drop) and broke the 50 second barrier in the 100 Free leading off the 400 Free relay. Oleg swam the 1000 Free for the first time too and got the Summer Sectionals cut. Oleg scored 40.5 points for Wave.

 

Henry Geitz had an extraordinary meet, swam 8 best times and 5.500 yards in 4 days of Champs! In the distance events he had impressive drops such as 33 seconds in the 1000 Free (3rd place) and 50 seconds in the 1650 Free (6th place). He also qualified for finals in the 200 Free, 400 IM and 500 Free and had excellent swims in all of them. Between prelims and finals Henry was able to drop 5.23 seconds in the 200 Free, 10.97 seconds in the 400 IM and 13.13 seconds in the 500 Free with a new Summer Sectionals here. With all these huge time drops, Henry is now close to 4 Futures cuts and he is aiming to get all of them in March. Henry scored 47.5 points for Wave.

 

Logan Downing swam the best meet of his life and went 8 best times during the week! He smashed all his three Breaststroke times in prelims and qualified for finals in all of them (50, 100 & 200 Breast). At finals Logan swam  faster in all his races dropping his times even more!  In the 100 Breast he dropped 2.69 seconds (almost 3 seconds in a 100!!) to get his first Summer Sectionals cut, then he had a giant drop in the 200 Breast (-6.29 seconds between prelims and finals) to get his second Summer Sectionals cut and he wrapped up the meet taking the Team Record (15-16 Boys) in the 50 Breast, almost breaking the 27 second barrier and finishing the race in 6th place. Logan scored 13 points for Wave.

 

Megan Traina went 5 best times and was happy about her distance events at Champs. She started off the meet with an excellent 1000 Free, dropping 33.92 seconds, then in the 500 Free she had a solid 8 second drop qualifying for finals in this event for the first time. At finals she was able to come back and swim for the same time again showing her consistency in the event. In the Backstroke events, her strongest stroke, she smashed her 200 Backstroke time dropping time in both prelims and finals with an overall time drop of 4.69 seconds getting close to another Spring Sectionals cut. Megan scored 9 points for Wave.

 

Samantha Merriam qualified for her first finals at Champs and she did it twice! Her outstanding swim was the 50 Fly where she felt fast, had an excellent swim and dropped 0.59 tenths of second to qualify for finals. Other strong events for Sam were the 100 Fly and the 200 IM where she was consistent and swam right at her times. She also made finals in the 200 IM and learned a few things about swimming two events at finals and a good way to manage that. Sam scored 2 points for Wave.

 

Jaiden Sreenivasan swam his second Champs meet this month and was able to hold his performance and compete extremely well at Champs. He went 6 new lifetime bests, broke two Open Records and had his first win at Senior Champs! His win in the 200 IM was also his outstanding swim of the week. With an amazing second half of his race and a strong finish, he swam 0.87 tenths of second faster than his best time achieved two weeks ago at the US Open and broke his own Open Record again. Another great swim was his 200 Backstroke where he had a fantastic 6.48 second drop, broke the Open Record and finished in 4th place. Jaiden qualified for A finals in all 6 events he swam at Champs. Jaiden scored 103.5 points for Wave.

 

Daniel Xia had a spectacular meet, swam 10 best times at Senior Champs and broke his own 15-16 Boys Team Record in the 200 Breaststroke. All of that after going 3 best times a week ago at the Winter Junior Nationals. Daniel qualified to swim finals in all his 6 events and managed to go faster in all finals he competed in, except one of them. He had fabulous performances in the 200 Breast (-0.60 tenths of second from a new time he did a week ago, 15-16 Team Record and 6th place), in the 200 IM winning the B final (-2.57 seconds and 9th place) and in the 100 Breast (-0.83 tenths of second from a new time he did a week ago). Daniel scored 64.5 points for Wave.

 

Anderson Quinn swam a great meet and went 6 of 6 best times! His outstanding swim was the 100 Free where he got his first ever Sectionals cut and qualified to swim in finals! He looked strong the entire race and dropped 0.57 tenths of second from a time he went 3 weeks ago at AGI. Another great swim for him was the 200 IM where he dropped 2.78 seconds and almost broke the 2:00 barrier. Quinn scored 15 points for Wave.

 

Bianca Bensen came to the meet strong and swam 4 best times during the weekend. Her outstanding swim was the 100 Free where she dropped 1.80 seconds swimming a fantastic second half of her race. She also went a best time in the 200 Free with a solid race strategy and got a lifetime best in both 50 and 100 Back where she has been working on her dolphin kicks and breakouts and was able to execute them at Champs. Bianca scored 7 points for Wave.

 

Anouk Balog started the meet very well and went a best time in her first swim, the 1000 Free where she felt good and dropped 3 seconds. Then she swam right at her time in the 200 Free and was very happy to go a best time in the 100 Fly, racing her teammates and dropping a half second in the race. In the 200 Fly, one of her strongest events, she went right at her time finishing  strong in the last 50. 

 

Amaris Rus swam 4 events and went best times in all of them! The highlight of his meet was his huge swim in the 200 Fly where he dropped 4.43 seconds and got his first ever Spring Sectionals cut. The cut was very celebrated by him and his teammates! Another great swim for Amaris was his 400 IM where he looked good in all 4 strokes and had a huge 11.65 second drop. He has been working hard on his underwater dolphin kicks and did an excellent job executing them in all his races.

 

Anton Mazepa had an excellent meet and went 5 lifetime bests. He had a great start on the first day and got another Summer Sectionals cut in the 1000 Free breaking the 10:00 barrier for the first time. In the Backstroke events, he qualified for finals in both 100 and 200 Back going best times in both. He dropped 1.05 seconds in the 100 and 0.76 tenths of second in the 200. Anton   has been improving his underwater dolphin kicks and breakouts at practice and is getting better at  doing them during his races. Anton scored 5 points for Wave.

 

Hailey Crawford has been recovering from an ankle injury for the past month and swam only 3 events and 1 relay at Champs. It was great to have Hailey back with the team swimming and cheering on her teammates and she is now focused on our next Champs Meet in March in Indiana. Hailey scored .5 points for Wave.

 

Iris Huang swam 2 best times at Champs. She went a personal best in one of her strongest events, the 100 Fly where she was able to control her speed and finish the race strong, dropping 0.54 tenths of a second in the process. She also qualified for finals in the 50 Fly swimming right at her time in prelims. And she wrapped up the meet with a best time in her last event at the meet, the 50 Breaststroke. Iris scored .5 points for Wave.

 

Adrian Juco came ready to swim fast, crushed all his three Breaststroke events and went a lifetime best in all of them. His outstanding swim was the 200 Breaststroke where he looked good the entire race and dropped 3.68 seconds. In the 100 Breast Adrian had an excellent race, dropped 1.42 seconds and finished so close to breaking the 1:00 barrier! In the 50 Breaststroke Adrian swam a best time in prelims by half a second and qualified for his first finals at Senior Champs. 

 

Bradley Barkans was feeling fast, went 5 best times at Champs and broke the 50 second barrier in the 100 Free for the first time. He had a great swim going out fast and coming back strong to drop 1.82 seconds in a 100! Another strong swims for Bradley were the 200 Free where he dropped 2 seconds and the 200 Back where he dropped 1.30 seconds from a time he swam 3 weeks ago at AGI.

 

Peter Hansen went 5 best times and was happy with his results at Champs. His strongest swims were the 200 Fly where he looked pretty good the entire race and finished strong to drop almost 5 seconds from his previous time achieved a month ago at AGI. He also went a best time in the 100 Fly, another event that he just got a best time at AGI. To wrap up his meet, Peter had a great 100 Free swimming in the Time Trial where he felt strong and went a full second faster than his old time.

 

Caroline Bryant was sick last week and still did the best she could to race for the team. She swam 4 events and managed to get a best time in the 50 Fly, dropping 0.30 tenths of second and feeling satisfied with her race. In the 50 Free, one of her strongest events, she went only 0.29 tenths of second off her best time and also helped score points for the team in both 200 and 400 Medley relays.  

 

High School

 

Senior champs were a blast! So many time drops and first time competing at champs!  

 

Feynman Chen was in relays every single day. He was able to make it back to finals every day to race in either the A or B relay. His 200 medley relay scored top 10. The 400 free relay that he was in placed 9th. The last day, he had a killer 50 fly that put him in B finals! He placed top 13 in his fly. He's been striving to get time drops in his 100 free, 50 free, 50 fly and his 100 fly. He was able to drop in his 50 free and 50 fly. He scored 4 points for the team. Feynman scored 12 points for Wave.

 

Devon Gordon has just come back from a recent break and swam fairly well considering she has really only been in the pool for a week. She had a solid time drop in her 100 back and dropped -3.58. 

 

Dylan Vu is coming back from being out really sick. He swam really well considering all things. Dylan was able to swim in the 200 Free B relay and the 200 Medley C relay. Dylan also had a time drop in his 100 fly. 

 

Jay Song competed at Senior Champs for the first time. After his last event on Sunday his comment was, "This has been so fun."  Jay is one of the harder workers in the group and his efforts show. He had some great time drops in his 200 breast, 50 breast, and 100 breast. Jay is only seconds away from an A time in both his 200 and 100, which both are goals of his. 

 

Ian Chow is also competing at Champs for the first time. Ian has been working really hard on unlearning old habits and relearning new habits for breaststroke. It is finally paying off as he had time drops in his 100 breast, 50 breast, and a whole -7.17 in his 200 breast! He also had a nice drop in his 50 free. 

 

Rik Brusilovski has been working on dropping time in his 50 free and he got it. He also swam really hard in his 50 breast and 100 free. Had some good swims at this meet. 

 

Andy Wang has really been pushing his endurance at practice and working on his race pace. It shows! He had a time drop in his 100 fly and 200 fly. He is working on going fast and getting better everyday preparing for the SSDL meet. Andy swam in the C 200 free relay and the B 200 Medley relay. 

 

SR Prep

 

SR Prep and Purple had 8 swimmers swimming at the WA State SR Champs Meet.

This meet is meant for 15&Over athletes, so it was awesome to see some of younger

athletes dipping their toes into SR Swimming. The athletes had an amazing weekend of

swimming, especially considering that they were all coming off of having swum a very

long weekend for AG Champs. So, we treated this meet as a victory lap for the athletes

that qualified, a chance to swim some off events rested, and a chance to learn what

Senior Swimming looks and feels like. Overall, a great weekend and an awesome

learning experience for the kids.

 

Stand out swims of the weekend –

 

Lola Cheng had a great weekend with a LOT of Breaststroke swimming. She

crushed her 200 Breast shaving off some time and have some great pull outs of each

wall. It was awesome to see her finish the last 25 of that race.

 

Evan Deng swam 4 events over the weekend with some solid times in all his

events. He crushed his 200 Breast where he was able to finally shave over a second

off his time (he has been working super hard on building his endurance for the event). It

was an awesome swim to watch with a strong back 100.

 

Ellen Feng got to repeat some of her events from AG Champs and sprinkle in a

50 Breast for fun. She crushed it all weekend long with her stand out swim being her

100 Fly where she was strong on both 50s and really worked her underwaters.

 

Olivia Henaire had a busy weekend with 6 swims and LOTS of distance events.

She had some great swimming with her standout being her 1650 Free on Sunday where

she showed her toughness with a great swim and time and a top 24 finish!

 

Dami Jung had a great weekend of swimming, her standout was her 50 Breast

on Sunday morning. She had a great turn and some strong pull outs for a best times

and a trip to Finals.

 

Piper Wiegand had a stand out swim in her 200 Breast (which she hasn’t swam in

some time) her stroke improvements in her kick really stood out and she had an

awesome 8.5 second time drop.

Landon Yuan snuck into the meet with a qualifying time at Divisionals. He

had some strong swimming all weekend long and knocked his 50 Free out of the park

with a small time drop but a great swim and some great improvement on his turn.

 

Purple Group

 

Kyra Yuan was our soul Purple Group Swimmer and did an

awesome job. She crushed both her 200 Free and 200 IM. Her 200 IM was the

standout with all four of her strokes staying consistent and attacking each leg of the

swim.

 

Great Job to all the Swimmers!!!

 

 

Top 16 Finishes

 

All top 16 finishes scored points for Wave!

 

  • Henry Geitz - 3rd(1000 free), 10th(500 free), 6th(1650 free), 12th(400 IM)

  • Oleg Arlouski - 8th(1000 free), 7th(500 free), 11th(200 fly)

  • Anton Mazepa - 15th(1000 free), 14th(100 back)

  • Daniel Xia - 10th(200 free), 12th(100 breast), 6th(200 breast), 12th(100 free), 9th(200 IM)

  • Jaiden Sreenivasan - 4th(200 back), 7th(100 fly), 2nd(500 free), 1st(200 IM), 5th(100 free)

  • Logan Downing - 6th(50 breast)

  • Feynman Chen - 13th(50 fly)

  • Sophia Gorveatt - 11th(200 fly)

  • Molly Traina - 10th(50 back), 8th(50 fly), 16th(100 back)

 

  • Women 400 Medley Relay B -  15th(Bianca Bensen, Vien Pogue, Molly Traina, Lena Duryee)

  • Women 400 Medley Relay A - 16th(Megan Traina, Maya Surugiu, Sophia Gorveatt, Caroline Bryant)

  • Women 200 Medley Relay A - 16th(Megan Traina, Hailey Crawford, Iris Huang, Caroline Bryant)

  • Women 800 Free Relay A - 7th(Molly Traina, Bianca Bensen, Sophia Gorveatt, Megan Traina)

  • Women 400 Free Relay A - 13th(Sam Merriam, Molly Traina, Megan Traina, Lena Duryee)

  • Men 400 Medley Relay A - 9th(Jaiden Sreenivasan, Daniel Xia, Oleg Arlouski, Quinn Anderson

  • Men 200 Medley Relay A - 10th(Jaiden Sreenivasan, Daniel Xia, Feynman Chen, Ethan Lin)

  • Men 800 Free Relay A - 5th(Jaiden Sreenivasan, Daniel Xia, Henry Geitz, Oleg Arlouski)

  • Men 400 Free Relay A - 9th(Daniel Xia, Quinn Anderson, Feynman Chen, Jaiden Sreenivasan)

  • Men 200 Free Relay A - 7th(Jaiden Sreenivasan, Ethan Lin, Quinn Anderson, Daniel Xia)

 

New Qualifiers
 

Spring Sectionals

  • Molly Traina - 100 fly, 100 back

  • Bennett Geitz - 1000 free, 200 IM 

  • Henry Geitz - 200 free

  • Ethan Lin - 200 breast

  • Maya Surugiu - 100 breast

  • Amaris Rus - 200 fly

  • Quinn Anderson - 100 free

  • Anton Mazepa - 1000 free

 

Summer Sectionals

  • Daniel Xia - 100 free, 200 free

  • Logan Downing - 200 breast

  • Maya Surugiu - 200 breast

  • Oleg Arlouski - 1000 free

  • Henry Geitz - 500 free, 1000 free, 1650 free, 400 IM

 

Winter Junior Nationals

  • Jaiden Sreenivasan - 200 back