SSCD Winter Open & Wave Distance Meet Recaps

We had a strong showing last weekend at the Wave Distance Meet on Friday followed by the SSCD Winter Open on Saturday/Sunday. Many first-time milers and 500 freestylers raced on Friday night, then journeyed up to Kamiak for the next two days of fast swimming on short rest. As a bonus, the milers’ 1000 splits were all official times, adding more achievements. It was great to see some of the younger kids get a chance to swim the 500 Free. Anton Mazepa led the way for the team, picking up his Sectionals cut in the 1650 as well as a new AAA time.

Age Group 1

The AG1 kids had a great weekend of swimming with lots of best times, new motivational cuts, and some new qualifying times. The sessions ran quick, but the kids pushed hard and swam well despite the short time between swims. It was great to see their hard work at practice paying off in the pool. Great work to the whole group. Stand Out Swims of the Meet:

• Quinn Braun had a great meet with a standout swim in the 50 Breast where she crushed her turn and pull out for a B time in the event.
• Ella Gao had a great weekend of swimming with some big time drops. Her standout was her 9-second drop in her 100 Back where she kept her kick strong throughout and attacked her underwaters.
• Alex Hor dominated the weekend with some great swims. But his big-time swim has to be his 50-second drop in the 100 IM. He was out strong and attacked each 25 as a sprint for a great swim and a huge time drop.
• Otis Lloyd had a great weekend with some solid swims throughout the weekend. His standout swim was his 2.5-second drop in his 100 Back where he did a great job keeping his kickouts off his turn and kept his feet up on his kick.
• Naomi Zhao had a fast weekend of swimming. Her standout swim was her 26-second drop in the 100 Back. She had some great turns and a strong consistent kick throughout the swim.
• Hayley Chou completed her first 500 Free and crushed it with a great swim and a solid first attempt at the event.
• Elaina Jiang also swam her first 500 free and did an amazing job, hitting an A time at her first attempt at the event.
• Haim Jung had a great 500, dropping 41 seconds from his last time swimming the event!!!
• Beatrix Pressman completed her very first 500 Free as well. She crushed it with a great first swim.
• Kenshin Yokoyama had a great 500 Free and took off 7 seconds off his previous time swimming it.

Age Group 2

We trained right through this meet, which was a good challenge for the group. After an excellent Friday night at the distance meet, we had a bit of a rough Saturday. It was a good learning experience for the athletes, and they came back Sunday with their game faces on and churned out a slew of outstanding swims. Way to focus and learn how to bounce back, and congrats to all our first-time 500 Free, 400 IM, and 200 Fly swimmers! Stand Out Swims of the Meet:

• Norah Braun was our only swimmer doing the 1650 Free, and she held a pace that was 1 second per 50 faster than we had practiced, resulting in a B time in both the 1000 and 1650!
• Maja Wang had one of her best meets since moving up last fall, including a 46-second drop in her 500 Free. Her standout swim, however, was her 100 Fly, where she went out fast and held her stroke technique together for all four lengths, resulting in a 20-second drop!
• Melanie King and Clara Stevenson both swam their first-ever 500 Free and both held outstanding pacing, great streamlines off their flip turns, and building into their finishes. They each picked up BB cuts, with Clara breaking 7:00!
• Alex Wang and Anna Ventura do not consider themselves breaststrokers yet they have put as much effort into improving their technique and eliminating resistance as they have their favorite strokes. The result was a huge swim for both, with Alex dropping 1.5 seconds in his 50 Breast for a new A time and Anna dropping 18.6 seconds in her 200 Breast for a new BB time!

Senior Prep

The SR Prep kids crushed the meet with some great swimming. The kids have been training hard heading into the meet weekend, and we used this weekend as a chance to race and race tired. The quick sessions helped to highlight some of that tiredness, but the kids responded well and worked hard and still were able to have some great swims over the weekend. Great Job to the group. Stand Out Swims of the Meet:

• Sasha Arlouski a great weekend with a standout 100 IM where he dropped 5 seconds with some great turns and some strong underwaters throughout the swim.
• Lucy Broyles had a strong weekend of swimming with a standout 100 IM where she shaved off a second off her best time. She had consistent turns and strong underwaters and really crushed her second half with a strong breast and free leg.
• Joseph Foster had a great weekend going best times throughout the weekend. His standout swim was his 2.5-second drop in the 100 Breast where his pull outs were strong throughout the swim and his kick drove him home through the last 25.
• Karina Maksyutov had a great weekend of swimming. Her standout swim came in the 100 Fly where those Flyday Friday practices paid off with a great swim and a very strong finish on the final 25.
• Vedah Tuladhar had a tremendous 200 Breast, dropping more than 2 seconds. She had some strong pull outs off each wall and kept her tempo strong for a great finish to the swim.
• Aaron Chakraborty completed his first-ever 1650 Free and did an amazing job at it!!!
• Dami Jung completed her first 1650 Free and did an awesome swim with a great time.
• Lainey Meyer swam her very first 1650 Free and did an awesome job, showing her distance skills and signing herself up for a lot more distance swims in the future.
• Isshin Yokoyama was also a first-time 1650 Free swimmer. He did an awesome job and put together a great time.
• Abby Gray crushed her 500 Free with a 36-second drop. She had a great swim and kept her stroke consistent and strong throughout for a great swim.

Senior 1

Senior 1 had 24 swimmers suit up and throw down at the meet as well as 4 swimmers take on the 1650 Free at the distance meet. Both meets went incredibly well for the group. Despite not resting much for the meet and using it mostly for training purposes we still had tons of best times and many other swims that were very good. The group did an excellent job executing some of the little things that we have been working on. It was a blast to see them swim so well at this point in the season. Next up we will head to Snohomish for the SRST Last Chance Qualifier. I am excited to see what this group accomplishes as the season progresses. Highlights:

• Dario Giuliani only swam one day of the meet and made the most out of his swims. He has been getting faster and faster at the sprint events, and he was excited to show off his speed at the meet. He turned in a blazing fast 100 Free, getting out to a great start and finishing well down the stretch, giving him a solid half-second drop and putting him under :57 for the first time.
• Sophia Gorveatt enjoys training for the longer races such as the 500 Free and 200 Fly and takes them on any chance she gets. With all her distance training she doesn’t like to swim the 1650 free quite as often, but when the mood strikes her she can dial in and crush the race. She did just that at the Distance Meet. She dove in and got off to a great start then was able to hold steady at her pace throughout the entire race and not falling off at any point. For her efforts she was rewarded with a huge 23-second drop in the event.
• Kirill Kadach was another swimmer who only competed on Sunday and turned in some stellar swims. He got off to a hot start and was able to parlay that into three very good swims for himself. He has been working on all his strokes as well as his endurance and it showed in his 200 IM where he dropped 6.5 seconds. He got off to a great start showing good speed in his fly and back, then executed an improved breast leg before closing strong.
• Edi Vasilescu trains big all the time. At practice when I need someone to swim up an interval, I ask him if he is feeling tough and his response is always yes. With this attitude he has been able to take on more and more challenging intervals, this intensity in training has really shown through in his racing. He got off to a blistering start in the 1650 free, keeping his tempo up the entire race he settled into his pace and was basically automatic on his way to a monster 6 minute drop.
• Bella Vasilescu is willing to take on any set at practice. She can hang with the sprint group, stay tough with the middle distance group, and go the distance with the distance squad. She is also not afraid to take on any race, often swimming the longer and tougher events at meets. This meet was no different as she stepped up and took on some tough events. She put her game face on and tore it up in the 400 IM. Fly being her best stroke got her off to a good start, she showed improved backstroke tempo, utilized her pullouts well, and used her endurance training to come home like a rocket all the way to a 17-second drop.

Senior Epic

Senior Epic had a very solid weekend of swimming! There were many fast swims including some new personal best times in both meets! The group looked strong, and they raced as it was expected considering the phase we are in our training program. I am excited to see what we can accomplish as the season progresses and they race rested in March. Here are some highlights from our group:

• Anton Mazepa crushed his 1650 Free time in the Distance meet on Friday dropping 28 seconds, getting a AAA Time and a Summer Sectionals cut in the short course pool. Then during the weekend, he swam another three personal best times and earned an AA Time in the 100 Free.
• Amaris Rus was feeling good and swam three best times over the weekend. His outstanding swims were the 200 and 500 Free where he was able to manage his speed and finish strong to get a personal best in both races.
• Caroline Bryant had the opportunity to swim some off events, and she took advantage of it dropping 2 seconds in the 200 Back. In the race, she paced herself well, felt strong, and was happy with her performance at the end.
• Daniel Xia swam only one day at the meet due to the High School KingCo Meet the day before. He had great swims going best times in both meets. At the SSCD meet he had a strong 100 Fly where he was able to go out fast and hold his speed until the end dropping 1.34.
• Anderson Quinn had a solid meet and swam very close to his times in many events. His outstanding swim was the 100 Fly where he kept good underwater dolphin kicks and rhythm and dropped almost a full second from his previous time

New US Motivational Times

 AAA 

• Deniz Cankaya – 1650 Free
• Sophia Gorveatt – 1000 & 1650 Free
• Olivia Henaire – 1000 Free
• Lingyi Li – 200 IM
• Anton Mazepa – 1650 Free
• Alex Wang – 200 IM

 AA 

• Deniz Cankaya – 1000 Free
• Ellen Feng – 100 Breast
• Vivian Hu – 100 IM
• Yihan Li – 100 IM, 50 Free
• Olivia Liu – 100 IM
• Anton Mazepa – 100 Free
• Han Sun – 50 & 100 Back
• Edi Vasilescu – 1000 & 1650 Free
• Alex Wang – 500 Free, 50 Fly
• Natalie Whitbeck – 50 Back
• Piper Wiegand – 1000 Free
• Daniel Xia – 100 Fly
• Isshin Yokoyama – 50 & 100 Back, 100 Fly

 A 

• Quinn Anderson – 100 Fly
• Alex Arlouski – 100 Free, 100 IM, 50 Back
• Lucy Broyles – 100 Breast, 100 IM
• Kamilla Bugaitsova – 1000 Free
• Roman Byelykh – 1000 Free
• Caden Gray – 100 Breast
• Fiona Herman – 100 Back
• Elaina Jiang – 500 Free, 100 Breast, 100 Fly
• Yihan Li – 200 IM, 50 Fly
• Jonathan Liu – 100 Free
• Anton Mazepa – 50 Free
• Amelia Pletosu – 1000 Free
• Clara Stevenson – 100 Free, 200 IM
• Han Sun – 100 Free
• Max Sun – 50 Free
• Vedah Tuladhar – 100 Back
• Natalie Whitbeck – 100 Back
• Finley Wiegand – 500 Free
• Isshin Yokoyama – 1000 & 1650 Free
• Ally Yuan – 200 Back, 50 Free

 BB 

• Gahl Ami ad – 100 Free
• Bianca Benson – 400 IM
• Roman Byelykh – 100 Back
• Aaron Chakraborty – 1000 & 1650 Free
• Leo Chen – 400 IM, 50 Back
• Henry Cheng – 100 Fly, 100 Free
• Hayley Chou – 500 Free
• Braxton Davis – 50 Breast, 50 Free
• Berit Dunn – 100 Back
• Rihit Gandhi – 100 IM, 200 Breast
• Ella Gao – 100 Fly
• Abby Gray – 500 Free
• Caden Gray – 500 Free
• Nolan Gu – 50 Back
• Nora Herman – 1000 Free
• Alexander Hor – 100 IM, 100 Breast
• Zhizhi Ji – 100 Back, 100 IM, 50 Breast
• Dami Jung – 1000 & 1650 free
• Haim Jung – 500 Free, 100 Fly
• Eva Kalicinski – 50 Free
• Arvin Kandiah – 100 Free, 100 IM, 50 Back
• Melanie King – 500 Free
• Yihan Li – 100 Fly
• Jonathan Liu – 100 Fly
• Yuna Ma – 100 Back
• Anton Mazepa – 200 Breast
• Lainey Meyer – 1000 & 1650 Free
• Melissa Nguyen – 50 Back, 50 Breast
• Beatrix Pressman – 500 Free
• Anika Razdan – 500 Free
• Leo Steijn – 100 IM, 50 Back, 500 Free
• Clara Stevenson – 500 Free
• George Ursulenko – 100 Free
• Edi Vasilescu – 200 & 400 IM
• Isabella Vasilescu – 1000 & 1650 Free, 100 Back
• Anna Ventura – 100 IM, 200 Breast, 500 Free
• Owen Wilson – 100 Free
• Arjun Yadav – 50 & 100 Back
• Alex Yang – 50 Back
• Ally Yuan – 100 Breast
• Bella Zhang – 100 Breast, 50 Back
• Grace Zhang – 500 Free

 B 

• Aman Bhatt – 100 & 500 Free, 100 IM
• Adele Bokach – 200 IM
• Norah Braun – 200, 500, 1000 & 1650 Free; 200 IM
• Quinn Braun – 50 Breast
• Katelyn Chen – 500 Free
• Logan Downing – 200 Back
• Tyler Fernandez – 100 Breast
• Rihit Gandhi – 100 Fly
• Alexander Hor – 100 Fly
• Olivia Horng – 200 & 500 Free
• Eva Kalicinski – 500 Free
• Anika Lichtenberg – 200 Back, 50 Free
• Jonathan Liu – 200 Breast
• Ilia Maksimchuk – 100 Fly
• Karina Maksyutov – 100 Back
• Rinat Maksyutov – 200 Fly, 50 Breast
• Melissa Nguyen – 100 Free
• Benji Ovendale – 500 Free
• Siena Stahlkopf – 400 IM, 50 Back
• Dan Sun – 200 Back
• Margaret Ursulenko – 100 Back
• Anna Ventura – 200 Back
• Maja Wang – 200 IM
• Owen Wilson – 200 Back
• Kyra Yuan – 100 Free

WAVE ON 3!!