Wave Wins Firecracker for 4th Year in a Row!

Jay Pearson

Wave Wins Firecracker for 4th Year in a Row!

Wave sent over 100 swimmers to Missoula, our highest number yet, and won both the Women’s and Men’s titles. Despite cold morning weather and a lightning storm on Friday, Wave swimmers triumphed to become Champions again. The team was led by Vivian Hu, who was a perfect 6/6 in 1st place finishes to score 120 points for Wave! A huge shout out also to our 10&U Medley Relays, who scored 174 points and included a 1-2-6 finish for the girls and a 1-3 finish for the boys! Here are highlights from each group and their standout performances.

Black Group

Black Group just had four swimmers competing at this meet and for three of them it was their first time swimming or competing in a long course pool, which is a huge challenge. Huge props to our families for traveling that way and giving their swimmers an awesome team experience!

  • Aadyant Agrawal completed five races successfully with 5th place finish in the 50 Back and a 3rd in the 50 Fly. He has been doing some really good work at practice with his butterfly so we are happy to see a strong meet result for him in this stroke.
  • Mo Chen came to compete and finished first in all five of his races, earning a ton of points for the team. He practices and competes hard and that pays off. He also earned two B times in his first long course meet in the 50 Back and 100 Free.
  • Amelia Horng is one of our best listeners at practice, and she just keeps getting better. She finished this meet with six successful swims and a couple of big time drops in her freestyle races.
  • Hudson Porter finished the most races successfully with seven and finished between second and fourth in all of them, earning a ton of points for the team. He does an awesome job at practices so we are glad to see that pay off for him at the meets

White Group

White Group only sent 8 swimmers to Montana, but they shined brightly, as their work and focus in practice showed up big! Well done, White Group!

  • Nuo Chen proved the theory that lightning does strike twice in the same place! As he was about to get on the blocks for the 200 IM, lightning came crashing down and the pool was evacuated. His next race was the 50 Back. This time, the moment he left the blocks, lightning came crashing down and the facility was evacuated. His standout race was the 100 Back where he swam like lightning and dropped more than 11 seconds and had a perfect 8/8 meet.
  • Jeremy Lyu. The theory of lighting striking twice became a stronger theory when he stepped up for White B group and made two new B times in his first-ever long course. He showed no fear and that he had a spark of his own. His standout race was the 100 Breast where he not only earned a B time, but scored points for Wave with his 14th place finish.
  • Madeline Godbout earned the Lighting Improvement award for dropping 41.53 seconds. She showed how much stronger she has become just since the start of April. I can't wait to see more at the next meet.
  • Agustya Agrawal showed what focus can do. He overcame two DQs and learned how to do legal breaststroke kick in 30 minutes. He has tried to dive without his goggles falling off about a hundred times this season. But his motivation at the meet was unstoppable and he learned to dive with goggles in one dive and is still doing it correctly in practice. This proves nothing can equal the focus of competition. Congratulations on getting a BB in the 50 Fly, Agustya!
  • Max Schrepfer proved he is advancing rapidly by achieving six new time standards including a BB in the 50 Fly. He raced with everything he had just like he trains. Keep up the great work.

Purple Group

Our swimmers from Purple group did great at representing our team during the Montana meet. They handled the difficult weather excellently and were ready to swim fast and hard no matter what was thrown in their way. The motto for the weekend was to ‘control what you can’ and they did just that with all the impressive races and tons of fun had. Great job Purple!

A Group

  • Tvesa Bansal had an astounding meet. She dropped an insane amount of time while swimming smart and fast. Her standout swim was her 50 Free where she dropped more than 5 seconds and earned her first long course B time!
  • Alex Korolis is excellent at pushing himself during practice and meets. This hard work paid off meet weekend when he earned two new B times in his 50 Fly and Free. There was an impressive improvement especially with his 50 Fly when he focused on less breath and quick tempo to get a new best time.
  • Hannah Zhao showed excellent determination and grit during all her races, especially in her 200 Fly. With the added difficulty and frustration of lightning delays, she rolled with the punches and held great technique throughout an extra difficult race.
  • Priyadarshi Lahiri dropped in almost every event. His most impressive race was not due to time drop (even though he still did) but due to impressive racing strategy. During his last race of the meet—the 200 Back—he was able to hold on to his speed and earn consistent splits and keep the intensity up to finish the race strong.

B Group

  • Thomas Godbout crushed the meet with tons of time drops and lots of technical improvements. He’s been working on getting his head in the right place in butterfly, which he was able to implement during both his 50 and 100 Fly. Great work, Thomas!
  • Zoey Harmetz did great at all the race prep for each race. She consistently stayed warm, warmed up, and was excellent at checking in/out with coaches. Her standout race was her 200 Free where she dropped more than 11 seconds, getting her under the 4:00 mark!
  • Roohi Indurkar broke a few minute marks this meet getting under 2:00 in her 100 Back and breaking the 1:00 mark for her 50 Fly dropping 9 seconds! She did great partnering up with Zoey for all of their meet prep routines earning big time drops and great results!
  • Insha Shoaib had a ton of new races and new experiences with swimming her first long course meet with Wave. She always brings a ton of energy and fun to each race making it very exciting to watch. Her standout swim was her 50 Free where she broke the :40 mark and gained the experience of racing faster swimmers.

High School

We didn’t have a ton of swimmers at this meet, but we had a ton of quality swims despite all the rough weather that rolled in.

  • Jay Song raced his first long course meet and he went out with a bang! He got his first A long course time in his 100 Breast. His second-best swim of the meet was his 200 Breast for a BB time. He has been working so hard to get his times down in his breast by fixing his walls, his pullouts, and strokes.
  • Miranda Range has been working so hard to improve her freestyle. She had a solid time drop in her 200 Free by -3.69! She had a great meet dropping time in 6/9 events.
  • Kumail Mukadam had a great swim in his 100 Free. He had a solid time drop that set him up for some faster races in the future at more qualifying meets.

Age Group 1

The Age Group 1 athletes braved the cold, the rain, and the altitude to swim this past weekend in the Missoula Meet and knocked it out of the park. They dealt with some adversity with Friday events being cancelled, and having extra events added to their day on Saturday and Sunday. It was awesome to see the kids stay adaptable, work hard, and crush some fast times. Great job to the group!

  • Akira Andhare had a great weekend of swimming with a fantastic 100 Fly where she dropped 7 seconds with a consistent kick throughout the whole event.
  • Avni Garg had a strong meet with a lot of great swims. Her standout swim was her 50 Fly where she pushed her tempo and had a great start for a 1+ second drop.
  • Jennifer Ji had a great meet with some awesome time drops. Her standout swim was her 100 Free where she kept her kick aggressive the whole swim and dropped just shy of a full second.
  • Yeim Jung crushed the weekend with amazing times and amazing swims. His standout swim was his 100 Fly where he kept his length in his arms and dropped more than 5 seconds.
  • Otis Lloyd came to Montana with rockets attached to his legs and crushed the weekend. He dominated his 200 Free with a 17-second drop where he kept his kick going hard the whole swim.

Age Group 2

Seventeen members of AG2 flew out to Missoula where we saw our hard work and attention to detail during workout really pay off with several new cuts!

  • Alex Wang scored the second most points for Wave with 114, which included four wins and two second places. His standout swim was definitely his 100 Fly, where he dropped 11.9 seconds to move up several places and win the event with his blistering speed!
  • Lingyi Li finaled four times, including a dominating performance in her 50 Free, which she won as an 11-yr-old. Her standout swim was her 100 Breast in finals. She squeaked into finals following a 1.7-second drop, then took her first 50 out faster than prelims and smoked her second 50, dropping nearly 5 seconds from her prelims time to move all the way up to 3rd!
  • Eva Kalicinski finaled three times, including her first-ever 200m Back, and had two huge time drops in her 100 Back and 100 Free. Her standout swim was her 100m Fly, which she raced for the first time in prelims, then returned for finals and pulled out an outstanding final 25 meters to move up a place and drop more time.
  • Kenshin Yokoyama made Top 4 in every single race, finishing 2nd three times. His standout swim was his 200 IM, where he showed everyone how hard he works in practice (100% attendance in June!!) and used his outstanding skill in all four strokes to drop nearly 5 seconds.
  • Natalie Whitbeck finaled once and had three first-time events: 200 Back, 200 Breast, and 200 Fly. The last one was her standout swim, a gutsy performance where she held on for an amazing 3rd place finish as an 11-yr-old.

Senior Prep

Our group only had 10 athletes attend, but they did a great job of remaining focused and pushing themselves to absolutely crush the weekend. We had several best times and tons of great swimming. Great work to the Group!!!

  • Isshin Yokoyama had a great weekend with some excellent swims throughout the weekend. His standout swim was his 13-second drop in the 400 Free where he put that endurance we have been working on to good use and went out fast and aggressive, holding his pace well through the entire swim.
  • Leo Steijn had an excellent weekend with some great swims. His standout was his 200 IM where all four strokes showed the improvements we’ve been working on, and he knocked off 19 seconds.
  • Jonathan Liu had a great meet with several fast and strong swims. His standout was his 400 Free where he shaved off 6 seconds by keeping his stroke long and keeping the intensity up through the middle 200.
  • Dami Jung had a great weekend of swimming with some strong times throughout the weekend. Her standout swim was her 200 Free where she took off 3 seconds off her best time by working those underwater kicks and racing home the last 50 strong.
  • Joseph Foster had a fantastic weekend of swimming and dropped time in a lot of events. His standout swim was also his 400 Free where he was out aggressively and kept his stroke strong to drop just shy of 11 seconds.

Senior 1

Senior 1 had 16 swimmers brave the elements at the meet. It was a wild, wet, and cold weekend filled with lots of fun and a bunch of fast swimming. Everyone showed great tenacity stepping up to race under less-than-ideal conditions. For their efforts they were rewarded with best times. Two swimmers picked up their first Senior Zones cut and they couldn’t have come in more opposite races as Roman Byelykh got his in the 1500 and Piper Wiegand got hers in the 50 Free. It was a lot of fun to watch the swimmers compete so well. I am proud of everyone who went and am looking forward to some more fast swimming at the Seattle Senior Open.

  • Dario Giuliani did a great job racing, earning himself three best times throughout the weekend. He’s been working hard to improve in the longer races. His training paid off as two of his best times were in 200s. He turned in a phenomenal swim in the 200 Breast. He swam the race very smart using long strokes then turned on the jets to come home and earn himself a huge 5-second drop.
  • Caden Gray puts his all into practice every single day. He’s always happy to work hard at practice and his racing in Montana really showed that. He had several best times—some of them massive drops—and qualified for finals in several races just the first year competing in the 13&Over category. He cemented what I’ve suspected for a while: he is a very strong breaststroke swimmer. He had fantastic showings in both the 100 and 200. In the 100, he turned in a massive 23-second drop to qualify for the B final, then turned around and dropped 2 more seconds in finals.
  • Ella Tulanon turned in strong performances in all her races. She mostly focuses on the longer races but was excited to get a shot at some of the shorter events and show off her speed. She showed major improvement in the breaststroke events, going best times in both races. She had an awesome 100, using great tempo and a strong kick to propel her to a full second drop.
  • Edi Vasilescu has been working incredibly hard to improve all his races across the board. He demonstrated that by achieving best times in several races across different distances and strokes. The best example of this work was in his 200 IM. He was able to get out to a fantastic start crushing the fly and back legs, he then used his improved breast and great closing speed in free to give himself a big 9-second drop.
  • Bella Vasilescu took on a very tough schedule of events and did a wonderful job stepping up and swimming well in all her races. She has been finding her stride in the backstroke events recently. That coupled with her distance training resulted in her turning in a wonderful 200 Back. She swam the strategy perfectly using a steady tempo the first 100 and going to the legs the second 100, giving her a 4-second drop and getting under 3:00 for the first time.

Senior Epic

Senior Epic had great swims all weekend long at the meet. There were lots of fast swims, best times, and new cuts achieved for our group. A special mention to Amaris Rus for getting his first Summer Sectionals cut in the 200 Fly!!

  • Logan Downing went four best times and crushed his breaststroke events. His outstanding swim was the 100 Breast where he dropped 0.72 and got even closer to the Futures cut. He dropped 1 second in this event two weeks ago and continues to improve at a great rate! He is now only 0.12 off the Futures cut!
  • Molly Traina came strong to the meet and had many solid swims, including a fantastic 11-second drop in the 400 Free. She has been challenging herself and pushing herself in the aerobic freestyle sets and it showed at the meet.
  • Oleg Arlouski was feeling strong and dominated the butterfly events winning the 200 Fly and going a best time in the 100 Fly by dropping half a second and getting very close to break the 1:00 barrier.
  • Quinn Anderson had an excellent meet and went five best times. His freestyle has been looking pretty good and besides going a new lifetime best in the 100 Free, he also won the event and went under :56 for the first time!
  • Peter Hansen has been focusing more on his breaststroke for the long course season and had solid time drops in the 200 Breast in both prelims and finals. At the end of the day, he celebrated a huge 9-second drop in total.

New US Motivational Times

 AA 

  • Quinn Anderson – 50 Free
  • Deniz Cankaya – 200 IM
  • Addy Clarke – 50 Free
  • Lingyi Li – 100 Free
  • Amaris Rus – 200 Fly
  • Maya Surugiu – 100 Breast
  • Alex Wang – 100 Fly
  • 10&U Girls 200 Medley Relay – Vivian Hu, Elaina Jiang, Blakely Hansen, Jennifer Ji

 A 

  • Ahana Bhattacharya – 200 Back
  • Kamilla Bugaitsova – 400 Free
  • Roman Byelykh – 200 Back
  • Joseph Foster – 50 & 200 Free, 200 IM
  • Caden Gray – 100 Breast
  • Elaina Jiang – 200 IM
  • Lingyi Li – 200 Back
  • Ethan Lin – 200 IM
  • Jay Song – 100 Breast
  • Molly Traina – 400 Free
  • Edi Vasilescu – 100, 200 & 400 Free
  • Aditeya Verma – 100 Free
  • Finley Wiegand – 100 Free
  • 10&U Boys 200 Medley Relay – Alex Wang, Steven Wang, Kenshin Yokoyama, Gabe Steijn

 BB 

  • Agastya Agrawal – 50 Fly
  • Akira Andhare – 200 IM
  • Sasha Arlouski – 50 & 100 Free
  • Addy Clarke – 50 & 100 Breast, 200 IM, 200 Back
  • Berit Dunn – 100 Fly, 100 & 200 Free
  • Dario Giuliani – 100 Free
  • Caden Gray – 100 & 200 Breast, 200 IM, 200 Free
  • Jennifer Ji – 50 Breast
  • Yeim Jung – 100 Breast, 50 Back
  • Eva Kalicinski – 100 & 200 Back, 100 Free
  • Lingyi Li – 100 Breast, 200 IM
  • Jonathan Liu – 200 Back
  • Lainey Meyer – 200 Back, 200 Free
  • Amelia Pletosu – 200 Back
  • Beatrix Pressman – 200 IM
  • Max Schrepfer – 50 Fly
  • Jay Song – 200 Breast
  • Leo Steijn – 200 IM
  • Kennedy Tremblay – 100 Fly, 200 IM
  • Finley Wiegand – 50 Fly
  • Piper Wiegand – 200 Fly
  • 10&U Girls 200 Medley Relay – Avani Yadav, Avni Garg, Akira Andhare, Asmi Sarkar

 B 

  • Apolline Abram-Profeta – 50 Free
  • Agastya Agrawal – 100 Free, 200 IM
  • Gahl Ami ad – 200 Free
  • Sasha Arlouski – 100 Fly
  • Oleg Arlouski – 200 Breast
  • Mira Arora – 200 Breast
  • Norah Braun – 200 Back, 400 Free
  • Mo Chen – 100 Free, 50 Back
  • Hayley Chou – 200 Free
  • Raya Hari – 50 Breast
  • Olivia Horng – 200 Back, 200 Free, 200 IM
  • Yeim Jung – 100 Fly
  • Eva Kalicinski – 100 Fly
  • Alex Korolis – 50 Fly, 50 Free
  • Lingyi Li – 200 Breast
  • Otis Lloyd – 50 Free
  • Ostap Lytvynovskyi – 200 IM
  • Jeremy Lyu – 50 & 100 Breast
  • Finley Meier – 100 Back, 100 Fly
  • Kumail Mukadam – 50 Free
  • Hanna Nagpal – 100 Breast
  • Miranda Range – 200 Free
  • Asmi Sarkar – 100 Fly
  • Max Schrepfer – 50, 100 & 200 Free; 200 IM; 50 Breast
  • Jay Song – 200 IM, 50 Free
  • Gabe Steijn – 50 Fly
  • Leo Steijn – 100 Fly
  • Clara Stevenson – 200 Back, 200 Breast
  • Evelyn Wang – 100 Back, 50 & 100 Breast
  • Steven Wang – 200 Free
  • Natalie Whitbeck – 100 Fly, 200 Back, 200 Breast
  • Hannah Zhao – 50 Free
  • 10&U Boys 200 Medley Relay – Mo Chen, Ostap Lytvynovskyi, Max Schrepfer, Yeim Jung

WAVE ON 3!!