Wave Seniors Swim Red Hot at the 104th Senior Seattle Open!

Jay Pearson

Wave Seniors Swim Red Hot at the Seattle Open!

Our older swimmers raced for the second consecutive weekend, this time at Colman Pool for the 104th Senior Seattle Open. The team achieved numerous personal bests and new qualifying times, reflecting their hard work this season. The coaches are super proud of their strong performances and look forward to seeing their results at the upcoming taper meets. Great Job to the whole team as they go and get ready for the final push of training heading into Champs!!!

High School

This meet was the last chance qualifier for Champs, and we came out with four more qualifiers!! They all threw down and came to race! Everyone did so well at this meet, and were all happy with how well they did despite the cold weather two of the days.

  • Neil Rawal knew this was his last chance to qualify for Champs and he needed one more chance to try and qualify for Zones. He wanted the 50 Breast cut so badly, holding on to the very last meter, racing as hard as possible. Hands down his best event of the entire weekend. He dropped -1.07 in order to get that cut.
  • Kyra Yuan qualified for two Champs cuts: 50 Breast and 100 Breast. She destroyed the 13-14 qualifying time for her 50 and also picked up the Senior qualifying time. She was so happy to see how well she has swam this weekend. She dropped a total of -7.33 in her 50!!!
  • Alex Belkin once again has succeeded by dropping time in every event. He swam two AA times in his 50 and 100 Free and one A time in his 100 Fly. He wanted those cuts badly. After his 100 Free, he climbed out and could barely walk from putting his all into his event. He was very happy with his time.

Senior Prep

The Prep kids put on their big kid suits and caps and squared up against some of the top high school swimmers in the LSC and they came in unphased and ready to crush it. The group had some amazing swims over the weekend and dropped tons of time as a group. It was awesome to see where the group is as we head into Champs Season and I can’t wait to see the kids crush it at their respective Champs Meets. Shout Out Swims of the Meet:

  • Sasha Arlouski had some strong swims over the weekend with some good drops, with his standout being his first Champs cut for this summer with the 50 Fly, where he had some strong tempo, and kept his arms working together for a 3-second drop and the cut.
  • Anika Razdan had several really strong swims. Her standout swim was her 50 Fly where she crushed with a very strong back half to pick up her first 13&O Champs cut of the season and a 2-second drop.
  • Olivia Henaire racked up some serious yardage over the weekend swimming in every distance event and dropping time in all four. She crushed each one, going out aggressively and confidently and trusting her hard training to help her finish the races.
  • George Ursulenko only had one swim over the weekend as one of the youngest kids at the meet. He totally crushed it with a half-second drop in his 50 Breast. He kept his tempo quick on the insweep and strong into the glide for a great swim and time.
  • Nika Svirydovich had a great weekend of swimming with some great times and drops over the weekend. Her standout swim was her 50 Fly where she kept her tempo as a sprint through the back half of the race for a great 2-second drop.

Senior 1

Senior 1 had 23 swimmers compete at the meet. It was an absolute blast of a weekend. I enjoyed watching the swimmers step up and really put their all into every race they swam. We had a ton of best times and achieved some new cuts. This group has put in a tremendous amount of hard work this season and it was fantastic to see them compete so well. I am incredibly proud of each of the swimmers and am looking forward to what they can do at our upcoming taper meets. Highlights:

  • Phoebe Anderson has been putting in serious work at practice and it really showed through in her racing. She was able to go four new best times, some of them from just the week prior. She had a huge swim in the 200 Back. She executed the race strategy very well, especially using her legs in the back half to really help drive her speed. For her efforts she was rewarded with a solid 5-second drop and broke the 3:00 barrier for the first time.
  • Roman Byelykh took on a brutal schedule of events. His training prepared him to be ready to swim all the distance events in a meet, something he will likely have to do more in the future. He put up solid times in every swims, saving the most excitement for the final event of the meet, the 1500 Free. He was able to get himself into a great rhythm, finding the pace early then closing the final 200 well to give him a 17-second drop and putting him under 18:00 for the first time.
  • Nora Herman was another brave swimmer who took on the distance challenge. She did an excellent job racing and maintaining her speed as the distances increased. She also saved the best for last as she absolutely crushed the 1500. She got off to a great start then was able to hold her pace through the middle and turn it on the final 400 to give herself a huge drop and just missed going under 20:00.
  • Gabe Traina has been working hard to return after being sidelined for the first part of the season. He has been doing a good job finding his speed and this meet really showed that he’s returning to form. He decided to be brave and took on the 800 Free for the first time. He got into a great race and pushed himself through the entire swim. It was fantastic to watch him race so hard for so long and his efforts resulted in a Champs cut in the event and he was just off the Senior Zones cut.
  • Kennedy Tremblay has parlayed her early season distance training into some amazing butterfly swims. Her high aerobic endurance has allowed her to hold on well during the butterfly sprint events. She had an amazing swim in the 100 Fly, dropping for a second time in as many weeks. She got off to a white-hot start blazing through the first 50 then used her endurance to keep her tempo up and finish the race incredibly well.

Senior Epic

Senior Epic had another strong weekend of fast swims and best times at the meet and I’m excited to see what else our group will be able to do once we rest for Champs in the upcoming weeks. A special shout-out to Sophia Gorveatt for getting a Spring Sectionals cut in the 400 Free and to Cora for making the Senior Zones cut in the 100 Free. Enjoy some highlights from our group:

  • Cora Ledrick was determined to get a Senior Zones cut and after missing it by just a little in the 50 Free, she went for it again the next day and swam her fastest 100 Free ever, getting her cut and qualifying for Zones.
  • Amaris Rus dominated the butterfly events and went personal best times in both 100 and 200 Fly. In the 200, he took the race out fast with an aggressive strategy and was able to hold his stroke together until the end, dropping another 1.32 seconds from the time he just did a week ago in Missoula.
  • Molly Traina has been working on her butterfly technique and dropped time in all three fly events. Her outstanding swim was the 100 Fly where she went out fast and came back strong finishing with a solid 1.72-second drop and a new AA Time.
  • Anton Mazepa had solid freestyle events all weekend long and managed to swim a best time in his 400 Free pushing the first 100 and staying strong the entire race. He was happy to drop 7.29 seconds from his previous time.
  • Bradley Barkans was focused on his 200 Back at this meet and pushed himself to swim his fastest race where he went a personal best time by dropping 1.28 seconds and earning an A Time.

New US Motivational Times

 AAA 

  • Roman Byelykh – 1500 Free
  • Ellen Feng – 100 Fly
  • Sophia Gorveatt – 800 Free

 AA 

  • Alex Belkin – 50 & 100 Free
  • Kamilla Bugaitsova – 400 Free
  • Roman Byelykh – 800 Free
  • Deniz Cankaya – 200 Back
  • Lena Duryee – 100 Free
  • Ellen Feng – 100 Back, 200 Fly
  • Olivia Henaire – 400 & 800 Free
  • Fiona Herman – 400 Free
  • Nora Herman – 400, 800 & 1500 Free
  • Jonathan Liu – 50 Fly
  • Olivia Liu – 50 Fly, 200 Breast
  • Max Smagley – 50 Free
  • Molly Traina – 100 Fly, 200 Free
  • Piper Wiegand – 200 & 800 Free

 A 

  • Quinn Anderson – 200 Free
  • Bradley Barkans – 200 Back
  • Alex Belkin – 100 Fly
  • Kamilla Bugaitsova – 800 Free
  • Roman Byelykh –50 Free
  • Daniel Chen – 50 & 100 Free
  • Leo Chen – 50 Fly
  • Logan Downing – 100 Fly
  • Bennett Geitz – 100 Breast, 200 Back
  • Caden Gray – 100 Free, 200 IM
  • Fiona Herman – 50 Fly
  • Nora Herman – 100 Free
  • Maria Kokhan – 200 IM
  • Cora Ledrick – 800 Free
  • Max Smagley – 100 Free
  • Gabe Traina – 800 Free
  • Molly Traina – 200 Fly
  • Lasya Viswanadham – 100 Breast
  • Lina Wu – 100 Free
  • Ally Yuan – 200 Back

 BB 

  • Gahl Ami ad – 100 & 400 Free
  • Sasha Arlouski – 100 Fly
  • Bradley Barkans – 400 IM
  • Alex Belkin – 200 Free
  • Arya Bhatt – 100 Free
  • Daniel Chen – 100 & 200 Back
  • Feynman Chen – 200 IM
  • Evan Deng – 200 IM
  • Logan Downing – 100 Back, 200 Fly
  • Kirsten Hau – 100 Fly, 200 Free
  • Fiona Herman – 50 & 200 Back, 400 IM
  • Cora Ledrick – 200 Back
  • Lainey Meyer –800 Free
  • Andy Nguyen – 200 IM
  • Irene Qu – 200 Free
  • Miranda Range – 50 Free
  • Neil Rawal – 100 Free
  • Max Smagley – 100 Back, 200 Free
  • Han Sun – 100 & 200 Back
  • Nika Svirydovich – 50 Fly
  • Lasya Viswanadham – 200 Fly
  • Piper Wiegand – 100 & 200 Back
  • Andy Yang – 200 Fly
  • Ally Yuan – 50 Breast
  • Kyra Yuan – 100 Breast

 B 

  • Quinn Anderson – 200 Back
  • Bradley Barkans – 200 Breast
  • Alex Belkin – 100 Back
  • Arya Bhatt – 100 Breast, 200 Free, 200 IM
  • Feynman Chen – 100 Breast
  • Iris Huang – 200 Fly
  • Dmitry Leonov-Vendrovskiy – 100 Fly
  • Karina Maksyutov – 100 Breast
  • Andy Nguyen – 100 Back
  • Miranda Range – 200 Breast
  • Amaris Rus – 100 Breast
  • Paolo Villanueva – 100 & 200 Breast, 200 IM, 50 Free
  • Grace Zhang – 200 IM

WAVE ON 3!!