VAST Fall Classic Meet Recap

Wave Aquatics’ Sport Team made a splash at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way — the premier competition pool in the Pacific Northwest. For many swimmers, it was their first time racing in this world-class venue, and they delivered! Kyra Yuan shined with both an A and AA time, while Mannat Garg had a stellar debut with BB times across all three events. What an incredible meet, Wave!

Black Group

This was the first time athletes from Black Group had swum at the King County Aquatic Center, so this was a big deal for them. Getting settled in a huge facility, two pools running, giant scoreboard, moms and dads upstairs, and shoot—where are those bathrooms? It was a lot. Thankfully we had Coach Denise on deck to help shepherd the swimmers.

Families did a great job of adjusting to the event number changes and the swimmers did a fantastic job of getting to their races in plenty of time.

Warm-up was a little challenging with the crowded lanes, but as a lot of us know by now, that’s pretty typical at meets and we do the best we can with it. We were able to give the swimmers some practice with their backstroke and breaststroke walls- something we felt would be challenging for the kids despite the time we’ve put into these things at practice.

A Group

• Neeva Goel had a strong meet showing nice improvement with her freestyle and as she learns to trust her breaststroke kick—which is really good—to lengthen her stroke and be fast that way instead of taking fast strokes; it’s like running like a cheetah instead of a chihuahua.
• Rex Ji had a fabulous meet showing his effort at practice has a pay-off. Big improvements in his 100 Free and 50 Breast. He is also inching closer to his first B time in the 50 Back.
• Eleanor Liu does a wonderful job at practices of listening, and working to get her skills down, so we loved seeing her improvements here at this meet where she posted significant drops in all three races.
• Gavin Liu had strong races in his 100 Free and 50 Back that we were excited to see, and he also posted his first-ever B time in the 50 Breast. Awesome job, Gavin!
• Stephen Luo had huge improvements in his 100 Free and 50 Back, but we were most happy to see his 50 Breaststroke done legally for the first time as he has been working hard to get his kick down- he did it!

B Group

• Chase Carlberg completed the 100 Free and 50 Breast for the first time—awesome! —as well as posting a new best time in the 50 Back. Great meet Chase!
• Madeline Lindberg completed her first ever 100 Free and 50 Breast with Wave, and posted an improved swim in the 50 Back from the last meet. We are always excited to see the kids get these races down!
• Lev Sukhin did an excellent job in his 100 Free and 50 Back with new best times there. He has the skills for breaststroke, but breathing is a work in progress yet; he is very close to nailing down a legal 50 Breast.
• Dmytro Nesterenko swam his first 100 Free, posted a best time in his 50 Back, and is also very close to getting his 50 Breast down. I’m confident he’ll get that one before too long!
• Katherine Miller also swam her first 100 Free and posted a best time in her 50 Back. She’ll get that 50 Breast sooner rather than later as she has the hardest parts figured out!

The coaches are very proud of ALL our athletes who competed at this meet!

White Group

White Group came to race! So many accomplishments in just a few hours!

• Alexa Back Rigetto earned her BB cap when she made her first BB in the 50 Breast. She also showed she’s becoming a well-rounded athlete by also making her B in the 50 Back. Congratulations.
• Miley Chen earned her BB cap when she made her first BB in the 100 Fly. She earned even more respect when she made her second BB in the 50 Breast. Very impressive!
• Maya Esko earned her BB cap when she made her first BB in the 50 Breast. She improved in every race proving she is working hard at everything. Keep it up.
• Mannat Garg earned her BB cap when she made her first BB in the 50 Back, clocking in at 38.86. She carried this moment through every race making a BB in the 50 Breast and 100 Free. Way to set the example!
• Grace Jin earned her BB cap when she made her first BB in the 50 Breast. She dropped from 50.28 to 47.86 and improved in every event. I see no weakness.
• Miya Ma earned her BB cap when she made her first BB in the 50 Back by dropping 4 seconds. She was the first White Group swimmer to earn her BB cap at the meet and showed an unparalleled volume of team support in motivating everyone to rise to another level. Way to create the Wave!
• Owen Yang earned his BB cap when he made his first BB in the 50 Back by dropping more than 4 seconds. He also rose to the top of White Group by posting the fastest 100 boy time of the season.
• Nysa Banerjee earned her B cap when she made her first B in the 50 Back. She followed up by achieving her second B in the 50 Breast. Impressive for someone with no race history!
• Yusuf Cavcic earned his B cap when he made his first B in the 50 Back by improving from 51.07 to 45.92. s one of the newest and youngest members of White group, he has earned respect quickly.
• William Foster earned his B cap when he made his first B in the 50 Breast. He came to race and also dropped 10 seconds in his 100 free. Amazing.

Purple Group

Purple had an amazing showing at the meet! They came off a hard week of practice and put forth high effort and technique focused races. We had more amazing time drops and moments worth celebrating! Overall, we had 22 new B times, 8 BB times, and another A time! Congratulations to all!

A Group

• Appoline Abram-Profeta had a fabulous 100 Free! All week, they worked on their start and underwaters, and it paid off in the race. They broke 1:10 in the event for the first time and got their first 13-14 B time! They also showcased amazing sportsmanship at the meet.
• Cayden Smith had an awesome meet. Dropping at least two seconds in each of his races, he continued to amaze with his sprinting ability: he got two new BB times in the 50 Back and 100 Free!
• Amarissa Chandra had an amazing 50 Back this past weekend. All week at practice, she has been focused on improving her breaststroke technique; in her race, she put all the pieces together and dropped two seconds to get a B time!
• Jack Ventura swam a stellar 100 Free this weekend. In his debut meet with Wave, he swam a 1:04, crushing his best time and getting a B-time! He is also coming off a broken foot and has only been “fully swimming” at practice for the last two weeks!

B Group

• Yulin Cen broke :40 for the first time in the 50 Back! He improved his technique during practice this week and used it in his race; by making little tweaks in his stroke and catch he was able to drop 2.5 seconds!
• Zoey Stark tackled the 200 Back for the first time this weekend. In her first time swimming the event, she worked on a race strategy that paid off. She set an amazing baseline time and cannot wait to swim it again.
• Misha Lavrov had a standout 50 Back. He nailed his start and worked on his hand speed to drop 4 seconds and break :40 for the first time!
• Eric Chai had an amazing meeting! Dropping 15 seconds across his three events, he showcased strong effort in all his races. In his 100 Fly, he dropped 10 seconds by focusing on his underwaters and nailing his open turns.

High School

Second meet of the season and we are seeing great results! Tons of time drops swimming at this pool. I think everyone deserves a pat on the back. Saw a ton of growth at this meet from both A and B groups. Those who have been consistent at practices saw the biggest growth. Can’t cheat the grind and it showed for those who put in the work!

A Group

• Alvin Chang is in his senior year and he’s working hard in practice and dropping time. The commitment is there, helping him to drop time in 2/3 events: 50 Back and 100 Free. He is on his way to make his champs cut.
• Maddie Cheng had a great meet. She was able to drop time in her 100 Fly. That has been a struggle of hers for the last year-and-a-half. She was strong the first 75 and was able to power through the last 25 to drop more than 2 seconds.
• Ian Chow is a primarily breaststroker; however, he was definitely a freestyler at this meet! This is the first time he broke the 1:00 mark in his 100 Free. He swam that event extremely strong and didn’t phase out his last 25 but finished strong! He was a happy swimmer the rest of the day!
• Jenny Shen was in just her second meet with Wave and she has been working on better turns, underwaters, and starts to help her drop time in her 100 Free. She was able to drop almost 2 seconds for an A time! She also dropped 0.38 in her 100 Fly!

B Group

• Zach Zeng had 3/3 time drops. He has been working really hard on mechanics in practice and understanding how to pace and race. It definitely came out at this meet. It shows. Way to go! The biggest time drop was in his 100 Back where he slashed off 8 seconds.
• Thomas Ovendale has been working on strength in his races. He was able to drop time in all three events: 100 Free, 50 Breast, and 50 Back.
• Adwita Raman has had a hard time figuring out how to pick up speed in her events. We’ve had a ton of conversations in practice on how to fix that. This meet what she’s been able to change as she dropped in all three events: 50 Back, 100 Free, and 100 Fly.
• Annika Spitze had a great meet, dropping time in all three: 100 Free, 100 Fly, and 50 Breast. Her biggest drop was in the 100 Fly by -4.87 seconds. Butterfly is not her strongest stroke, but she went out and crushed it anyways.

New US Motivational Times

 AA 

• Kyra Yuan – 50 Breast

 A 

• Dmitry Leonov-Vendrovskiy – 50 Breast
• Jenny Shen – 100 Free
• Kyra Yuan – 200 Breast

 BB 

• Alexa Back Righetto – 50 Breast
• Miley Chen – 100 Fly
• Maya Esko – 50 Breast
• Mannat Garg – 100 Free, 50 Back, 50 Breast
• Elijah Guo – 50 Back
• Grace Jin – 50 Breast
• Elizabeth Lytvynenko – 100 Free
• Miya Ma – 50 Back
• Jenny Shen – 100 Fly
• Cayden Smith – 100 Free, 50 Back
• Owen Yan – 50 Back
• Zachery Zang – 50 Back

 B 

• Apolline Abram-Profeta – 100 Free
• Sourish Annam – 50 Breast
• Alexa Back Righetto – 50 Back
• Nysa Banerjee – 50 Back, 50 Breast
• Julia Bouianov – 50 Breast
• Johanna Burg – 50 Back
• Yusuf Cavcic – 50 Back
• Amarissa Chandra – 50 Breast
• Tony Chen – 50 Back
• Ian Chow – 100 Free
• Liam Donnelly – 100 Free
• William Foster – 50 Breast
• Elijah Guo – 100 Free
• Rylan Jones – 50 Breast
• Alexander Korolis – 200 IM
• Gavin Liu – 50 Breast
• Jeremy Lyu – 50 Back
• Piper Meier – 50 Breast
• Diana Omusoru – 50 Breast
• Thomas Ovendale – 50 Breast
• Pravan Shakya – 50 Back
• Victor Shirshov – 50 Back
• Josiah Suprato – 50 Breast
• Jack Ventura – 100 Free
• Yifan Xu – 100 Fly

WAVE ON 3!!