Morgan Hill – A total of 680 swimmers from 10 Pacific Swimming
Zone One South teams competed this past weekend in the Coast Valley
Aquatic League Championships at the Morgan Hill Aquatics
Center.
Morgan Hill – A total of 680 swimmers from 10 Pacific Swimming Zone One South teams competed this past weekend in the Coast Valley Aquatic League Championships at the Morgan Hill Aquatics Center.
Swimming for honors in the 25-yard short course meet, all the Morgan Hill Makos competing swam to at least one personal best time.
For most of this year’s meet the team held onto sixth place, and at one point on Sunday the Makos were in fifth.
Last summer the Makos finished in 10th, with only half the amount of points they had this year.
“We are showing the signs of a lot of improvement that reflects a lot of hard work,” coach Mark Scott said. “Individual and team improvement was shown in a lot of ways.”
Rima Ferdun, Katie Knutson, Skye Morris, all 13, earned two new best time, while Eunice Kim, 13, and Alex Rivera, 12, each snagged new personal bests.
Derek Bowman won the consolation finals (places 9 thru 16) in the 100-meter breast stroke with a two-an-half second time drop.
Owen Fry, 6, won consolation finals in both the 50-meter freestyle and 25-meter backstroke, while Zach Greymont, 11, took seventh place in the 50-meter fly consolation.
Janice Kim, 11, raced to a third-place finish in the 50-meter backstroke consolation with a new best time. Paul Pham, 10, took sixth place in the consolations. Grace Smith, 7, raced to fourth place in the 25-meter backstroke consolations, and third in the 25-meter breast stroke. Prashan Welipitiya, 13, zoomed to a sixth place finish in the 50-meter freestyle with a new best time.
Devon MacDonald, 11, scored three times in the consolation finals taking fourth place in the 50-meter breast stroke, fifth place in the 50-meter backstroke, and eighth place in the 200-meter freestyle, with personal best times in all three events.
Amanda Giacobbe, 10, raced to four personal bests, and scored fourth in the 50-meter fly consolation final.
Kooper Knutson earned a new personal best and a seventh place finish in 100-meter backstroke consolation final.
Evan Richardson, 9, swam to fourth place in the 100-meter individual medley (IM), sixth place in the 100-meter freestyle and, and eighth place in the 50-meter breast stroke consolation finals.
Cassie Tran, 10, won the consolation in the 50-meter fly and earned two new best times along the way.
Connor Tran, 7, snagged a second in the 25-meter backstroke, sixth in the 25-meter freestyle, and seventh, in the 25-meter fly, all in the consolation finals. Savanah Trewman, 10, earned third in the 200-meter freestyle, fifth in the 100-meter individual medley, and third in the 100-meter freestyle with a new best time.
Elijah Urbina, 8, finished third in the 50-meter backstroke, first in the 25-meter fly, and first in the 25-meter backstroke.
Lauren Akin, 9, got second place in 50-meter freestyle consolations, fourth in the 50-meter fly consolations, fifth in the 100-meter individual medley consolations, and two seventh place finishes in the 100 and 200-meter freestyle finals.
Connor Dobbs swam to second place in the consolations with four final placings.
Sesa Ferdun, 9, scored second and sixth in the 50-meter backstroke and 50-meter fly consolations, eighth in the 200-meter freestyle consolations, and sixth in the 50-meter breast stroke finals.
Daniel Huang, 6, earned eighth place in the finals of the 25-meter freestyle competition.
Warren Richardson, 17, took sixth place in both the 50 and 100-meter freestyle, and won the 100-meter fly consolation.
Gabrielle Smith, 11, won the 200-meter freestyle consolation, earned sixth in the 50-meter fly consolation, took seventh in the 100-meter IM finals, seventh in the 50-meter freestyle finals, and second in the 50-meter backstroke.
Karen McElheny, 14, took eighth place in the 100-meter freestyle and 100-meter fly consolations.
She won the 100-meter breast stroke, and placed fourth in the 500-meter free style consolations.
Victoria Martini, 8, scored in the finals of all five of her events, taking seventh in the 25-meter freestyle, fifth in the 25-meter backstroke, two third-place finishes in the 100-meter IM and 25-meter fly, and second in the 25-meter breast stroke.
Macie Kerr, 13, finished second in the 200 -meter IM, squeaked into the finals with an eighth place finish in the 100-meter back stroke, and earned fourth place in the 100-meter breast stroke.
Christiana Bridges, 11, earned two second places in the 100-meter IM and 50-meter freestyle consolations, two fifth places in 50-meter breast stroke and 100-meter freestyle finals, and second in the 200-meter freestyle.
Eduardo Hernandez, 10, a new swimmer for the Makos, made his presence felt with fourth-and eighth-place finishes in the 50-meter fly and 50-meter backstroke consolations, and a fifth place in the 200-meter freestyle finals.
Every event for Tanner Fry, 8, earned him a spot in the finals.
With a sixth-place finish in the 50-meter freestyle, and three fourth places in the 100-meter IM, 25-meter backstroke, and 200-meter freestyle, Fry was consistent and fast.
Daniel Pawlak, 11, earned points in all of his events as well.
In the consolations he earned a second and fifth in the 100-meter IM and 50-meter freestyle, and followed those up with a seventh place in the 100-meter freestyle, sixth place in the 50-meter fly, and fifth in the 50-meter freestyle in the finals.
Mika Itow, 8, won the 25-meter freestyle consolation, and she earned eighth in the 25-meter breast stroke, seventh in the 25-meter fly, seventh in the 25-meter backstroke, and sixth in the 100-meter IM finals.
Two Makos who distinguished themselves at the championships with some great efforts were Trent Itow and Rachel Cretcher.
Itow, 6, showed he has a lot of heart as he swam five races, winning the finals in four of them.
Itow’s wins in the 50-meter freestyle, 25-meter backstroke, 25-meter freestyle, and 25-meter fly also earned him new personal bests.
He was a shoe-in for High Point in his age-group until an error in his 25-meter breast stroke resulted in a disqualification.
Rachel Cretcher, 14, won the 500-meter freestyle finals earning her first Far Western qualifying time in that event.
Cretcher also took sixth in the 100-meter fly, fifth in the 50-meter freestyle, and two fourth places in the 200-meter IM and 100-meter freestyle finals.
The Far Westerns were held at the same time as the CVAL Championships, and the meet was huge and fast even by Far Western long course standards, with nearly 1,300 swimmers from all over the U.S., and four other countries.
Estelle Richardson capped off a fine long course season with an eighth place finish in the 1500-meter freestyle finals.
Richardson’s time in the 800-meter freestyle put her in the top 20, and a good solid swim in the 400-meter IM moved her up significantly in the standings.
After the meet, the team said goodbye to novice coach Laura Dobbs who is moving to Riverside, Calif. and head age-group coach Mark Dopler who became the father of twins a few months ago.
While bittersweet it was a nice closure for both coaches who have helped to build the team.
