Six Makos from Morgan Hill Swim Club kicked off the championship
season with peak performances at the July 15-18 Junior Olympics in
Moraga
MORAGA — Six Makos from Morgan Hill Swim Club kicked off the championship season with peak performances at the July 15-18 Junior Olympics in Moraga.
Conditions were nearly perfect for the event, which drew more than 1,350 Pacific Swimming athletes from California and Nevada. As expected, it was a tough, fast championship event.
Tanner Fry, 11, competed in the 400-meter freestyle and swam close to his best time. Also competing in the 1,500-meter freestyle, Tanner found himself among very few 11-year-old boys in the 11-12-year-old age group. As he continues to improve, the next year looks very promising. Ricki Cruz joined a few other 11-year-olds at the bottom of the age group with a personal record in the 400 freestyle.
Sesa Ferdun, 12, made a championship-meet return after spending most the past year recouping from a broken arm. She proved ready for the challenge, dropping almost a full second in the 50-meter breaststroke, nabbing another personal best in the 100-meter breaststroke, and competing in the 200-meter breaststroke as well.
Alyssa Greymont, who was recently moved to the 13-14 girls age group — certainly one of the toughest and most competitive age groups — dropped slightly more than 13 seconds in the 800-meter freestyle in her first Junior Olympics. Greymont, 13, moved up the ranks with a new personal best.
Abbey Pfefferlen, 12, also swimming in her first Junior Olympics, reeled off three personal bests in as many swims — the 50, 100 and 200 breaststroke — just missing the Far Western Qualifying Time in the latter event.
Kaitlin Rooney, 10, swam the maximum number of events. She showed she was ready for it with five personal bests. The rest of her times were close to improvements. Rooney’s best results came in the 400 free; she shaved more than five seconds in the preliminary heats — fast enough for a Far West Qualifying time — edging into the championship finals in seventh place out of eight spots. In the Finals, she showed her “final’s mentality,” dropping another four seconds to place fifth. Her time was good for a pacific reportable time, used to establish Pacific Swimming top marks.
Makos standout Christiana Bridges did not compete in the Junior Olympics.
Next for the Morgan Hill team: the July 21-25 U.S. Swimming Sectional Championships in Santa Clarita followed by Pacific Swimming’s Far Western Championships held July 28 to Aug. 1 in Concord.
