The 14-year-old became the first Mako since 2006 to qualify for
U.S. Section Championships at last weekend’s Pacific Coast Junior
Olympics
SAN RAMON — Christiana Bridges became the first Morgan Hill Swim Club member in four years to qualify for the U.S. Swimming Section Championship meet during last weekend’s Pacific Swimming Junior Olympics meet.
The 14-year-old placed first in her age group in the 1,000-yard freestyle Saturday in San Ramon, dropping eight seconds off her personal-record time. Bridges will race among some of the world’s best swimmers in the round of sectionals, a zone/regional-based series comprising the entry level of U.S. Swimming’s National Championships program. The last Makos to advance this far were Laura Shope and Mike Wu in 2006.
The Junior Olympics featured more than 1,300 swimmers from 89 Pacific Swimming and Sierra Nevada clubs. The event was a good tune-up for Bridges and teammate Lauren Akin, who will represent Morgan Hill Swim Club in the April 8-11 Far Western Championships — held at their hometown Aquatic Center.
Akin PRed or came close to improving in most of her disciplines, leading up to the 1,650-yard freestyle. The 12-year-old dropped the better part of a minute in the mile to place fourth and, in doing so, earned new qualifying time for Far Westerns.
Also for the Makos, Kaitlin Rooney clocked personal-best times in the 100-yard breaststroke and 50-yard backstroke, and Sesa Ferdun swam in the 50-, 100- and 200-yard breaststroke.
