Irvine Novaquatics Boys 13-14 800 Free Relay Breaks NAG at Southern California’s June Age Group Meet


Owen Kao
(14), Justin Nguyen (14), Kevin Tu (13), and Hunter Hitchens (14) of Irvine Novaquatics crushed the national age group record for the boys 13-14 800 meter free relay Thursday evening at Southern California Swimming’s June Age Group Championships hosted by NOVA.

Their combined 8:00.81 was more than four seconds faster than the 2010 mark of 8:04.91 set by Mission Viejo Nadadores’ Matthew Chalcarz, Patrick Early, Connor Dobbs, and Janardan Burns.

The NOVA relay’s splits were:
Kao                        1:56.51 (27.41 – 29.46 – 30.02 – 29.62)
Nguyen                2:01.71 (27.14 – 31.02 – 31.76 – 31.79)
Tu                           2:03.43 (27.94 – 30.97 – 32.26 – 32.26)
Hitchens              1:59.16 (57.60 first 100, then 31.05 – 30.51)

Hunter Hitchens, Ken LaMont

Coach Ken LaMont and Hunter Hitchens of Irvine Novaquatics in April, 2014. Photo: Anne Lepesant

Kao’s leadoff 200m free was his best by 1.1 seconds and moved him to Number 3 in the country this season for 14-year-old boys, just ahead of Michael Andrew.

Ken LaMont, Associate Head Coach of Irvine Novaquatics, said, “it was a really exciting race from start to finish. Owen led off with a best time and broke the team record. Then Justin went a best time by about ten seconds. Kevin was three seconds faster than he’s ever been, and Hunter brought them home. It was a great race.”

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SWIMFAN
9 years ago

NOVA’s 13-14 boys seem to have impressive depth. Congratulations to those barrier breakers!!

MIA
9 years ago

What an amazing race and accomplishment for these guys! We are so happy and proud of them. They believed and achieved! Looking forward to watching what they do during the rest of the LC season.

nadre
9 years ago

The future looks bright for the 13-14 Nova Boys as they strive to take down the 400 Medley Relay at tonight’s finals. Stay tuned…..

Triton
9 years ago

Wow!! Impressive performance. Well deserved with those splits.

About Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant is the mother of four daughters, all of whom swam in college. With an undergraduate degree from Princeton (where she was an all-Ivy tennis player) and an MBA from INSEAD, she worked for many years in the financial industry, both in France and the U.S. Anne is currently …

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