2023 Gulf Swimming Age Group Championships
- December 1-3, 2023
- SCY (25 yards)
- College Station, Texas
- Results
The 2023 Gulf Age Group Championships were hosted last weekend in College Station, Texas, on the campus of Texas A&M. The Cypress Fairbanks Swim Club came out on top of the combined team scores with a total of 1966 points.
Top 3 Teams (Combined):
- Cypress Fairbanks Swim Club – 1966
- First Colony Swim Team – 1842
- Katy Aquatics – 1609
Among the top performers at this year’s meet was 14-year-old Jacob Bougaieff from the Dads Club Swim Team. Bougaieff won both breaststroke events (2:03.22/57.74) and the 200 IM (1:55.63), hitting personal bests in all three. His 200 breast marked a best time by four seconds, moving him up to 31st all-time among 13-14 boys.
13-year-old Ian Maldonado also had a strong showing with a sweep of the butterfly events. Maldonado, who swims the Cypress Fairbanks Swim Club, clocked a 1:53.77 to take nearly five seconds off his previous best time in the 200 fly. He also saw a two-second improvement in the 100 fly, where he touched 1st in 51.67.
Micah Tennison won the high point award for the boys’ 13-14 age group with victories across the 50-500 freestyle. Highlighting his schedule was the 100 free, where he logged a best time of 46.24 to move to 77th all-time for the age group.
Tennison’s teammate Jaden Otwell dominated the girls’ 11-12 age group with seven individual wins and seven best times. She took 1st in the 400 IM with a 4:44.53, putting her nearly six seconds ahead of the next fastest swimmer. She also had fantastic showings in the shorter events, hitting best times of 28.42 and 26.95 in the 50 back and 50 fly, respectively.
Leading the way for the 13-14 girls with four individual victories was Lily Wiles from The Woodlands Swim Team. Her top swim was the 200 fly, where she posted a best time of 2:03.44 to move to 8th in the country for her age group this season.
Albert Chen from the Houston Bridge Bats and Blue Tide Aquatics’ Lucy Simmons took the top spot for high point for 10 & under’s. Chen went seven-for-seven on winning his events, hitting personal bests in all of them. He moved to 56th all-time for 10 & under boys in the 50 backstroke (29.57), as well as 85th in the 100 back (1:03.77).
Simmons won all but one of her individual events. Among her top swims was the 500 free, where she clocked a best time of 5:38.97 to clear the field by almost 12 seconds.
Lucy had some awesome swims that rank her top 5 in the country right now for 10&u girls. Also, second year in a row that she won high point. Surprised that her sister, Eva, wasn’t mentioned here; she won 3 races and made 3 futures time cuts and was runner up for high point for 13&14 girls by only 2 points. Their brothers both swim fast, too! Their older brother, John, was mentioned in another article about “races you may have missed from Speedo Winter Juniors West”!