2015 Short Course Far Westerns: Day One Prelims

2015 Short Course Far Westerns Championships

• Dates: Thursday, April 9 to Sunday, April 12, 2015
• Times: prelims 9 am, finals 4 pm (PDT)
• Location: Morgan Hill Swim Club Makos, Morgan Hill, California
• Live Results: available (and on Meet Mobile)
• Championship Central

The Far Westerns short-course championship meet is the end-of-season taper meet for a large number of teams in the Western Zone, and specifically so for their 14-and-under swimmers. The format is prelims/finals, but with only ten swimmers scoring in one heat of finals.

On Day One, the scored events will be:

200 Freestyle – Prelims

The 15-18 age groups swim together in prelims but split into 15-16 and 17-18 in finals. On the girls’ side, Walnut Creek Aquabears’ Brittany Usinger put up the morning’s fastest 17/18 time, going 1:50.59, just ahead of Jennifer Campbell* (1:50.66) of Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics and Danielle Taylor* (1:51.68) of Walnut Creek Aquabears. Daichi Matsuda* of Palo Alto Stanford went a best time by .4 and earned the top spot in the boys’ 17-18 age group with 1:42.28. Lakeridge Swim Team’s Christopher Miller was second with 1:42.96, while Alexander Kapphahn* went 1:44.22 to grab the third spot.

Chloe Isleta*, now representing Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics, led the field with 1:50.37, just a tick better than her seed time. Catherine Boles* of Walnut Creek Aquabears qualified second in 1:50.58. McKenna Meyer of Reno Aquatic Club went 1:51.32 in prelims for the third-fastest qualifying time. The boys’ race featured nearly identical times from PASA teammates Benjamin Ho* (1:41.56) and Alex Liang* (1:41.82). The third qualifier was Dagen Kipling of Lakeridge, who dropped 4.6 seconds in prelims to earn his spot at 1:44.92.

In 13-14, Isabelle Henig* of PASA went her seed time in prelims to top the qualifying field in 1:50.67. Vivian Wang from Peak Swimming was 1:52.03 at second, while Pleasanton Seahawks’ Miranda Heckman dropped 2.3 seconds to qualify third with 1:52.09. Top-seeded Hunter Hitchens of Irvine Novaquatics put up a best time of 1:42.41 in prelims to earn the center lane for tonight’s final in the boys’ race. Tyler Lu of Pleasanton Seahawks was 1.4 seconds faster than his seed time in prelims, taking the second spot for finals. Kevin Tu of NOVA qualified third with 1:45.81.

The 11-12 age group featured Mission Viejo’s Ella Ristic out front with 1:54.03. Alyssa Watson of NOVA (1:59.00) and Bianca Yongyuth of Santa Clara Swim Club (1:59.02) qualified second and third, respectively. On the boys’ side it was Nicolas Williams from Pleasant Valley Swim Team in 1:52.99 ahead of Justin Culetu of PASA (1:53.58) and Daniel Morris of Clovis Swim Club (1:53.66).

Claire Tuggle of Yosemite Marlins Swim Club topped the field in the 10&Unders with 2:03.92. Isabella Abrajan from South Bay Aquatics dropped 7 seconds from her previous PB to jump up to number 2 in 2:09.18. Julianna Snyder of Clovis dropped over 3 seconds for the third-fastest morning swim, 2:11.02. Rose Bowl Aquatics’ Ronald Dalmacio was the top qualifier among the boys with 2:01.54. NOVA’s Humberto Najera went 2:05.37 to qualify second, while Rex Maurer of PASA was third in 2:07.76.

200 Breaststroke – Prelims

Walnut Creek Aquabears’ Aileen Lee was the top 17-18 girls 200 breaststroker of the morning with 2:18.65. She was followed by teammate Kaya Philapil* (2:20.84) and Pleasanton Seahawks’ Eva Chung* (2:21.63). PASA’s Jeremy Babinet led the boys with 2:02.68. He was followed by teammates Joseph Kmak* (2:06.80) and Joe Molinari (2:07.09); Molinari dropped 2.2 seconds from his seed time to earn his place.

In the 15-16 age group, Grace Zhao* of PASA earned the middle lane for finals with 2:14.93. Quicksilver Swimming’s Hannah Womer improved her time by just a tick and qualified second in 2:16.94. WCA’s Boles went 5.5 seconds better than her previous best and made it in at third. Lyon Zhang of East Bay Aquatics Association (2:06.31), Brian Copley* of PASA (2:09.86), and Kipling from Lakeridge (2:10.43) were the top boys.

Kristina Murphy of Spare Time Aquatics Sacramento catapulted to the top of the 13-14 girls’ field with a 6-second drop for 2:17.54. Gianni Pitto* from Lodi City Swim Club qualified second in 2:19.08, a best time by 1.5 seconds. Peak’s Wang improved her time by 5 seconds and wound up third out of prelims in 2:19.63. Leading the boys’ race was Cole Reznick* of Tri Valley Aquatics, with a best time of 2:12.09. Michael Xu of Pacific Athletic Club also picked up a new time in prelims, dropping 2.8 seconds for 2:12.20. Daniel Marella* from De Anza Cupertino Aquatics went 2:12.66 for third.

Nadia Bouraoui of Santa Clara popped a best-by-3-seconds 2:22.30 to jump to the top of the girls 11-12 age group. Caraline Baker from Flatiron Athletic Club was second in 2:25.25, while Ella Drury from Aces was third with a personal-best by 5.7 seconds, 2:27.69. Keane Alejandro of Canyons Aquatic Club was the fastest on the boys’ side, qualifying through to finals in 2:17.80. Sean Swift of Foothill Aqua Sharks was second (2:20.56) ahead of Trevor Fox from Aces (2:23.48).

100 Butterfly – Prelims

PASA’s Henig* was, once again, the fastest 13-14 girl, clocking a 56.17 in prelims. Emily Lo from Terrapins Swim Team posted the second-best time with 56.22, ahead of Chloe Clark from Foothill Aqua Sharks Swim Team (56.93). Santa Clara Swim Club’s Nathan Yates improved his seed time by .6 and qualified at the top of the boys 13-14 age group with 51.69. NOVA’s Hitchens also went a best time (52.05), qualifying second just ahead of the Seahawks’ Lu (52.79).

Mission Viejo’s Ristic went her best time by a half-second to lead the girls’ 11-12 category with 57.78. Kailyn Winter from Cabrillo Threshers was 1:00.49 at second, while Jordan Foster from Aces Swim Club tied with Quinn Murphy of Phoenix Swim Club for third with 1:00.62. Winn Aung of Redding Swim Team clocked a 54.33 to top the boys. Alexander Pascual of Napa Valley Swim Team knocked 4 seconds off his personal best and came up with the second-fastest swim of prelims, 56.05. Aces’ Lars Hanna was third with 57.03, a best time by just a bit.

Phoenix Swim Club’s Miriam Sheehan was the top 10&U girl in 1:02.09. She was followed by Sydney Lu of Pleasanton Seahawks (1:04.58) and Carolyn Nguyen of Novaquatics (1:04.79). Anthony Fong from Terrapins went his best time by 1.7 seconds to lead the boys in 1:04.29. NOVA’s Mitchell Schott went his best time by 6.2 seconds for a 1:06.10, and Anthony Sebastian of PASA qualified third with 1:06.72.

200 Backstroke – Prelims

WCA’s Usinger dropped a half-second and got the top spot in the girls 17-18 200 back with 2:02.10. PASA’s Campbell* was 2:04.20, while Autumn Wolfgramm of Utah’s Devil Ray Aquatic Team was third in 2:08.68. The top three boys in the age group were PASA’s Molinari (1:54.56), Sharif Shaker of Crow Canyon Country Club Sharks (1:55.63) and Jeffrey Tung of Lakeridge (1:56.12).

Santa Clara’s Sophie Krivokapic-Zhou was the fastest qualifier for the 15-16 girls in 1:57.97. PASA’s Isleta* was second with 1:58.44, while Gianna Garcia of Walnut Creek Aquabears was third through in 2:01.98. PASA’s Ho* (1:49.52) and Liang* (1:54.13) were at the top of the boys 15-16 group once again. Teammate Copley* was third in 1:57.10.

100 Breaststroke – Prelims

Jeremiah Leah Tandingan of Pikes Peak Athletics went 1:10.50, her best by 2.8 seconds, to lead the girls’ 10&U qualifiers in the 100 breast. Courtney Seljeseth from Quicksilver was second in 1:13.50. Pleasanton’s Lu was third in 1:15.27. Ricky Kurosawa of Boulder City Henderson was the fastest on the boys’ side with 1:12.84. PASA teammates Rick Lundh (1:16.12) and Anthony Sebastian (1:16.45) qualified second and third.

50 Backstroke – Prelims

The 11-12 age group provided the only 50-backstrokers of the day. Mackenzie Lee of Pleasanton led the girls with a half-second drop for 27.55. Mission Viejo’s Ristic (28.76) and McLean Hall of Heartland Swim Assocation (28.82) qualified second and third. Joshua Cho of Wasatch Front Fish Market clocked a 27.65 for the fastest time of the morning. He was followed by Devil Ray Aquatic Team’s Wolfgramm (27.79) and Lars Hanna of Aces (27.97).

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*swimming unattached for high school season