2015 Short Course Far Westerns Championships
- Dates: Thursday, April 9 to Sunday, April 12, 2015
- Times: prelims 9 am, finals 5 pm (PDT)
- Location: Morgan Hill Swim Club Makos, Morgan Hill, California
- Live Results: (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.
1000 Freestyle – Timed Finals
Only the women’s 1000s were contested on Saturday; the men’s will run on Sunday. Moriah Simonds* of Pleasanton won the girls’ 17-18 crown with 9:59.95, with teammate Mary Woods* (10:33.44) and Alyssa Greymont (10:35.63) from Morgan Hill coming in second and third.
Santa Clara Swim Club’s Sophie Krivokapic-Zhou* improved her best time by 3 seconds to win the 15-16 title. Reno Aquatic Club’s Mckenna Meyer (10:14.84) Crow Canyon’s Haley Schreiber* (10:24.71) rounded out the podium.
Pleasanton’s Miranda Heckman lowered her time by 12.3 seconds en route to winning the girls’ 13-14 race. Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics’ Isabelle Henig* (10:18.09) and Santa Clara’s Daria Cocol* (10:25.32) also went PBs and placed second and third.
Bianca Yongyuth of Santa Clara took the 11-12 race in 10:28.46, a best by 6 seconds. Danielle Albright from Tule Nation Tritons got second going 10:43.72, a PB by 14, while Boulder Swimming’s Karla Lessing improved by 7.2 seconds to pick up a third in 10:50.88.
200 Butterfly – Prelims
Walnut Creek Aquabears teammates Brittany Usinger* held onto her number one seeding to win the girls’ 17-18 200 fly in 1:58.14. Palo Alto Stanford’s Jennifer Campbell* placed second with 2:02.99, just ahead of Aquabears’ Danielle Taylor* (2:03.14). Santa Clara’s Krivokapic-Zhou* picked up her second 15-16 gold medal in as many events, winning the 200 fly with a PB of 1:58.23 over PASA’s Chloe Isleta* (1:59.07). Isleta and Krivokapic-Zhou both broke the 2:00 barrier for the first time at this meet.
Joe Molinari and Daichi Matsuda* led a 1-2 PASA finish in the boys’ 17-18 age group, with 1:48.02 and 1:50.62, respectively. Teammate Alex Liang* won the 15-16 race in 1:47.81, a lifetime best by 7/10. Pleasanton Seahawks’ Christopher Jhong* (1:50.85)edged Andrew Koustik of Irvine Novaquatics, who dropped 5 seconds to finish with 1:51.34.
500 Freestyle – Finals
Miranda Heckman of Pleasanton went a PB by 4.5 seconds in winning the girls’ 13-14 race in 4:52.08. Sofia Sigrist* of Palo Alto Stanford, who had dropped nearly 7 seconds in prelims, improved by another 4.7 in finals for a second-place finish of 5:02.87. Her teammate Grace Tramack (5:04.85) was third. Hunter Hitchens* of Irvine Novaquatics dominated the boys’ race, winning in a PB of 4:33.48, ten seconds ahead of Lucas Hess of Park City Swimming (4:43.68). Hutchins moved into the top-10 for the year with that swim.
In the 11-12 age group, Bianca Yongyuth of Santa Clara Swim Club won in 5:03.61, a best time that puts her into the top 10 for her age group this year. Ella Ristic from Mission Viejo Nadadores dropped over 7 seconds for a second-place finish of 5:05.29. Taylor Moultrie of College Area Swim Team erased another 2 seconds from her time, making 4 total for the day, and finished third in 4:14.84. Winn Aung of Redding Swim Team just missed his best time but won the boys’ event in 4:48.35. The real race took place between Clovis Swim Club’s Daniel Morris (4:57.11) and Justin Culetu (4:57.68). Morris knocked 6.5 seconds off his time, while Culetu improved by 3 between prelims and finals.
Yosemite Marlins’ Claire Tuggle picked up her second National Age Group Record of the meet with an astounding 5:13.74 win in the girls’ 10-and-under contest. Swimming all alone, she finished more than a 50 ahead of her nearest competitor, second-place Mirsha Lora of South Bay Aquatics (5:42.90). Humberto Najera (5:27.38) led a 1-2 Irvine NOVA finish, with Joel Hernandez (5:35.03) in second.
100 Individual Medley – Finals
Caraline Baker of Flatiron Athletic Club was the winner of the girls’ 11-12 100 IM in 1:00.28. Santa Clara’s Nadia Bouraoui placed second in 1:01.31, just ahead of Reese Burns (1:01.90) from Marin Pirates. Alexander Pascual of Napa Valley Swim Team improved his time by more than 1.5 seconds between prelims and finals and won a tight boys’ race in 57.03. Nick Williams from Pleasant Valley Swim Team went a best time by 8/10 to pick up a silver medal with 57.37. Third place went to Lars Hanna from Aces Swim Club in 58.00.
100 Backstroke – Finals
PASA’s Campbell* won a close 17-18 race over Autumn Wolfgramm of Devil Ray Aquatic Team, touching in 57.26 to Wolfgramm’s 57.61. Reno’s Madeleine Hurst was third in 58.27. SCSC’s Krivokapic-Zhou* earned her third 15-16 title of the night with a 54.16 to 55.79 win over Aquabears’ Catherine Boles*.
Molinari of PASA won his second event of the session, going 49.86 for the boys’ 17-18 crown. Teammate Corey Gutierrez* took second with 51.78, while Alexander Kapphahn* of Foothill AquaSharks Swim Team edged Clovis Swim Team’s Keaton Ward, 51.91 to 51.97 for third. In the 15-16 race, PASA teammates Benjamin Ho* and Andrew Cho* went 1-2 with 48.63 and 51.09, respectively.
PASA’s Milan Hilde-Jones dropped over 2 seconds to get the win in the girls’ 13-14 race with 55.54. Right behind her was Peak Swimming’s Vivian Wang in 55.82. Chloe Clark of Foothill Aqua Sharks Swim Team was third in 56.56. Nathan Yates* from Santa Clara dropped another half-second in finals to get the win on the boys’ side. Yates went 51.51, while NOVA’s Kevin Tu got second in 52.48.
Mission Viejo Nadadores’ Mia Ristic won a nailbiter over Pleasanton Seahawks’ Mackenzie Lee, 59.30 to 59.37. It was both girls’ first time under 1:00. Pleasant Valley’s Williams matched his entry time with his 56.63 win in the boys’ 11-12 race. Culetu edged Joshua Cho from Wasatch Front Fish Market for second place, 58.13 to 58.52.
After an improvement by .7 in prelims, Phoenix Swim Club’s Miriam Sheehan dropped another .9 in finals to win the girls’ 10&U race in meet-record time of 1:00.93. Hannah Lockyer of Montclair Swim Team finished second in 1:06.14. Ashley Rowe of Pacific Swim edged Isabella Abrajan of South Bay Aquatics for third, 1:06.52 to 1:06.62. Rose Bowl Aquatics’ Ronald Dalmacio lowered his own NAG record with an astounding 58.62, winning by over 8 seconds. Bryce Halterman of Indian Wells Valley (1:06.76) touched out Mitchell Schott from Irvine Novaquatics (1:06.86) for second.
100 Breaststroke – Finals
Marie-Claire Schillinger* of Walnut Creek won the 17-18 100 breast in 1:02.79, just ahead of teammate Kaya Philapil* (1:04.90). Reno Aquatic Club’s Donna Depolo dropped more than 2 seconds to win the girls’ 15-16 race, out-touching Quicksilver Swimming’s Hannah Womer 1:04.10 to 1:04.42.
Jeremy Babinet went 56.32 to beat teammate Joe Kmak* (56.89) in the boys’ 17-18 race. Aaron Huang* of Quicksilver was third in 58.78. PASA’s Karl Arvidsson* won the 15-16 contest with 58.18. Eric Tolman of Ripon Aquatics placed second with 58.60.
Peak Swimming’s Vivian Wang* won a close one in the 13-14 age group, touching in 1:04.19 ahead of Kristina Murphy* of Spare Time Aquatics (1:04.43). Lauren McCormack of The Olympic Club made it in for third in 1:05.28. Matthew Wilcox of Terrapins Swim Team dropped 1.5 seconds and won with his first sub-1:00, a 58.79. Cole Reznick* from Tri Valley Aquatics edged Benjamin Winn of Santa Clara for second, 1:00.48 to 1:00.54.
50 Breaststroke – Finals
Caraline Baker of Flatiron Athletic Club won the 11-12 race in 30.89, with Sophie Lurie of Walnut Creek coming in second with 31.04, just ahead of Cayla Whetstone (31.24) of Piranha Swimming. Canyons Aquatic Club’s Keane Alejandro earned the boys’ title with a PB of 29.17. Napa Valley’s Pascual finished second in 29.43, while Sean Swift of Foothill AquaSharks rounded out the podium with 29.56.
Mia Tandingan from Pikes Peak Athletics won in the girls’ 10-and-under category with 33.30. Jacquelynn Person of San Clemente and Quicksilver’s Courtney Seljeseth tied for second with 33.77. Ricky Kurosawa of Boulder City Henderson clocked a 32.84 to win the boys’ race. PASA’s Jake Anderson and Anthony Sebastian were second and third.
200 Medley Relay – Timed Finals
In the girls’ 13-14 race, Palo Alto Stanford (Milan Hilde-Jones, Sophia Sebastian, Allison Asborno, and Brooke Schaffer) won a close race over The Olympic Club, 1:46.50 to 1:47.19. Both teams eclipsed their seed times by 2.5 seconds. Terrapins Swim (Robert Mitchell, Matthew Wilcox, Andrew Rodriguez, and Matthew Fetterman) won the boy’s title in 1:41.04 over Santa Clara Swim (1:43.33).
Aquabears went 1:52.84 to win the girls’ 11-12 title with Jessica Davis, Sophie Lurie, Ana Jih-Schiff, and Shelby Suppiger. De Anza Cupertino came in second with 1:53.92. Canyons took the boys’ crown with a 1:49.46 to 1:50.38 win over Palo Alto Stanford. Ryan Sevidal, Keane Alejandro, Ronit Shrestha, and Jonathan Park swam for Canyons.
Pleasanton (Aven Lee, Christina Tsai, Sydney Lu, and Crystal Wang) beat Santa Clara by .43 to win the 10&under race with 2:06.17. The Seahawks dropped 7.6 seconds off their seed time to get the win. Rose Bowl’s boys (Ronald Dalmacio, Nathan Kim, James Cahill, and Axel Fraud) won by an ever tighter margin over PASA, 2:03.19 to 2:03.23.
200 Free Relay – Timed Finals
The PASA 13-14 girls (Schaffer, Hilde-Jones, Stahmer, and Asborno) picked up their second win, this time a 1:36.53-1:37.07 one over Pleasanton in the 200 free relay.
Irvine NOVA’s Sean Slusiewicz, Christopher Mykkanen, Hunter Ingram, and Kevin Tu were victorious over Peak Swimming, 1:32.64 to 1:32.74.
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*swimming unattached for high school season
