There were not a lot of meets during the last two weeks of 2014 but for many of our age group swimmers they were the championships for which they had been training all season. Some of the bigger meets included New England Senior Championships, Pacific Northwest Short Course Championships, CA/NV Speedo Sectionals, Hawaiian Age Group Championships, and the two Pro-Ams in Oklahoma. Here is our list of AgonSwim Weekly Wonders for the final two weekends of December, 2014:
Andrea Wei, 14, Shawmut Aquatic Club: 50y free (23.24) – Wei earned her first-ever national cut in the 50 free at the New England Senior Championships presented by Greenwood Swimming. She also picked up a new time in the 100 free.
Rylee Linhardt, 16, King Marlin Swim Club: 200y free (1:49.04) – Linhardt had a great meet at the King Marlin Swim Club Pro-Am Classic in Oklahoma City. She got her first national cut in the 200 free leading off KMSC’s 800 free relay, won the 400 IM with a new PB, and finished the meet with new times in the 500 free and 200 IM as well.
Josh Pales, 13, Lincoln Select Swimming: 200y free (1:48.93) – Pales dropped 4.3 seconds from his seed time in the 200 free at the KMSC Pro-Am Classic. In addition, he achieved new PBs in 100 free, 100 breast, 200 breast (-3.7 seconds), and 200 IM (-4.5 seconds).
Grant Shoults, 17, Mission Viejo Nadadores: 500y free (4:17.52) – The Nadadores didn’t go to Winter Juniors or Sectionals, so the KMSC Pro-Am Classic was their winter championship meet. Shoults took full advantage and dropped an astounding 9 seconds off his seed time and won the 500 free ahead of Wisconsin’s Michael Weiss. Shoults was down by 2.2 at the 200, 1.6 at the 400, and .75 at the 450. He blasted a 24.71 over the final 50 to get the touch by .03.
Kate Magill, 15, Seacoast Swimming Association: 1000y free (10:09.34) – At the New England Senior Championships, Magill whacked 36.5 seconds off her personal best, which she had only just swum in November. She placed second in the 1000, and fourth in both the 1650 and 500 free, and was Number 3 overall on the distance high point list.
Eleni Kotzamanis, 11, Tri-City Area YMCA Tidalwaves: 1650y free (18:51.17) – Kotzamanis improved her seed time by 32 seconds at the CFAC Pro Am hosted by Edwardsville YMCA Swim Team, and finished with the sixth-fastest mile overall. Kotzamanis also logged a personal best in the 500 free.
Braden Vines, 14, City Of Midland Swim Team: 100y back (52.98) – Vines had a lot of nice swims at the KPSC Pro-Am Classic but perhaps his best was the nearly 3-second drop in his 100 back while leading off City Of Midland’s 400 medley relay. Other best times came in the 50/100 free, 100 breast, and 200 IM.
Garrett Waite, 13, Bainbridge Island Swim Club: 200y back (1:56.01) – Between prelims and finals, Waite improved his 200 back time by 3.2 seconds at the Pacific Northwest Swimming Short Course Championships hosted by Bellevue Club Swim Team. Other PBs to come out of the weekend for Waite were his 50/100/200 free, 50/100 back, and 400 IM.
Madison Balish, 15, Punahou Aquatics: 100y breast (1:03.37) – Balish, who had set the Hawaiian Swimming LSC record for 13-14 girls in the 100 breast in February with 1:03.43, established a new personal best of 1:03.37 while winning the girls 15-16 event at the Hawaiian Swimming Age Group SCY Championships. She also finished 5th in 50 free, 4th in 100 free, 7th in 100 fly, 5th in 200 IM, and 3rd in 400 IM.
Alex Shibata, 17, Wolverine Aquatics: 200y breast (2:03.41) – At the December CA/NV Sectional Championships hosted by Southern California Swimming and FAST Swim Team, Shibata broke the 2:04 barrier for the first time and was 5 seconds ahead of where he was last year at this time. He also went best times in the 200 free, 100 breast, and 200 IM.
Karisa Franz, 13, Flyers Aquatic Swim Team: 100y fly (55.65) – Franz picked up a slew of new times at the CFAC Pro Am. She dropped a full second in the 100 fly and was 3 seconds ahead of last December’s pace; she also lowered her PBs in 100 free, 100/200 back, 100 breast, 50/200 fly, and 200 IM.
Jarrett Jones, 17, Cape Cod Swim Club: 200y fly (1:48.55) – Jones finished Number Two in the distance high point award scoring at the New England Senior Championships, having placed second in the 500 and third in the 1000. He also had strong swims in the 100 free, 100 breast, 100/200 fly, and 400 IM, earning best times in each event.
Alicia Harrison, 15, Buenaventura Swim Club: 200y IM (2:04.73) – Harrison won the “B” final of the 200 IM with a best time at CA/NV Sectionals. She also improved her times in the 100/200 breast and 100 fly. Harrison placed second in the 100 breast behind Ella Eastin and third in the 200 breast.
Madeline King (13), also from Cape Cod Swim Club, had some very nice swims at the New England Senior meet–2:02.37 in the 200 back ranks her 4th among 13 year old girls in the nation so far.