Gabrielle Kopenski Repeats as 1000 Free Champ at CS Sectionals

Braden Keith
by Braden Keith 0

March 02nd, 2018 Club, News

2018 College Station Sectionals

  • March 1st-4th, 2018
  • Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
  • 25y (SCY) Course
  • Results – Meet Mobile “2018 Speedo Sectionals Championship Series”

Day 1 of the 2018 College Station Sectional Championships, a short-course season finale for many of the state’s high school swimmers, featured the 1000 yard freestyle and 800 free relays in an abbreviated timed-finals session.

While the meet was mostly Texas teams, there are a few interlopers from outside of the state – including a group from Club Wolverine, based out of Ann Arbor, Michigan; as well as Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics and DART Swimming from California.

In the women’s meet, Gabrielle Kopenski from Texas Ford Aquatics won her 2nd-straight Sectional title in the 1000 free. Unlike last year’s dominating 11-second margin, this year she was pushed to the wire by her teammate Ashlyn Fiorilli. Kopenski wound up winning in 9:45.58, with Fiorilli placing 2nd in 9:46.42, with Fiorilli making up almost a second over the last 100 yards, but running out of space.

The #7 commit in the class of 2018, Kopenski is committed to swim at Texas A&M next year, in the same pool where she’s a back-to-back Sectional champion.

The men’s race went to another Dallas-area swimmer Alexander Zettle from the Lakeside Aquatic Club. He posted a 9:00.06 to jump into 51st-place in the all-time age group rankings. That’s a 12-second lifetime best for Zettle.

The visitors from Palo Alto won the girls’ 800 free relay in 7:12.78, finishing 6-and-a-half seconds ahead of Texas’ best Metroplex Aquatics, who took 2nd.

The men’s 800 free relay came down to the final touch. This time,  Metroplex Aquatics won in 6:37.37,  but Katy Aquatics’ “A” (6:37.94) and Nitro Swimming’s “A” were both within a second. The best split of the lead group was a 1:35.35 anchor from Metroplex’s Jason Park that overcame a whopping 5-second gap for KATY Aquatics.

Top 5 Men’s Team Scores

  1. KATY Aquatics – 64
  2. Lakeside Aquatic Club – 54
  3. Magnolia Aquatic Club – 47
  4. North Texas Nadadores – 41
  5. Metroplex Aquatics – 50

Top 5 Women’s Team Scores

  1. Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics – 81
  2. Club Wolverine – 70
  3. Texas Ford Aquatics – 59
  4. Lakeside Aquatic Club – 38
  5. Metroplex Aquatics – 34

 

 

0
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

Read More »