At the conclusion of the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Championships, which held their finals on Saturday, the UC Davis pool and the DARTS (formerly Davis Aquadarts) hosted a post-high school, yards taper meet to give swimmers another chance to improve their times, or swim some non-high school events, while taking advantage of their high school tapers.
Not all of the stars from the Sac Joaquin section were at this meet. For example, Connor Hoppe, who broke a National High School Record on Saturday, didn’t race on Sunday.
There were a lot of good times at this meet, but below we’ve highlighted a handful of swimmers who really jumped out at us.
The biggest results to jump out at us were those of Matthew Klotz from the Sierra Marlins Swim Team. On Saturday, he was the runner-up at the Sac Joaquin Championships in the 100 back, but by Sunday he had taken another huge chunk out of that time, going a 49.18 (six-tenths better). He added to that a lifetime best of 1:46.48 in the 200 back, both of which broke Sierra Nevada LSC Records held by the great Randall Bal.
Bal never made a U.S. Olympic team, but he carved out a niche as one of the world’s best 50 meter backstroker for most of the first decade of the 200o’s, including breaking the World Record in the 50 in both short course meters and long course meters.
Klotz is a senior who will soon be graduating, but as of yet is still uncommitted as to where he’ll swim in college. Over the weekend, however, he’s cut another second off of his best times in the 100 and 200 yard backstrokes, which should continue to expand interest and his options.
On the women’s side, Paige Maynard had a pair 0f standout swims on Sunday. Despite a pretty quick turnaround, she broke two minutes in both the 200 fly (1:58.96) and 200 backstroke (1:59.33), both of which are the second-fastest times of her career. She’s a junior at Vacaville High School.
Other noteworthy results:
- Kimberlee Giggey swam a lifetime best of 51.80 in the 100 free. This is the second-straight year where she’s gone a lifetime best in the event at this post-championship meet.
- 15-year old Bryce Mefford of the Sierra Marlins, Klotz’s teammate, was a 1:54.50 in the 200 IM. That’s his career best by 12 seconds. He was also a solid 46.93 in the 100 free
- Riley Hickman put in a best time of 21.02 in the 50 free, and backed it up with a 51.35 in the 100 fly.
- Emma Barksdale improved her lifetime best in the 200 free to a 1:50.94, and added to it a 23.99 in the 50, and a 56.92 in the 100 fly. She’s another who always swims well at this post-championship meet.
- Jack Herron was a 1:50.39 in the 200 fly and a 1:41.30 in the 200 free. Those are both lifetime bests – the fly by four-and-a-half seconds.
- 15-year old Scott Tolman from Ripon Aquatics, who is a relative novice in the club swimming scene, put in a shocking 2:04.24 in the 200 breaststroke – nine seconds faster than he’s ever been before. That followed a 57.23 in the 100 breast and a 21.61 in the 50 free at the Sac-Joaquin Section Championship. Scott (A.K.A Eric) has jumped on to a whole lot of recruiting radars as a sophomore.
- Jordan Anderson, the younger sister of Olympians Alyssa and Haley Anderson, swam a 9:58.75 in the 1000 yard free. That makes her first Summer Junior Nationals cut.
Full meet results are available on Meet Mobile. Search “Davis Post HS Meet 2014”.
Great Job ALL swimmers!
Special congrats to one of USA Deaf Swimming’s greatest to date, Matthew Klotz. All of Team USA Deaf Swimming and staff salutes you, Matt, and all these swimmers.
Teams with Deaf swimmers, should contact me at [email protected]
Ben Hobbins
Head Coach, USA Deaf Swimming Team USA
Congrats to coach Adam Schmitt and the Sierra Marlins swimmers.
Whoa…9 seconds is crazy!! 2:13 is already a decent time so it’s very very impressive that he was able to do that. He should be thrilled. If he can drop 9 out of the blue he can surely shave off another 5-6 in the next year right?;)