California/Nevada Gold Summer Sectionals – Fullerton Site
- July 15-18, 2021
- Janer Evans Swim Complex, Fullerton, California
- Long Course Meters, Prelims/Finals
- Results on Meet Mobile: “2021 Summer CA-NV Sectional” or search “Fullerton”
This week’s Sectional Championship meet in Fullerton, California is one of two that will split the field for what is usually a single-site California-Nevada Summer Sectional Championship. The other site is in the far-northern part of the state in Roseville, north of Sacramento.
The meet is only open to teams from the 5 LSCs in California (which includes most of the state of Nevada) as well as Hawaii (no teams from Hawaii have made the trip to the mainland).
The first day of racing was dominated by members of the varsity squad at USC, who won 4 of the 8 events.
USC rising junior Laticia Transom, a New Zealander by birth who grew up in Brisbane, Australia, swam a 56.63 to win the women’s 100 free by over 2 seconds. Transom, the 2020 Pac-12 Champion in both the 100 yard and 200 yard freestyles, didn’t race in the most recent collegiate season for the Trojans.
In fact, she doesn’t have any results in the USA Swimming, Swimming Australia, or Swimming New Zealand databases since those Pac-12 Championships, and so it appears that this is her first meet in almost 16 months.
The top-finishing junior-aged swimmer was 16-year old Sonja Aarsvold, who touched in 58.96, just missing her best time. 13-year old Ava de Anda placed 3rd in a new best time of 59.33, improving by almost three-tenths over her previous best time in June. That makes her the 6th-fastest American 13-year old in the 100 free this season.
It was a USC sweep in the 100 frees. In the men’s event, Jack Kirby won in 52.26 followed by former National junior College champion Billy Cruz in 52.32.
The top junior swimmer here was Ethan Schreier from CCAT in 52.98. Between prelims and finals, Schreier dropped more than 2 seconds off his best time, leaving him just short of a Winter Juniors qualifying time.
Another USC swimmer, Ben Dillard, won the men’s 200 breaststroke in 2:16.28. While that wasn’t a lifetime best, it was a season-best swim and .16 faster than what he swam at the U.S. Olympic Trials last month. Dillard, in his first season training at USC, hasn’t yet been a best time in any of his primary breaststroke events.
USC rising senior Halladay Kinsey won the women’s 200 fly in 2:17.51, beating out UCSB’s Maya Lee (2:18.95). Lee, who trained with the hosts Fullerton prior to college, led a 2-3-4 finish for the home team. 16-year old Kailee Chow placed 3rd in a best time of 2:19.05 while 15-year old Ayden Min placed 4th in a huge best time of 2:21.40 – marking almost a 12 second drop.
Other Event Winners:
- Kelly Prawira of the Trident Swim Club, who is committed to Division III Claremont McKenna College for the fall, won the women’s 200 breaststroke in 2:37.90, jut missing her best time. The runner-up was 15-year old Ashlyn Hernandez in 2:38.90. She was four seconds faster in the spring at the USA Swimming 18 & Under Spring Cup event, a time that ranks her 5th among 15-year olds nationally this season. Further down the rankings, 13-year old Abigail Lee placed 6th in 2:41.74. That’s a best time by over 7 seconds and leaves her 11th this season for 13-year olds nationally.
- 16-year old Izaiah Trevino-Lozano from Fusion Aquatics in Riverside won the 200 fly in 2:05.47. Trevino-Lozano was a CIF Southern Section champion in the 200 free in Division III in May.
- Iowa State rising sophomore Sydney Jackson, a North Coast Aquatics native, won the women’s 1500 free by a wide margin in 17:41.23. That just-missed her best time by less than a second. The runners-up were a pair of North Coast 15-year olds who each went best times: Payton Smith finished 2nd in 18:00.97, a 10 second drop, while Tatiana Dorrestein finished 3rd in 18:03.00, a 15-second drop.
- The men’s 800 free was led by Harvard swimmer Simon Lamar, another Fullerton Aquatics swimmer returned home for the summer. Lamar touched in 8:11.28, beating out his Fullerton teammate Matthew Chai (8:22.78).
