Day 3
Junior
Olympics Write Up:
Day three was another long hot day, with the last final swimming
at 8:15pm . The day included three championship finalist and
six consolation finalist and three new Sectionals time standards. Ten year old Lindsay Clark
again stole the show with her performance in the 100 freestyle.
Moving up from 7th place in the Championship
Final to a 4th place overall finish, Lindsay improved
her entry time of 1:12.32 to a 1:11.07 in trials then again to a
1:09.54 in finals. I am always amazed that a swimmer will try
his or her best, then two weeks later, or even two hours later, is
capable of still greater improvements. The human body can do amazing things if asked
to do so. Lindsay then followed up her great 100 freestyle
performance with a fast 200 I.M., earning a second place finish in
the consolation final with an improved time of 2:57.22.
Lindsay also swam the 50 fly placing 20th overall. It is
worth noting that Lindsay’s’ times from both the 200
and 100 free, would have won at the other Junior Olympic site in
Santa Clarita.
Eleven year old Niles Biolley, swam the tough double of the
400 free and the 200 I.M. Niles placed 26th in the
400 free and 32nd the 200 IM with a 5:13.48 and a
2:51.33 respectively.
The 400 freestyle proved to be a very exciting event as Nick
Vargas achieved another Sectionals time standard and entered the
championship final in the number two position with a time of
4:24.15, coming from behind to beat his competitor by .03.
Unfortunately Nick couldn’t hold his 2nd place and
earned a still impressive 5th place with a time of
4:26.43, still good enough for Sectionals.
Also swimming the 400 freestyle was Jordan Capper and Thomas
Maires, each making the consolation final and finishing in
15
th and 16
th place respectively.
Jordan narrowly missed his Sectionals time standard by less than a
half second, while Thomas also missed by under a second and a
half. I’m sure the sting of just missing will help them
refocus on the upcoming season and prepare to get the job done as
soon as possible.
Jordan also swam the 200 IM, finishing in 29
th place
with a time of 2:24.51.
Austin Takeda continued his great meet with an impressive drop in
his only event for the day, the 200 IM. Austin went from a
2:34.91 to a 2:31.07 good enough for a 20
th place
finish.
Delani Clark finished 49
th in the 50 Fly with a
time of 35.89 and is highly motivated to get back to work so she
can continue to improve.
Chesna Biolley had another busy day as usual, finishing
15th in the 100 fly with a time of 1:10.06 and
14th in the 200 IM with a time of 2:35.06.
Jessie Ball added another Sectionals time standard in the 200
I.M. with a time of 2:32.80; unfortunately, she couldn’t
improve her time in finals, and earned a 14th place
finish with a time of 2:34.51.
One of the most impressive swims of the day was Chris
Waechter’s 200 I.M. Chris earned his first Sectionals time
standard making the championship final with a time of
2:19.69. In finals, Chris also added time and swam a 2:24.8
good enough for a 7th place overall finish.
All in all, day three was another successful outing. The
trend is that our swimmers continue to improve and learn valuable
lessons through competition. One aspect we still need to
focus on is improving in finals. It can be difficult to be at
the pool all day, warm up, race, warm down, warm up, race, warm
down, and then do it again in finals. However, we still have
a long ways to go to realize our potential. In school, it
doesn’t make sense to try hard all semester long, just to
lose focus right before finals. Likewise, in the pool, we need to
learn to finish our races strong. We need to learn to finish
finals strong. We need to learn to finish our season strong.
This means we always swim faster in finals and we always swim
faster in relays, it is a matter of pride. We will get
there!
Wish us luck on our final day of individual competition on
Saturday, followed by relay only competition on Sunday. Go
Buena!
Best, Coach Jason
