Marlins Open Water Season Wrap Up (with pictures!)

Open Water Wrap-up 

Whiskeytown

The Marlins descended upon Whiskeytown Lake on September 13^th for some camping and washed the dirt off Sunday morning with some open water racing. It was apparent that all our open water practice paid off with some fantastic swims.

In the 8 – 10 year old 500 yard youth race, the Marlins got off to a great start with Chloe Miller and Allena Thompson smashing the competition with a 1 – 2 finish. For the 11 – 12 year old one mile race, Marlin athletes Jarred Caines and Chloe Mitchell picked up a pair of 3^rd place finishes. In the 15 – 16 age group one mile, Most Inspirational award winner Austin Young finished 2^nd.

For the 13 – 14 two mile race, Maddie Velez finished 2^nd and Kylie Ahnell was right behind in third. For the 15 – 16 two mile, Weston Landre finished 3^rd while Mikayla Winkler and Hannah Bensman had an impressive one – two finish. The 17 – 18 boys put on quite a show, claiming first through fifth place! The order was Joshua Choi first, then Jordan Caines, Dallin Johnson, Ryan Pickett and Ryan Studebaker. For the girls, Alexandra Whitford seemed to like the one lap race and sprinted to finish first.

Some of our parents decided to set a great example and participate themselves. In the one mile race, Tod Pickett finished 5^th in the 45 – 49 year old division. Sandy MacDonald dominated the 50 – 54 division and finished first overall. In the 55 – 59 division, Fred Palacios finished 5^th and Dan Winterrowd finished 3^rd. For the two mile race, Ann Peters finished first in the 45 – 49 division, Sandy MacDonald finished first in the 50 – 54 division and Dan Winterrowd finished 3^rd in the 55 – 59 division. Thanks to all of you for showing us what lifelong fitness is all about!

The coaches were very happy with how everyone performed and the camping was a fun way to spend time together as a team.

Cold Water Challenge

100 degree weather provided for phenomenal conditions for our third annual Cold Water Challenge held at Nimbus Flat September 26^th. This was our biggest event yet, with over 260 participants in all! Thank you to all who did a great job organizing and keeping our athletes safe.

Our swimmers once again showed that our practice sessions paid off with some great performances. In the 10 and under half mile, Gary Woo ran away with the win. In the 10 and under 500 yard swim, the Marlins finished first through fifth place. Charlie Velez ran away with the win with Garrett Shepherd, Nicholas Dolley, Ryan Thomure and Gabriel Cox rounding out the top 5. For the 10 and under girls 500 yard swim, the Marlins swept the top 4 positions. Allena Thompson finished first with Sarah Dolley, Delaney Down and Lauren Bonzell finishing right behind. 

In the half mile open water swim the 11 – 12 boys claimed the top 5 spots with Marcello Quarante finishing first, followed by Cooper Rode, Luke Peters, Ethan Dillard and Nicolo Quarante rounding out the top 5.   The 11 – 12 girls also had an impressive showing with Laila Akhavi taking second place and Gaby Miller following right behind with a third place finish.  Ellie Velez took first in the 11 – 12 wetsuit division.  Sukriti Bagchi had a great swim in the 13 – 14 age group taking first place in the half mile swim.

In the one mile open water swim the Sierra Marlins were well represented with the top 3 positions in the 11 – 12 age group being held by Nicholas Rodriguez (1^st), Darvesh Gorhe (2^nd) and Zachary Groth (3^rd).  The 13 – 14 boys had a very close race with Brandon Mills being the highest placed Sierra Marlins at 4^th.  Brandon was followed by Ryan Dewante, Dylan Kubick, Bret Bonzell, Ryan Whelan, Kyle Peterson and Tyler Sams.

In another close race in the one mile open water swim, the 11 – 12 girls raced to three top five finishes with Chloe Mitchell taking third, Kayla Rios taking fourth and Julienne Baynes- Tadena taking fifth.  For the 13 – 14 girls, Kylie Ahnell swam an excellent race to a first place finish in the one mile swim with her teammate, Maddie Velez, following only :02 seconds behind for second place.  Following right behind their teammates were Dana Lohmann, Taylor Lehr, Breezy Johnson , Jessie Jones, Cammy Young, Katelin Staab, Erin Whitehead, Madison Rode and Elena Groth.

In the 15 – 16 one mile, Westin Landre finished 2^nd, Corbin Gomez 4^th and Andy Cunningham 5^th. For the 17 – 18 guys, Marlin athletes swept the top 4 spots with Dallin Johnson in the lead, followed by Joshua Choi, Ryan Studebaker and Jordan Caines. For the 15 – 16 ladies, Mikayla Winkler finished 2^nd with Hannah Bensman right behind her in third. For the 17 -1 8 ladies, Alexandra Whitford swam well to finish first. In the 19 and up competition, McKenzie Kemp swam well to win the division.

In the masters competition, our crew did some damage with Sandy MacDonald winning both the half mile and one mile competitions, both overall and in his age group. Dan Winterrowd had a great race to finish 2nd in the half mile and 3^rd in the 1 mile for the 55 – 59 division. Ann Peters finished 3^rd in the half mile and 2^nd in the one mile for the 45 – 49 division. Jennifer Carroll finished had a great race to finish 4^th in the one mile.

Congratulations to all who survived the Cold Water Challenge this year!

Click Here for Results

Check out a picture slideshow of our open water training here