NW Age Group Sectionals
16 CAST swimmers headed out to Seattle to compete against the top Age Group athletes in the Northwest and they proved that CAST is a force to be reckoned with!
Elijah Brown has been waiting for his hard work to pay off and it did this weekend. He walked away with the 1st place title in the 200 IM and 200 Backstroke this weekend and also got his first 2 Senior Sectional Cuts. He is now 9th on the top performer list in the 200 IM (1:58.99), moved up to 7th in the 200 BK (1:56.01). He also dropped time in the 200 Br (6th place) and 200 FR (3rd place), making him a 100% best times. His determination showed through in all his racing this weekend! Tillie Sobek’s name was also repeated often by the announcer with 1st place finishes in the 500 FR, 200 FL, and 1650 FR. Her 1650 FR was a team record with a time of 17:52.05, which also moved her up to 3rd on the top performer list! She also is now 9th on the top performer list in the 200 FR (1:57.82), she is now 9th for the 200 FL (2:13.58) and moved up to 4th in the 500 FR (5:11.74). She placed top 6 in all 6 of her events, racing a total of 3,650 yards over the 4 days. She proved she has endurance for days with all that racing! Erin Griffith also claimed a title in the 200 BK making CAST the top swimmers for both Men and Women in the 15-18 category. She was able to have a solid Prelims race and storm to the finish, edging out the competition and dropping time from her morning swim. She also finaled in the 100BK and broke the 26 second mark in the 50 FR with a 25.80. Trace Bennett also swam a big set of events for an 11 year old, and took the title in the 500 FR (5:29.02). He then continued the meet, finaling in every race he swam. He finally broke the 1:00 mark in the 100 FR that he has been chasing all season, swimming a 59.60 in the prelims session. Trace was a strong competitor every morning and evening at the meet. Owen Bennett made his debut on the 1650 top performer list at 10th with a 17:28.85, which also qualified him for Age Group Zones in August. He had a great consistent mile and also swam a lot of yards with the 500 FR, 400 IM, and 100 FR and performed well in all of them. Eli Shaw made his first Age Group Zones cut in the 100 FL, and narrowly missed finals in both the 100 and 200 FL. He dropped 4 seconds in the 200 FL, and .76 in the 100 FL. He was another 100% on best times for the weekend. Rachel Nicholls mirrored Owen and Tillie with a lot of racing yardage this weekend. She dropped 8 seconds in the 1650 (18:30.30) securing her current place on the top performer list and placing 6th overall. She was also able to drop 3 seconds in the 500 FR and participated in the 13-14 girls relays showing her great team spirit. Everly Desancic had a great showing at her first regional meet with all 4 of her swims moving her into finals. She saved the best for last with the very last race in the 100IM, dropping 2.29 seconds from her entry time. She was also a 100% in best times for the weekend and showed she knows how to swim against the best in the region. Maggie Sobek had 6 races and was able to score points for the team in the 500 FR (5th), 100 FL (6th) and 200 IM (5th). She was able to better her 500 FR time by 4 seconds! Dallin Stephens also scored points for the team with a 5th place finish in the 400IM, and 8th place finishes in both the 200 BK and 200 FR. Nina Emry wowed the crowd with a 1.52 second drop in the 100 FR, skipping right over the 58 second mark, with a 57.96. She showed her diversity in strokes as well with a 5 second drop in the 200IM. Ben Linford had a great meet with some strong consistent swims between his 100 and 200 FR and Backstrokes. He had a 1.98 time drop in the 200 BK on Sunday in prelims with a time of 2:01.68. Camryn Schmidt had to overcome some illness from early in the week, but proved that she was there to race. She placed finishes in the 200 FL and 7th place finish in the 100 FL showed she has what it takes to race against the best in the region. She had a tough line up, but showed up strong for every race. Bostyn Shoemaker had strong races all weekend, just missing the mark on best times. She was a member of both of the 13-14 girls relays as well that moved up in their rankings with strong relay performances. Sylvia Strow got her first taste of the regional level meet and performed steady across the board. She was also a contributing member of the 13-14 relays, with strong anchor leg in the 200 FR with a time of 25.73. Last but not least, Camden Cotant was struggling with battling illness, but showed her resilience with 4 strong races. While just off her best times, she didn’t take this opportunityfor granted to race against the best in the region.
Overall CAST made an incredible showing and placed 17th as a team, which is a huge feat against clubs with much larger populations. We are so proud of all the swimmers and know that this meet demonstrates that the future of CAST swimming is strong and mighty!
