FRESNO, California, July 27. CROW Canyon took home the combined team title, while several other swimmers picked up another individual win as the California/Nevada Speedo Champions Series sectional meet came to a close tonight.
Finals of the women’s and men’s 100 back kicked off the last night of racing at the Clovis North Aquatics Complex in Fresno. Rebecca Baxley, competing unattached, took full advantage of her last opportunity to get on the podium with a winning swim of 1:03.36 in the women’s final. Loree Olson of California Capital Aquatics touched second in 1:05.09, while Hannah Grubbs of Orinda Aquatics rounded out the top three in 1:05.44. Meanwhile, Crow Canyon’s Jason Chen grabbed the men’s victory with a 56.75, comfortably in front of Santa Barbara Swim Club’s Joshua Smith (57.49). Caio Hanaoka Dini of Team Rebel Aquatics swam a 59.55 to take third.
Santa Barbara Swim Club picked up another top three finish in the next event as Carissa Metcalf topped the women’s 100 breast final in 1:11.74, moving up from fifth to first with a two second drop from prelims. Morganne McKennan of Quicksilver Swimming and Mallory Korenwinder of the Tule Nation Tritons posted matching 1:12.28s for second. Tyler Jean of the Terrapins won the men’s 100 breast final in 1:05.08, with Boulder City Henderson’s Michael Velazquez coming in second at 1:05.95. Eric Sande of Roadrunner Aquatics rounded out the top three in 1:06.00.
Madelyn Murphy of Crow Canyon wrapped up her meet with her third win, taking the women’s 100 fly in 1:01.91. Murphy also won the 200 fly and 200 free earlier this week. Palo Alto Stanford’s Alexandra Grimes edged Boulder City Henderson’s Alexandria Hubel for second, 1:02.50 to 1:02.54. Kyle Grissom of the Tule Nation Tritons swam away with the men’s 100 fly title, just out-touching The Claremont Club’s Dylan Tarazona, 55.80 to 55.86. Bryan Hughes of Crow Canyon touched shortly after in 56.15 to finish third.
Timed finals of the women’s 1500 free and men’s 800 free were also held today. Emily Niles of Clovis Swim Club took home the women’s title in 17:12.16, her second win of the meet after winning the 800 free on night one. Riley Spitser of Blue Fins (17:19.72) and Claire Therien of Orinda (17:27.75) took second and third. San Luis Obispo’s Nolan Newland topped the men’s 800 field in 8:21.85, just over five seconds in front of Pacific Swim’s Liam Semple (8:27.25). Newland left the meet with two wins as he also had the fastest time in the 200 free earlier in the meet. Jakob Struckmeyer of California Capital Aquatics finished third in 8:29.06.
Orinda Aquatics’ team of Hannah Grubbs, Shannon Herman, Katie Kastes and Mary Allison Ashby brought home the women’s 400 medley relay win in 4:21.53, two seconds ahead of Team Rebel Aquatics’ Jessica Wong, Lindsey Englestead, Ruth Nguyen and Michelle Troup (4:23.53). San Diego State took third with Anika Apostalon, Chelsea Bailey, Loreen Whitfield and Whitney Weisz touching in 4:25.28.
The Marin Pirates quartet of Kenneth Castro-Abrams, Thomas Mercurio, Richard Davison and Nathaniel Cunnan had the best time in the men’s relay at 3:55.43, just over half a second better than Orinda Aquatics’ Alex Shieman, Dom Baldwin, Jolen Griffin and Christopher Peterson (3:56.09). Caio Hanaoka Dini, Hannon Daigler, Joseph Riggert and Dillon Virva took third for Team Rebel Aquatics with a 3:56.50.
Crow Canyon won the combined team title with 1,511 points, ahead of Orinda Aquatics (1,282) and Team Rebel Aquatics (952). San Luis Obispo won the men’s title with 735 points, while Crow Canyon took home the women’s trophy with 935 points.
Results from the meet are available on the Meet Mobile app.