Blue Tide Aquatics Wins Team Title At NCSA Junior Long Course Champs
By Kevin Milak
WOODLANDS, Tex, August 18. THE 4th NCSA Junior Long Course Championship is in the books. The team competition came down to the final relays, making this one of the most exciting finishes of the NCSA Junior Meets to date.
Women’s 100 Breaststroke
Jackie Pangilian, 17, of the YWCA Middies took both the 200 and now the 100 breaststroke in decisive fashion. Pangilian took a dominant lead by over a full second at the 50 meter mark and kept pulling away, finishing in a very fast 1:11.72, her second Olympic Trial cut of the meet. Maryann Boosalis, 16, of Industry Hills, finished with a strong second 50 (38.25) to pull away from the pack to finish second in 1:13.45. Third place went to 13 year old Kelly Flynn, of the Woodlands touching in 1:14.17.
Men’s 100 Breaststroke
Combined Competitive Aquatics’ Blake Nilsson, 17, finished 6th in the 200 breast and 3rd in the 50 breast. To top off his week, he was the top qualifier through prelims, semis and now finals. Nilsson touched in 1:05.12, making his national time standard in the process. Second place went to Blue Tide’s Paul Kornfeld, 16, who finished in 1:05.91. Third went to Jacob Dong, 18, from Fullerton who was in last place at the 50 but came storming home to finish in 1:07.11.
Women’s 100 Butterfly
After finishing second and third in the 200 and 50 butterfly, Katherine Raatz, 14, from AFOX took her final 100 fly out extremely fast in 29.45, leaving the field in her wake, finishing in 1:03.08 and making her first national standard by one-hundredth of a second. Jennifer Lago, 16, from Metro Miami (UN) finished second in 1:03.54, matching Raatz’s second 50 split of 33.63. Third place went to the Woodlands’ Taylor Weber, 15, touching in 1:04.17.
Men’s 100 Butterfly
Ronald Meyers, 17, from Fort Lauderdale has speed and lots of it in the fly. Winning the 50 in 25.68, Meyers continued his sprint fly dominance in the 100 with a 56.90, taking the final by over a half second. Tidewater Aquatic Club’s J.B. Walsh, 16, finished in second place with a time of 57.49, and Vancouver Swim Club’s Mason Amick touched in third in 58.18.
Women’s 50 Freestyle
Kara Denby, 17, of Conejo Simi Aquatics took the 50 free in a national standard time of 26.78, just one hundredth ahead of AFOX’s Skye Elbert, who finished in exactly the national standard time of 26.79. Not far behind was Woodland’s Meredith McCarthy, 16, who touched in 27.03 for third place.
Men’s 50 Freestyle
Circle C’s Will Sarosdy, 18, took the 50 free in 23.90, his second title of the meet, but it wouldn’t be his last. Second place went to Bakersfield’s Mark Whittington, 17, finishing less than a tenth of a second behind in 23.98. Eric Mattingly, 18, from Yorktown Swim Club finished soon after in 24.17, with the top three places separating themselves from the pack, which finished two tenths behind.
Women’s 50 Backstroke
The semis had two swimmers tied for the top seed with 30.88: AFOX’s Skye Elbert and Blue Tide’s Madeleine Stanton. However that didn’t matter to Yorktown Swim Club’s Megan Wheeler, 16, who took the top spot in 30.56. Elbert finished just behind in 30.57, the second time she finished in second place by a hundredth on the last night of finals. Stanton would end up finishing in third place in 30.69.
Men’s 50 Backstroke
Not long after winning the 50 free, Will Sarosdy would win his third event of the meet, and it would end up being the most dominant of the three. Sarosdy finished the 50 back more than a full second ahead of the field in 26.91. Rounding out the top three were Poseidon’s Scott Beard, 16, touching second in 28.12, and David Russell of the New England Barracudas finishing in 28.19.
Women’s 200 IM
Jenni Straton from David Douglas Swim Club went out fast in the IM, not letting up the whole way. Straton broke away from the field with a 41.48 breaststroke leg, touching in the top position in 2:21.99. Jessica Rodriquez, 13, from Mission Aurora came home in the fastest freestyle leg to break away from the pack to finish in 2:23.37, this was especially impressive considering she had just finished the 1500. Aleksa Akerfelds, 14, from the YWCA Middies went out incredibly fast in 30.58 for the butterfly and would finish in third place in 2:23.91.
Men’s 200 IM
C.J. Nuess from Spokane would win his second IM of the meet, both in dominant fashion. Nuess, 17, won the 200 IM in 2:07.95, by nearly two seconds. Second place went to Desert Storm’s Bret Lundgaard in 2:09.87. Paul Kornfeld from Blue Tide finished in third place with 2:10.96.
Women’s 1500 Freestyle
First Colony Swim Team’s Colleen Gordon slowly pulled away from the field through all fifteen hundreds, finishing in first place with a national qualifying standard in 17:05.70. AFOX’s Joni Zimmerman swam solidly throughout the mile to finish in second place in 17:12.16. Thirteen year-old Jessica Rodriquez broke away in the last 100 to finish in third in 17:20.98.
Men’s 1500 Freestyle
Fifteen year-old Andrew Deters from Industry Hills caught Tobias Work at 1000 meters and didn’t look back to win the 1500 in 16:00.74. Work, 17, from Cape Cod, finished in second in 16:07.96. Third place went to Jace Hopper finishing in 16:15.77.
Women’s & Men’s 400 Medley Relay
The relays ended up deciding all of the team standings at this meet in a great, competitive race for team championships. Blue Tide walked away with both the men’s and the women’s relays, clinching the combined team title at the NCSA Long Course Junior Championship Meet.
– Combined Team Scores –
Place Team Points
1 Blue Tide Aquatics BTA-GU 807.50
2 The Woodlands Swim Team TWST-GU 748
3 Terrapins Swim Team TERA-PC 720
4 Walnut Creek Aquabears WCAB-PC 518.50
5 Arizona Desert Fox AFOX-AZ 498
6 Fullerton Aquatic Sports FAST-CA 452
7 Industry Hills Aquatics IHAC-CA 445
8 Fort Lauderdale Swim Team FLST-FG 427
9 New England Barracudas CUDA-NE 410
10 Bay & Ocean State Squids BOSS-NE 377.50
11 Conejo Simi Aquatics CSA-SC 341.50
Female Team Scores
Place Team Points
1 Arizona Desert Fox AFOX-AZ 434
2 The Woodlands Swim Team TWST-GU 410
3 Conejo Simi Aquatics CSA-SC 335.50
4 Blue Tide Aquatics BTA-GU 327.50
5 Terrapins Swim Team TERA-PC 310
6 Industry Hills Aquatics IHAC-CA 264
7 Ywca Middies YMID-MR 236
8 Pacific Swim SIPS-SI 221
9 Fullerton Aquatic Sports FAST-CA 195
10 New England Barracudas CUDA-NE 190
11 Valley Aquatics Swim Team VAST-PN 152.50
Male Team Scores
Place Team Points
1 Blue Tide Aquatics BTA-GU 480
2 Fort Lauderdale Swim Team FLST-FG 424
3 Terrapins Swim Team TERA-PC 410
4 Walnut Creek Aquabears WCAB-PC 376.50
5 The Woodlands Swim Team TWST-GU 338
6 Bay & Ocean State Squids BOSS-NE 304.50
7 Bakersfield Swim Club BSC-CC 289
8 Fullerton Aquatic Sports FAST-CA 257
9 New England Barracudas CUDA-NE 220
10 Circle C Swimming CCS-ST 208
11 Industry Hills Aquatics IHAC-CA 181