Kenisha Liu of BREA Aquatics once again owned the pool on the final night of Speedo Sectionals in La Mirada. Liu claimed both the 200 IM and the 50 freestyle, while the men’s meet was peppered with familiar faces on the podium, including Daniel Comforti of Brentwood Seawolves and Brad Gonzales of La Mirada Armada.
In the women’s 200 IM, Kenisha Liu came out on top with a 2:15.76. Her speedy freestyle leg helped her to just touch out Riley Scott of the Marin Pirates, thanks to her speedy freestyle leg. Scott claimed second in 2:16.56, while Katie Glavinovich of Aquazot Aquatics placed third in 2:17.91.
On the men’s side, Daniel Comforti of Brentwood SeaWolves came away with gold, thanks to a strong back half. Sierra Marlins Swim Team’s Bryce Mefford led into the breaststroke leg, but then Comforti made up over two seconds with an aggressive fifty breaststroke (34.40). Comforti ultimately stopped the clock at 2:03.69, while Mefford touched in 2:05.13. Joining Mefford on the podium was his teammate, Ethan Dillard, who finished in 2:06.22.
The 800 freestyle belonged entirely to Taylor Ault of La Mirada Armada. Ault led the race the entire way without faltering and stayed consistent for gold and an 8:42.53. Nearly twelve seconds behind Ault, the next closest finisher, teammate Kathleen Sulkevich, grabbed silver in 8:57.09, while Clovis Swim Club’s Emily Niles took third in 8:58.73.
In a significant change of pace–the women’s 50 freestyle–Kenisha Liu once again earned gold in the time of 25.71. Alexandra Crisera of Beach Cities also swam an aggressive race in 26.23. Finally, San Jose Spartans’ Brittany Heng nabbed the bronze from the outside in 26.40.
The title for the men’s 50 freestyle went to Albert Gwo of Palo Alto Stanford, who swam an impressive 23.20, just out-touching Liam O’Haimhirgin (23.25). Meanwhile, Dylan Delaney of Rancho San Dieguito claimed the bronze in 23.54.
In the final individual event of the night, the men’s 1500 freestyle, La Mirada Armada owned the podium. Brad Gonzales came away victorious, posting consistent 1:04 and 1:03 splits. Teammate Michael Lee was the next top finisher in 16:05.50, while Kevin Vargas rounded out the pack in 16:09.30.
In the women’s 400 medley relay, Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics landed the spot on top of the podium. The team of Danielle Carter, Grace Zhao, Sophia Balmaceda, and Brooke Shaffer dropped 4.99 seconds from its seed time, with Zhao beating out all of the other breaststrokers by at least two seconds. Silver went to La Mirada Armada’s team, which put together a blazing back half, thanks to the combined efforts of Catherine Sanchez (59.69) and Taylor Ault (56.85). BREA Aquatics, including Kenisha Liu swimming butterfly, got hold of bronze in 4:16.82.
Palo Alto Stanford racked up yet another gold in the men’s race, where some of the top stroke swimmers from the weekend–Joseph Molinari, Joe Kmak, Alex Liang, and Albert Gwo–pooled their efforts to swim a 3:46.73. Not far behind, Sierra Marlins Swim Team stopped the clock in 3:48.93. Finally, Palo Alto Stanford’s B Relay took the bronze in 3:52.93.
Live results are available at the link on the sidebar as well as on Meet Mobile under “2017 CA-NV Speedo Championships.”
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