SAN JOSE, California, August 3. IN an effort to keep us sounding like a broken record, the 13-14 girls team from Quebec decided to claim another Far Western meet record on the fourth night of finals at the 2013 Speedo Far Western Long Course Championship.
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But even before the final events began, spectators got treated to a remarkably fast 200 butterfly in the prelims session from AZ GOLD’s Seth Chun. Chun, who tied Swimming World Magazine’s Male High School Swimmer of the Year Ryan Murphy’s 2:14.40 National Age Group record at the Arizona Age Group Championship meet, hoped to claim it for his own in the morning session to save energy for the other events he was swimming in finals. Half a pool length ahead of the competition, Chun “only” managed a 2:15.01. Chun lowered his prelims time in finals with a 2:14.76, lowering the Far Western meet record from Justin Lynch’s 2:16.65.
Day four finals kicked off with the 200 freestyle and a 10 & under girls win from Scottsdale Aquatic Club’s Ashley Strouse. Although she didn’t capture Olympic legend Janet Evan’s 1984 meet record, Strouse did race to a respectable 2:23.25 for the win. Pleasanton’s Erika Brown added to her collection of individual Far Western titles with a 200 freestyle win (2:06.07) after a back and forth race with Arden Hill’s Kassidy Henson (2:07.90).
In a style reminiscent of their 200 butterfly/400 freestyle battles on the third night of finals, Palo Alto’s Alex Liang and Sierra Marlins’ Bryce Mefford duked it out in the boy’s 13-14 200 freestyle. Liang popped off an early lead, but Mefford’s late surge put him in a perfect position to take the win in a 1:56.87 over Liang’s 1:58.86. 30 minutes later, Liang came back to take the boy’s 200 fly title in a 2:11.69.
The night concluded with a Team Quebec sweep of the 800 freestyle relays. The 13-14 girls squad that claimed three relay meet records in three nights kept true to their streak, downing the 800 freestyle meet record in an 8:44.89. Allyson Kis (2:09.79), Daphne Danyluk (2:11.44), Jillian Pauletto (2:10.14) and Stephanie Hussey (2:13.52) downed the 8:47.04 previous meet record set in 2002 by the Terrapins. Team Quebec then took the boy’s 13-14 and girls 15-18 800 freestyle titles, and concluded the meet with a Far Western record in the boy’s 15-18 800 freestyle relay. Samuel Belanger, Marshal Dubord, Emile Leblanc and Etienne Paquin-Foisy worked together for a 7:56.91 winning time, several tenths under the 8:57.15 previous meet record set by the Pleasanton Seahawks in 2012.
