Boys Show Signs of Becoming Power; Girls Once Again Shine at YMCA Meet
The 15-and-over Palisades-Malibu YMCA swimmers set the tone for the rest of the team with multiple firsts at the 2004 YMCA Regional Championships January 9-10. Over 700 swimmers competed at the 10-lane competition pool at Commerce Aquatorium. Paly head Coach Adam Blakis was pleased. “The senior team swam exceptionally well,” he said. “We just came off of three weeks of intensive winter training and most of the swimmers improved on their times.” Brian Johnson swam a personal best in the 200 Freestyle. Gavin Jones swam his lifetime best in the 100 Backstroke. Overall, in the 15-and-over group, the girls took first place in the 400 Freestyle Relay (3:55.47) with Alexa Merz, Alison Piazza, Kathryn Smith, and Cara Davidoff. Merz, Smith, Davidoff, and Cara’s sister Chelsea Davidoff also took first in the 200 Medley Relay (1:58.43). The boys’ 200 Medley Relay took third in 1:53.06, thanks to Brian Johnson, Randy Lee, Gavin Jones, and Paris Hays. Jones, Peter Fishler, Lee, and Hays also swam third in the 200 Freestyle Relay. Alexa Merz dominated her division with seven first-place finishes, in 200 Freestyle (1:56.40), 100 Backstroke (1:01.42), 100 Freestyle (52.54), 50 Freestyle (23.99), 200 Individual Medley (2:10.90), 100 Breastroke (1:09.24) and 50 Butterfly (28.14). She also took second in the 100 Butterfly in 1:02.70. Teammate Cara Davidoff won the Open Division of the 100 Backstroke (1:10.53), swam second in the 500 Freestyle (5:20.37), third in the 200 Freestyle (2:05.91) and fifth in the 100 Butterfly (1:04.71). Chelsea Davidoff won the 50 Breaststroke (38.09), and placed fifth in the 100 Backstroke (1:12.02), the 50 Freestyle (27.64), and 100 Breaststroke (1:17.92). Kathryn Smith swam the 100 Backstroke in 1:03.04 to place second in her division. She added a second place medal in the 200 Backstroke (2:17.50). Hannah Haberfield made it to the finals in both the 100 and 200 Butterfly. Ashley Jacobs swam to the finals in the 50 Freestyle, 200 Individual Medley and the 100 Breaststroke. Teammate Alison Piazza also joined that elite group of swimmers by making it into the final in the 100 and 200 Backstroke events. Ali Barall improved her time by three seconds in the 100 Freestyle. In previous years, the Paly team lacked strength in its senior boy division. But Blakis’ recruiting efforts are bearing fruit this season, as the team is now becoming a force to be reckoned with because of Fishler, Dan Fox, Hays, Johnson, Jones, Lee, and David Nonberg. Fishler made the finals in seven events and took fifth in the 100 Freestyle (54.01) and 50 Freestyle (24.77). Fox made the finals in the 100 Butterfly and 100 Backstroke. Hays made finals in the 100 Butterfly and 100 Backstroke, placing sixth (1:01.99) in that event. Johnson swam second in the 200 Backstroke (2:08.98) and fourth in both the 200 Freestyle (1:54.47) and 100 Backstroke (1:00.32). Jones made the finals in five events, with a sixth-place finish in the 100 Freestyle (55.08), and seventh-places in the 50 Freestyle, 200 Individual Medley, 100 Backstroke, and 100 Breaststroke. Lee made the finals of the 200 Freestyle, 100 Freestyle and 50 Freestyle, and took fourth in the 100 Breaststroke (1:10.93). Nonberg reached the finals in the 200 Freestyle, 100 Butterfly and 200 Butterfly events. A swimmer scores points by placing in the finals of an event. First place is awarded 20 points and 16th place, (the last place allowed to swim in finals) earns one point. Relay teams are scored from 40 points for a first-place finish to 18 points for ninth-place. For example, in the 13- and 14-year-old age division, Samantha Brill made finals in six events, meaning she scored 45 points for Paly. She also had the satisfaction of finishing second in the 100 Backstroke (1:09.81) and third in the 100 Breaststroke (1:18.25) in the finals. The 200 Medley Relay team of Brill, Cathryn Quinn, Kathryn Cullen and Jacqueline Devereaux was third, scoring an additional 32 points towards the Paly girls’ team total. Quinn also made the finals in six events, taking fifth in the 200 Individual Medley (2:30.32), fourth in the 50 Freestyle (27.34), 100 Freestyle (59.44) and 100 Breaststroke (1:18.77). She placed third in the 100 Backstroke (1:09.15). Cullen’s times were fast enough to make finals in the 100 Butterfly and 100 Backstroke events. Lizze Ebert improved on all of her times, dropping as much as five seconds. For the boys, Alex Fujinaka made the finals in the 100 Freestyle while Nicholas Kaufman continues to look strong. In the 11- and 12-year-old division, Allison Merz made five finals, dropping five seconds in the 100 Backstroke. Alexandra Edel made finals in all three events she entered and dropped nine seconds off of her best 200 Breaststroke time. Shelby Pascoe reached the finals of two events, dropping six seconds off of her 200 Individual Medley time. Jessica Schem took sixth in the 100 Backstroke (1:17.19). Anthony Stephen, Jared Brown, Xavier Whatley, Slau Yanou, and John Cullen all dropped time from previous meets. Mindy Dinah, Jack Porter, and Ben Lewenstein had respectable times for their first Regional meet. Danny Fujinaka went to the finals in six events, dropping nine seconds off of his old 100 Backstroke time. Matthew Thorson made the finals in two events, dropping almost 20 seconds in his 200 Individual Medley. Coach Blakis is thrilled at the prospect and potential his younger swimmers represent: “With our younger swimmers, we emphasize stroke refinement. As their strokes improve, their times get faster, ensuring that they will be the swimmers dominating meets in the coming years.” The 10-and-under division was led by MacKenzie Leake, who won three events: the 50 Backstroke (35.16), 100 Individual Medley (1:15.99) and the 50 Breaststroke (39.80). She took second in the 50 Butterfly (33.97) and third in both the 100 Freestyle (1:07.10) and 50 Freestyle (31.02). Catherine Wang took fifth in the 100 Individual Medley (1:22.86), sixth in the 50 Freestyle and seventh in the 50 Breaststroke (44.29). Also making finals for Paly in the 10-and-under category were Sabrina Giglio and Nicholas Edel in the 50 Breaststroke, Rachel Jaffee in the 50 Freestyle and 50 Breaststroke, and Olivia Kirkpatrick in the 50 Breaststroke. Improving on their times were Anthony Blake, Mathew Piazza, Zoe Dutton, Leland Frankel, Tristan Hochuli, Lila Lewenstein, Gabriel Kaufman, Josephine Kremer (taking off 10 seconds in the 100 Freestyle), Sarah Thorson, Alistair Whatley and Jordon Wilimovsky. Noah Martin stayed steady. Assistant Coach Chappie DeHaven said: “The kids swam phenomonally well, especially when you consider our junior swimmers are in the middle of their training cycle and were racing tired. I can’t wait to see what we do at Y Champs the last weekend in February.”
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