Westside Aquatics Swimmers to Compete For L.A. County in Regionals at Newport

For L.A. County in Regionals at NewportLocal swim and water polo club Westside Aquatics will be well-represented at the Junior Lifeguard regional competition in Newport Beach next week, as six swimmers earned spots on the Los Angeles County regional team during tryouts at Dockweiler Beach.

Each Los Angeles County beach, as far north as Zuma and as far south as Redondo, sent its best swimmers, runners and paddlers to the tryouts. After a full day of competition, only the top three finishers in each event for each age group were selected for the regional team. The top competitors at regionals will represent L.A. County at the National United States Lifesaving Association National Lifeguard Championships on August 7 in Manhattan Beach.

Zachary Senator, an incoming freshman at Palisades High and a JG “A” at Will Rogers, finished first in both the distance swim and distance run events, while Kian Brouwer, a JG “B” at Venice who also will attend PaliHi this fall, also was first in both events.

Sammy Speiser, an eighth grader at Paul Revere, is a Will Rogers “B” who finished second in the run swim run, while Revere sixth grader and Venice “C” Sydney Brouwer was first in the run swim run.

Sydney’s older brother Shane, an incoming junior at PaliHi, is a Venice “AA” who finished first in the distance run, while Sean Tenan-Snow, an incoming Pali freshman and Venice “B”, was third in the paddle. Palisadian Brent Smith, an eighth grader at Paul Revere and Will Rogers “B”, finished first in the run.

Other Westside Aquatics swimmers posting strong finishes included: JG “C’s” Maximo Speiser (seventh in distance swim, fifth in run swim run and ninth in paddle) and Andrew Planting (fifth in distance swim and seventh in run swim run); JG “B’s” Ethan Webster (ninth in distance swim), Kat Gipson (19th in distance swim, ninth in run swim run), Alli Hopkins (20th in distance swim, sixth in run swim run) and Marcus Lehr (21st in distance swim).

Westside Aquatics, headquartered at the Palisades High pool, is owned by Adam Blakis and the head swim coach is Tim Murphy.