Category Archives: Olympic Aquatic Club

Locals shine at Dick LaFave meet

Olympic Aquatic Club placed third overall at the Dick LaFave meet at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way this week.

OAC finished with 353 points as 18 swimmers participated. Bellevue Club Swim Team, with 151 swimmers, won the meet with 634 points. Pacific Dragons Swim Team, with 48, finished with 505.5 points.

Poulsbo Piranhas Swim Team finished sixth (28, 206 points) while Bremerton YMCA Swim team (9, 41 points) was 17th to round out local clubs.

Individually, OAC’s Diddle Devine won the girls 10&U 50-meter butterfly in 36.62 seconds and the 200 individual medley (2:55.04), 100 fly (1:26.96). Devine was also second in the 100 breaststroke. Kira Ashmore of OAC won the 13-14 100 breast (1:21.31), the 200 breast (2:55.96) and 400 IM (5:32.09).

OAC’s Kira Crane won the 15 and over 50 freestyle in 29.37.

On the boys side, Brendan Kerns of the Bremerton Y won the 10&U 100 free in 1:14.11 while Ian Stefanski, Poulsbo Piranhas, won the 400 free in 5:48.20. OAC’s Ross Burchell won the 13-14 year old 100 free in 59.60, the 200 free (2:08.99), 400 free (4:34.34) and the 400 IM (13-14 division) in 5:15.01.

Poulsbo Piranhas’ Tim Gallagher won the 100 back (1:08.62), 200 back (2:25.15) while teammate Ethan Fox won the 100 breast (1:16.82) as the Piranhas swept the top three spots in that event (Stefanski was second and Nathan Ramey third). Ramey won the 200 breast in 2:48.78 (and Fox was second and Stefanski was third).

OAC’s Nathan Rubie won the 100 fly in 1:02.04, setting a meet record. The old record was 1:03.90 by Gabe Florsheim in 2012. Rubie also won the 200 fly in a meet record 2:22.93. The old record was 2:24.39 in 2012 by Jeffrey Li. Rubie also won the 200 IM in 2:29.74.

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OAC sending nine to Far Westerns

Olympic Aquatic Club qualified nine swimmers to the Speedo Short Course Far Westerns this week in Morgan Hill, California. The meet is from April 9-12.

OAC’s qualifiers are Kira Ashmore, Amanda Ashmore, Ross Burchell, Kira Crane, Mason Heaman, Eleanor Hebard, Elizabeth Helmer, Andrew Renninger, and Nathan Rubie.

I don’t know of any other local club swimmers who qualified for the meet, but if you do feel free to let me know and I’ll add their names to the list and report results next week. Contact me at annette.griffus@kitsapsun.com.

 

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BISC’s Markow sets club record at OAC March Madness meet

Bainbridge Island Swim Club’s Aron Markow, 12, set a club record in the 50-yard breaststroke March 7-8 at the OAC March Madness Meet in East Bremerton.

Markow’s time of 28.65 seconds puts him fifth in the country for his age group, 11-to-12 year old, and into 10th place in the 100 breaststroke in one minute, 3.85 seconds.

Sean Markow, 10, won all 10 of his individual events and was part of the 10U medley and freestyle relays that also won.

Bainbridge won the team event with a score of 995. Poulsbo Piranhas finished second (676), followed by Olympic Aquatic Club (605.5). Bangor Trident Swim Team finished eighth (57).

Here’s a link to find the full results from the meet.

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Results available from Divisional meet held at OAC

With the majority of our swimmers participating in the Pacific Northwest Division 4 meet at Olympic Aquatic Club last weekend, it would take me much too long to mention everyone. So, I’m going to hit on a few highlights and then tell you you can find the results at the pns.org website.

Several swimmers pulled down multiple wins. For girls, Kira Crane of Olympic Aquatic Club won the 50 backstroke, 50 butterfly, 100 Individual Medley in the 13 and over category. Jaine Macias of Port Angeles Swim Club won the 100 back, 200 fly and 200 IM while Carter Juskevich of PASC picked up wins in the 50 breast and 200 breast.

In the 11-12 category, Kira Ashmore of OAC won the 200 back and 100 fly.

For boys, Ian Stefanski of Poulsbo Piranhas Swim Team earned wins in the 9-year-old 50 back and 50 breast. Bainbridge Island Swim Club’s Collin Bushey was first in the 50 fly and 50 back in the 10-year-old category. In the 11-12, PPST’s Jesse Johnston won the 200 back and 100 back. And ross Burchell of OAC won the 50 breast and 100 IM in the 13 and over category.

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Silverdale’s Sapp, Seattle U participate in SWAA

Arianna Sapp of Silverdale and members of the Seattle University swim team participated in the Swim Across America, an annual event dedicated to raising money and awareness for cancer research, prevention and treatment through swimming-related events.

Sapp, a redshirt sophomore, finished in seventh place in the two-mile race that began at the Mercerwood Shore Club and ended at Luther Burbank Park at Mercer Island. The team members raised $4,460, part of more than $240,000 raised on behalf of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.

Sapp graduated from Valhalla, California, High School, and previously swam for Olympic Aquatic Club.

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OAC hires two new coaches

Olympic Aquatic Club hired two new coaches for its senior and age-group teams.

Patrick Hamilton replaces Greg Mercer while Shona Jarboe takes over for Taryn Beard.

Hamilton is a former high school All-American who swam at Interlake High in Bellevue before graduating from Louisiana State University and the University of Washington. Hamilton coached the Pacific Northwest Swimming All-Stars in Las Vegas and was a PNW zone team coach, age-group coach for King Aquatic Club in Seattle, Issaquah Swim Team and the Central Area Aquatic Team head coach.

Jarboe was coaching age-group swimming at Bangor Trident Swim Team before joining OAC.

Also

OAC has open tryouts for all swimmers ages 6-18. For more information, contact president@oacswim.org.

 

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Locals part of PNS runner-up team at Western Zone

Kitsap swimmers were well represented on the Pacific Northwest Swimming team that finished in second place overall at the Western Zone Age Group Championships last week at King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.
PNS finished behind Colorado Swimming Zone Team with 3,283 points to PNS 3,056. Local swimmers who competed were Amanda Ashmore and Andrew Renninger of Olympic Aquatic Club; Eleanor Beers and Alex Stefanski of Poulsbo Piranhas Swim Team; and Ian Lipton, Andrew Markow, Jude Wenker and Parker Bushey of Bainbridge Island Swim Club.
Lipton was the highest finisher among locals individually, placing second in the 10U 100-meter backstroke in 1 minute, 14.01 seconds and the 50 backstroke in 35.26 seconds. Lipton was the top seed heading into the final. He was also third in the 200 individual medley in 2:46.18, fifth in the 200 freestyle in 2:26.08, the 100 freestyle in 1:08.41 and the 50 free in 31.60. Lipton was part of the PNS championship 400 medley relay in 5:11.52 and helped the 200 free relay to second place in 2:07.80.
Ashmore helped PNS place second in the 10-U 200 medley relay in 2:23.31, third in the 400 free relay in 4:43.84, third in the 200 free relay in 2:07.93, and sixth in the 400 medley relay in 5:11.11. Individually, Ashmore was fifth in the 50 freestyle in 31.62, 10th in the 50 butterfly in 34.77 and 13th in the 100 freestyle in 1:11.64.
Renninger placed 15th in the 10U 200 freestyle in 2:37.29 and the 200 individual medley in 2:55.52, and 19th in the 50 backstroke in 39.05. He also helped PNS finish eighth in the 400 free relay in 4:57.47, 10th in the 200 free relay in 2:15.47, and 10th in the 400 medley relay in 5:39.57.
Beers finished eighth in the 11-12 division in the 100 free in 1:03.90, and 13th in the 50 fly in 31.63. In the 400 medley relay, Beers helped PNS place second in 400 medley relay in 4:40.15, third in the 200 medley relay in 2:07.28, fourth in the 200 free relay in 1:56.52, and fifth in the 400 free relay in 4:17.74.
Stefanski placed 13th in the 11-12 100 breaststroke in 1:20.55 and the 200 breast in 2:57.62.
Markow placed fourth in the 11-12 50 breast in 34.40, 13th in the 50 back in 33.54, and 14th in the 100 breast in 1:20.72. Markow also helped the 200 free relay to eighth place in 1:56.73, and the 400 free relay to a ninth-place finish in 4:22.13.
Wenker placed third in the 11-12 200 free in 2:12.09, fourth in the 50 free in 27.68 sixth in the 50 breast in 35.88, sixth in the 100 free in 1:01.64, seventh in the 200 breast in 2:51.83, and ninth in the 100 breast in 1:18.32. He was also part of the three winning relay teams, the 400 free relay that finished in 4:02.94 the 200 free relay in 1:50.41, and the 400 medley relay in 4:29.37. The 200 medley relay placed third in 2:07.36.
Bushey helped the 13-14 400 free relay to a first-place finish in 3:44.36 as well as the 200 free realy in 1:41.42. He finished 14th in the 13-14 100 free in 56.99.

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OAC says goodbye to long-time official, volunteer

I think Nick Giovanni should have been dubbed “Mr. Everything.”

He certainly did everything he could for the club during his 20-plus years volunteering for the swim club in Bremerton.

From seeing it through its transition from school-district sponsored team to USA Swimming club. Giovanni served as board president, board member, timer, official and bookkeeper.

On Saturday, Giovanni officially entered the world of retirement. You can read the story I wrote about that here. The photos are from former OAC age-group coach Bonnie Burmaster, who is good friends with Nick and his wife, Kathy.

Nick Giovanni is presented flowers during a ceremony honoring his 20 years of volunteerism for the Olympic Aquatic Club in Bremerton (Courtesy photo)
Nick Giovanni is presented flowers during a ceremony honoring his 20 years of volunteerism for the Olympic Aquatic Club in Bremerton
(Courtesy photo)

Here’s what board member and meet director Ed Hamilton wrote to me about Nick on Friday:

“As a non-profit group, as with most youth sports, OAC has to have volunteers involved with every part of our operation, and this isn’t limited to someone being on the pool deck for a swim meet.  Nick’s contribution to OAC has been in every part of the Club’s operation.  He has volunteered on our Board of Directors, he has handled the finances for a great number of years and, more visibly, he has volunteered for every job at our swim meets.

So, Nick’s experience and knowledge of swimming has been vital to OAC and the swimming community in Kitsap County.  While swimmers come and go, and parent volunteers come and go, Nick has been the resource on how to properly get things done.

I’ve been volunteering with OAC for over five years.  During that time I’ve served on the Board and helped at home swim meets.  For every one of those positions Nick is the person that I go to when I need a question answered or I need advice for getting something done.

Nick’s contribution to swimming goes well beyond OAC.  He has volunteered his on-deck abilities for high school swimming, to OAC and to other teams in our area who are holding events but don’t have a head referree available.  To put some perspective around his contribution it can be easily calculated that he spends 150 hours volunteering on a pool deck every year.  That’s equivalent of almost a month of working a full time job.  Add to that the efforts behind the scenes, that for many years far exceeded his on-deck time, for the last 20-plus years and you realise he has contributed a significant part of his life to this sport and to our community.

Nick will be missed by the swimming community.  Personally, I’ll miss his wisdom around the pool, I’ll miss hearing the stories of the swimmers over the years and I’ll especially miss him the next time I show up at the pool at 6 am and he isn’t there with the coffee.”

I don’t think anyone could have said it better.

Congratulations Nick and Kathy!!

Retiring Nick Giovanni receives flowers from swimmers during the OAC Summer Splash meet in Bremerton on Saturday. (Courtesy photo)
Retiring Nick Giovanni receives flowers from swimmers during the OAC Summer Splash meet in Bremerton on Saturday.
(Courtesy photo)

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OAC community project slated for June 27

Olympic Aquatic Club will host a summer beach clean up in partnership with the Port of Silverdale.

The clean up is June 27, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Silverdale boat ramp.

The club will meet at the boat ramp, and assign specific areas for clean up from there. All supplies needed will be provided by the port and they are providing a lunch to volunteers as well. If the weather cooperates, the club may have some open water races to conclude the day.

For questions or more information, contact Amy Scholfield at ascholfield@wavecable.com

 

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Port Orchard Classic results here

With the Port Orchard Classic being a local meet, it wouldn’t make sense for me to focus on our locals because they’re are too many locals to count. So, with that being said here’s a link to the results. That way you can look through the results and find what you want.

Evergreen Swim Club won the team title with 631 points, followed by Olympic Aquatic Club (403.5) and Port Angeles Swim Club (345.5). Poulsbo Piranhas were 10th (29) and Bangor Trident Swim Team (3) was 11th.

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