Category Archives: Pacific Northwest Swimming

Adrian ties for second in 50 free prelims at Winter Nationals

After waiting around for the other events in the first morning session of the U.S. Winter Nationals, Nathan Adrian won his heat of the 50-meter freestyle rather convincingly Thursday at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

Adrian touched the wall in 22.29 seconds, second overall and tied with Brad Tandy. The finals will include Josh Schneider, Anthony Ervin, Paul Powers, Geoff Cheah, Matt Grevers, Cullen Jones and Santo Condorelli.

The finals are at 6 p.m. If you’re unable to attend the nationals you can watch the lifestream via usaswimmin.org here.

 

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BISC’s Waite earns AG titles last weekend

It was a productive weekend in the pool at the King County Aquatic Center for many area swimmers, including Garrett Waite of Bainbridge Island Swim Club.

Waite, competing in the 13-14 age division at the PNS 14&U Long Course Championships in Federal Way, won the 400-meter individual medley in 4 minutes, 46.19 seconds; the 100 backstroke (1:01.42); the 200 back (2:12.87) and was part of two winning relays — the 200 medley relay (1:51.60) and 400 free relay (3:48.40). Joining him on the medley was Kevin Houseman, Makai Ingalls and Jude Wenker and on the free relay, Winker, Aidan Wagner, and Ingalls.

Wenker also won the 100 freestyle in 55.25 seconds while Ingalls captured the 100 butterfly title in 1:00.33. Also, Sean Markow of BISC won the 10&U 100 butterfly in 1:20.43.

On the girls side, BISC’s Emma Solseng won the 10&U 50 backstroke in 36.92 and the 50 breaststroke in 42.31. And Brianna Hoffman of Poulsbo Piranhas Swim Team claimed the 11-12 400 freestyle title in 4:55.87.

In case you want to check out how all the area swimmers did (I only focused on winners for this post) you can go to the link here.

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Bremerton/Silverdale breaks into USA Swimming’s top swim cities list

We may not be the biggest community in Western Washington considering who our next door neighbors are — I’m looking at you Seattle and Tacoma — but we did something else those two cities didn’t do this week.

The Bremerton/Silverdale area made the Top 20 of USA Swimming/SpeedoUSA’s Top Swim Cities on Wednesda50SwimCitiesInfographicTOP.gify.

Bremerton/Silverdale is ranked 17th overall for all cities with a population of 150,000-249,999. (Check out the graphic on the left. That’s us in the corner!! OK, OK, maybe it’s Seattle but I like to think it’s Bremerton).

“It’s amazing,” said Olympic Aquatic Club coach Patrick Hamilton, “it’s good to get recognized.”

The top city in the smaller category is Columbia, Missouri. It was ranked first based on its high percentage of USA Swimming members, top USA Swimming athletes and large number of fitness swimmers.

Hamilton said Kitsap has a strong swimming community — from parents to officials to volunteers — who make the meets work year round.

“I know our team, Olympic Aquatic Club, we host five meets a year which is a lot of work,” he said, adding volunteer parents typically spend 40-50 hours during the three day meets.

“It’s just a wholesome sport and the community has embraced it,” he said.

The top swim cities showcase what’s great about the sport of swimming, said Matt Farrell, chief marketing officer of USA Swimming in a news release.

“We want to invite people of all ages across the country to join the sport of swimming and we hope this list inspires more kids and families to get involved,” he said.

Bremerton YMCA head coach Marilyn Grindrod said swimming is beneficial no matter if you compete at an elite level or recreationally.

“It’s a sport for life,” she said.

Bremerton-Silverdale club teams include Bremerton Family YMCA, Haselwood Family YMCA Silverdale and Olympic Aquatic Club. Kitsap’s club teams also include Poulsbo Piranhas, Puget Sound Swim Club, Bainbridge Island Swim Team, Bangor Swim Team, and reaching a little further out on the peninsula, Port Angeles and Port Townsend swim teams.

We just missed the cut off for populations with 244,000 or greater, which would have placed Bremerton/Silverdale 13th in the larger category, the Top 50. Seattle is ranked No. 21 in the larger category, with Anchorage, Alaska, coming in at No. 19.Unknown

No other Pacific Northwest cities made the list.

Ann Arbor, Michigan, was once again ranked No. 1 for the second year in the larger category, followed by Durham, North Carolina; Austin, Texas; Madison, Wisconsin; Raleigh-Cary, North Carolina; Fort Collins, Colorado; Washington, D.C.; and Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Connecticut.

Ann Arbor repeated as best swim city, due in part to having the largest percentage of top USA Swimming athletes per population — more than 60 Olympians have come from the University of Michigan’s swim program and area club teams, said USA Swimming. San Jose-Santa Clara is at No. 2.

Each city is ranked based on an aggregate score in categories including the percentage of active swimmers and swim clubs, the number of accessible pools (Bremerton/Silverdale has three) and volume of top-level swimmers from the area. It also took into account the number of USA Swimming members, number of U.S. Masters (adult) swimmers, and the number of USA Swimming clubs.

California, with five cities in the top 17, and Colorado (four in the top 16) were the highest-ranking states. Cities in the top 50 had populations of 250,000 or more.

It’s pretty cool that Bremerton/Silverdale can lay claim to not only national champions, but also high school state champions, age-group champions, masters champions, and, of course, three Olympians in Bremerton’s Tara and Dana Kirk (2004 Olympics) and Nathan Adrian (2008, 2012). If we’re timages-1o include Bainbridge Island, then Emily Silver (2012) makes it four from Kitsap.

“We’ve had some amazing athletes moving up the chain,” Grindrod said. “When those kids were learning to swim they had a passion. They were smart and their parents knew something special about them.”

Speaking of Adrian, the San Francisco-Oakland area moved up to No. 3, which is where he resides and trains with California’s post-grad group that includes fellow Olympic champions Aimagesnthony Ervin and Natalie Coughlin. It’s also home to 10 percent of the country’s U.S. Masters swimmers, more than any other city.

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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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Locals fare well at PNS Champs

There are some local swimmers I wanted to mention who swim for Tacoma Swim Club that competed at the Pacific Northwest Swimming Short Course Championships Dec. 18-21 at KCAC in Federal Way.

Tyler Stewart of Silverdale, 10, qualified for every event offers for his age and out of the six individual events, Stewart medaled in all of them — fourth in the 50 free, third in the 500 free, fifth in the 50 breast, sixth in the 100 breast, third in the 100 IM, and third in the 200 IM. He also swam in two relays, in which the team earned ribbons, and has earned six regional times.

Stewart’s brother, Curtis, 9, also earned two individual ribbons and two relay ribbons.

Here’s the link to check out how all our local swimmers fared. The season is somewhat quiet with a handful of January challenge meets before the 39th Washington Open Jan. 15.  The Washington State YMCA Championships are slated for Jan. 31. The schedule heats up again in the spring with the Speedo Championship Series March 15, NWAG Regionals March 22, and the Spring Divisional Championships March 29.

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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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Young Kerns breaks 40-year-old Bremerton Y records

Brendan Kerns, 10, who swims for the Bremerton YMCA Swim Team set his 17th and 18th team records at the November Age Group Invite at the Curtis High School pool last weekend.

Kerns broke Chuck Talcott’s 41-year record in the 50-yard breastroke in 39.10 seconds and the 50 butterfly record in 32.78, which had been held by Kenny Smith from 1977 in 32.90.

According to Greg Mackem, the assistant aquatics director for YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties, “there have been no other swimmers on the team since it was reformed almost four years ago that have broken records which stood as long as those, nor have any swimmers set as many team records as Brendan.”

YMCA teammate Valencia Tang nearly broke the team record in the 50 fly. Her time of 30.71 was just off the record of 30.59, set in 1984 by Julie Richardson, who was a standout at Olympic High and Puget sound Swim club.

Also, I’ll note that Kerns is listed among the top 25 for his age group in the Pacific Northwest in the 50 breaststroke, the 100 breast, the 50 butterfly, and the 100 fly.

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BAM coach wins national award

I received this release from the Bainbridge Aquatic Masters regarding head coach April Cheadle:

 

April Cheadle
April Cheadle

This week Bainbridge Aquatic Masters (BAM) head coach April Cheadle will travel to Jacksonville, Florida, to accept the Kerry O’Brien Coaching Award. This national award is given to a handful of coaches each year who are building masters membership in communities throughout the country.
Since Cheadle became the BAM coach in 2010, membership on the team has doubled ­ primarily because Cheadle’s passion, enthusiasm, intelligence and patience with all levels of swimmers (and) has become (a) local legend.

The Kerry O’Brien Coaching Award was created to honor the namesake coach of the very successful Walnut Creek Masters program, and the spirit and passion he brings to coaching. Five principal areas of excellence are considered: Building the Foundation, Reenergizing, Mentoring a New Club, Coaching Education at the Local Level and Creating Opportunities for Members. Cheadle was awarded for exceeding the criteria in two areas: Reenergizing and Creating Opportunities for Members.

Cheadle grew up in Central Washington and swam at the University of Washington. She is certified as a coach at the United States Masters Swimming Levels 1, 2 and 3, and was selected as assistant coach for the
Puget Sound Masters National Team in 2011, and co-head coach of the team in 2012 and head coach in 2014.

BAM is the local United States Masters team. They swim at the Bainbridge Aquatic Center with 13 different swim practices offered each week. To be a Masters swimmer, you must be age 18 or older and registered with United States Masters Swimming. Skill level and ability varies from beginner to national competitor and all are welcome. Get more info at www.bainbridgeaquaticmasters.com.

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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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BISC’s Lipton wins at LC Championships last month

I’m still catching up on my emails after vacation, so forgive the delay in getting this info on my blog, but Ian Lipton continues to produce as a 10-Under age-group swimmer for the Bainbridge Island Swim Club.

Lipton won six individual titles at the Long Course Championships at the King County Aquatic Center on July 23-27. More than 1,000 swimmers participated in the meet. BISC finished fifth overall among 34 teams.

Lipton won the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle, 400 freestyle, 50 backstroke, 100 back and was third in the 100 breaststroke and the 200 individual medley. Also in the 10U category, Collin Bushey was third in the 50 butterfly, fourth in the 100 fly, fifth in the 50 back, sixth in the 400 free, seventh in the 100 free, and eighth in the 50 free.

In the 11-12 boys category, Jude Wenker placed second in the 50 free, 100 free and 200 free, fourth in the 50 breast, 100 breast, 50 fly and 200 IM. He was fifth in the 200 breast. James Sanchez placed seventh in the 100 free, 50 fly, 100 fly, eighth in the 50 free, 50 breast, and eighth in the 100 breast. Aron Markow was second in the 50 back, fifth in the 50 breast, sixth in the 100 back and 100 breast. Max Eyrich was second in the 800 free; Andrew Witty placed seventh in 200 back.

In the 13-14 boys category, Garrett Waite was second in the 800 free, third in the 100 back and 200 back, fifth in the 200 free, seventh in the 200 IM and 400 IM. Kevin Houseman finished second in the 100 breast and fourth in the 200 breast; Makai Ingalls was fourth in the 100 fly and Parker Bushey was fifth in the 50 free.

For the girls, Margaret Hayes was third in the 50 fly, fourth in the 100 fly, sixth in the 200 IM and eighth in the 200 free in the 10-U category. Hannah Tonsmann, in the 11-12 category, was eighth in the 1,500 free.

 

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