Vicente Curry, Beast of the Week. Apuron Photography
The Sea Lions Swim Team hosted the Coolidge Dolphins at the Mammoth Pool on Saturday. For over 11 years, the Sea Lions have won every dual meet in the Central Arizona Swimming League, but most of the close wins have been against Coolidge. Even though the weather forecast predicted rain, and it rained during most of the meet, both teams showed up and competed at a high level. The Sea Lions won the meet 797 – 593.
As the meet began, the Sea Lions took a small lead after the Individual Medley (IM) events. It is part of the team culture that all Sea Lions swimmers learn all four of the competitive strokes and compete in the IM.
Following the Individual Medley events was the Medley Relay. In this race each swimmer swims a different stroke in the relay. Out of the 10 relay age groups, the Dolphins won 5 relays and the Sea Lions won 5 Relays, making it clear that that both teams were ready to battle for every point.
During the rest of the meet, the Sea Lions did what they always do best – they swam every event and swam well. Through the Butterfly and Backstroke Events, the Sea Lions’ lead grew. In the second half of the meet, the Dolphins showed the strength of their team in the Breaststroke and Freestyle events, but it was not enough to close the lead on the Sea Lions. The Sea Lions put an exclamation point on the meet by winning 7 out of the 10 Freestyle Relays at the end of the meet. One of the most exciting relays was the 9-10 girls relay where Jessica Rouse held off a charging Coolidge Swimmer by less than 1/3 of a second.
Winning in the rain was something the Sea Lions have not had to do before in a summer meet.
“Both teams showed a lot of determination and grit competing in the rain. Judging by how fast the Sea Lions were swimming, the weather did not slow them down at all,” Coach Alex Gort indicated.
Sea Lions Swimmers achieved many personal best times at the meet. Vicente Curry (12) was the only Sea Lion who swam the maximum number of events in his age group and earned personal best times in each one.
The following swimmers swam the maximum number of the events at the meet and won them all.
Julie Ramirez (11), Rianna Estrada (13), Evan Apuron (15) and Darien Apuron (17) each won all the events they swam at the meet.
Evan Apuron breaking the backstroke record, Apuron Photography
Evan Apuron broke 3 team records at the meet. He broke the 100 Backstroke team record with a time of 1:00.40 bettering the record previously held by Will Newman (1:01.85 in 2014). Evan bettered times in records he already held, swimming 24.52 in the 50 Freestyle and 53.18 in the 100 freestyle.
The following swimmers had first place finishes on Saturday:
Jocelyn Hudson, 8, (IM, Fly, Back, 50 Free, Breast, Free, Free Relay);
Jessica Rouse, 10, (Free Relay);
Julie Ramirez, 11, (IM, Fly, Back, 100 Free, Breast, Free, Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Arianna Ervin, 11, (Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Neveah Derrick, 12, (Medley Relay);
Pedro Young, 11, (Free Relay);
Johnny Smallhouse, 11, (Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Joey Castellanos, 12, (IM, Fly, Back, 100 Free, Free, Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Vicente Curry, 12, (Medley Relay);
Mason Stewart, 12, (Breast);
Briana Castellanos, 13, (Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Robert Sanz- Anton, 13, (Free Relay);
Rianna Estrada, 14, (IM, Fly, Back, 100 Free, Breast, Free, Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Hannah Smallhouse, 14, (Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Hunter Hill, 14, (Medley Relay, Free Relay);
AJ Lopez, 14, (Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Riley Stewart, 14, (Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Evan Apuron, 15, (IM, Fly, Back, 100 Free, Breast, Free, Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Alyssa Riekofski, 15, (Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Andres Valenzuela, 16, (IM, Fly, Back, 100 Free, Breast, Free Relay);
BaiLee Hill, 16, (Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Darien Apuron, 17, (IM, Fly, Back, 100 Free, Breast, Free, Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Jessi Rice, 17, (Medley Relay, Free Relay).
Damian Marquez swims in his first swim meet. Apuron Photography
Six year old Damian Marquez competed in his first swim meet in the 6 and Under Boys age group. He swam the 25 Butterfly, 25 Breaststroke, and 25 Freestyle. Damian earned ribbons in each race.
Vicente Curry was named Sea Lions Beast of the Week. He had a great week of practice that finished with personal best times in every race at the meet. Not only did he have best times in every race, the size of the improvements was tremendous. For example he dropped 30 seconds in the 100 IM from his previous best time of 2:04 to a sizzling time of 1:34. Vicente was wearing a new team cap for his races, and that along with the combination of hard work and paying attention to the details in each stroke, made a difference.
The Sea Lions will attend their next meet in Florence on Saturday, June 23.
There is still time to join the team – contact Alex or Wendy Gort at 896-2190 or stop by the Mammoth Pool between 4 and 5:30 p.m. (Monday through Friday) for more information.