They did it again: Sea Lions win 12th straight district championship

  The Central Arizona League Championship Swim Meet was held at the Florence Aquatic Center on Saturday, July 14.  The overall team scores were as follows:

• 1^st place–Sea Lions with 976 points

• 2^nd place–Coolidge Dolphins with 793 points

• 3^rd place–Parkside Piranhas with 768 points

• 4^th place–San Tan Valley Barracudas with 363 points

• 5^th place–Globe Piranhas with 315 points

• 6^th place–Florence Sharks with 67 points

• 7^th place–Eloy Otters with 58 points

  This is the twelfth consecutive year that the Sea Lions have won the League Championship Meet.  Every Sea Lion Swimmer earned points for the team.  Every Sea Lions Swimmer completed all their races legally – there were no disqualifications. 

  One of the most fundamental goals of the Sea Lions team is for swimmers to keep improving. Swimmers had many personal best times.  The following 18 Sea Lions Swimmers had personal best times in every race they swam at the Meet:  Jessica Rouse, Athan Riekofski, Cooper Dale, Arianna Ervin, Juliana Ramirez, Pedro Young, Martin Madrid, Briana Castellanos, Mia Dale, Tabitha Kellam, Ben Fister, Robert Sanz-Anton, Hunter Hill, Riley Stewart, AJ Lopez, Aubrey Bridges, Darien Apuron, and Andres Valenzuela.

  Several outstanding performances had the coaches smiling.  In the 7-8 Girls age group, Annie Nemons and Jocelyn Hudson teamed up to win 5 (out of 6) individual events and both relays.  Both girls had to swim two legs on both relays.  The Relays were very close but both times, the Sea Lions found a way to win.

  First year swimmer, ten year old Athan Riekofski, showed just how far a swimmer can come in the first year with consistent practice and hard work.  He quickly learned all 4 racing strokes, along with the racing start and turns.  Athan finished off the season with huge time improvements in his Butterfly (26 Seconds) and Breaststroke (13 seconds) events.  The coaches had more to smile about when they saw Athan achieved another person best time in the Backstroke which was good enough to earn 6^th place.  He swam in two relays with Cooper Dale – both boys need to swim two legs in the relays. They finished 5^th in the Medley Relay and 4^th in the Freestyle Relay, dropping dozens of seconds in each.    

  Juliana Ramirez won three individual events in the 11-12 age group.  What made the coaches smile was the fact that she is only 11 years old, and in most cases was not the number 1 seed.  Her swims in both the 100 IM  and 100 Free to hold off the fastest seed in the final yards sent the message that she has the endurance to beat anyone in the League.  She swam 4 seconds faster than she ever did before to win both those races.  In the 50 Butterfly she swam a technically excellent race that left everyone else battling for 2^nd place.

  In the championship meet format, each swimmer is limited to 3 individual events and 2 relays.   The following Sea Lion Swimmers won all five of the races that they swam:   Jocelyn Hudson, Joey Castellanos, Tabitha Kellam, Evan Apuron, Riley Stewart, and Darien Apuron.

  Sea Lion Swimmers broke 16 League Championship Meet Records. Since the championship brings the best swimmers from all the teams in the League, it is a tremendous achievement to break a Championship Meet Record.  Sea Lion Swimmers who set new Championship Meet Records include:  Rianna Estrada, Tabitha Kellam, AJ Lopez, Evan Apuron, Riley Stewart, Star Chavez, Jessi Rice and Darien Apuron.  One of the oldest records, the 15-18 Girls Medley Relay previously held by Maricopa Barricudas (2002), was broken by the team of Darien Apuron, Star Chavez and Jessi Rice with a time of 2:14.09.  Darien also broke records in all three of her individual events – 200 IM 2:27.95 (previously held by Baylee Hodge of Coolidge, 2014), 100 Back 1:06.17 (previously held by Bianca Silva of Parkside, 2013) and 100 Free 1:00.15 (previously held by Meghan Cook of the Sea Lions, 2011).

  In the 13-14 Boys, Riley Stewart broke the 100 Backstroke Record with a time of 1:00.04 (previously held by Will Newman of the Sea Lions, 2014),  the 100 Breaststroke 1:07.57 (previously held by Evan Apuron of the Sea Lions, 2017), and bettered his own record in the 100 Freestyle with a time of 51.96.  Evan Apuron broke the 50 Freestyle record with a time of 22.66 (previously held by Adriel Huerta of San Tan Valley, 2011) and bettered his own league records in the 200 IM  (2:08.64) and  the 100 Fly (54.51).  Evan and Riley were joined by AJ Lopez in the relays to set incredibly fast records in the  Medley Relay (1:53.08) and Free Relay (1:39.62). Both relay times would hold up well at most High School competitions.

  In the 13-14 Girls Tabitha Kellam broke 3 individual records – 100 Butterfly 1:02.59 (previously held by Darien Apuron of the Sea Lions, 2015), 100 Back 1:06.17 (previously held by Darien Apuron of the Sea Lions 2016), and bettered her own record in the 100 Free with a time of 57.50.  Tabitha was joined by Rianna Estrada in the Medley Relay to better the record they set in 2017 with a time of 2:13.75. 

  Thirteen Sea Lion Team Records were broken at the meet.  Rianna Estrada, Tabitha Kellam, AJ Lopez, Evan Apuron, Riley Stewart, Star Chavez, Jessi Rice, and Darien Apuron all set new team records.

  With seven teams and over 200 swimmers, any finish in the top 8 places is an impressive achievement.  All 36 Sea Lions had top 8 finishes at the Championship:

Damian Marquez, 6, (6^th Fly, 4^th Back, 4^th Breast)

Annie Nemans, 7, (4^th Fly, 1^st Breast, 1^st Free, 1^st Medley Relay, 1^st  Free Relay);

Jocelyn Hudson, 8, (1^st IM, 1^st Back, 1^st 50 Free, 1^st Medley Relay, 1^st Free Relay);

Jessica Rouse, 10, (3^rd IM, 3^rd Back, 5^th Breast, 2^nd Medley Relay, 3^rd Free Relay);

Cooper Dale, 10, (2^nd IM, 1^st Breast, 4^th Free, 5^th Medley Relay, 4^th Free Relay);

Athan Riekofski, 10, (6^th Back, 5^th Medley Relay, 4^th Free Relay)

Arianna Ervin, 11, (8^th Back, 7^th  Free, 2^nd Medley Relay, 3^rd Free Relay);

Juliana Ramirez, 11, (1^st IM, 1^st Fly, 1^st 100 Free, 2^nd Medley Relay, 3^rd Free Relay);

Martin Madrid, 11, (5^th IM, 4^th Back, 4^th Breast, 4^th Medley Relay, 4^th Free Relay);

Pedro Young, 11, (7^th Back, 5^th 100 Free, 7^th 50 Free, 4^th Medley Relay, 4^th Free Relay);

John Smallhouse, 11, (2^nd 100 Free, 2^nd Breast, 3^rd Free, 1^st Medley Relay, 1^st  Free Relay);

Nevaeh Derrick, 12, (3^rd Back, 8^th Breast, 5^th Free, 2^nd Medley Relay, 3^rd Free Relay);

Joey Castellanos, 12, (1^st Fly, 1^st Back, 1^st 50 Free, 1^st Medley Relay, 1^st Free Relay);

Vicente Curry, 12, (6^th IM, 5^th Fly, 3^rd Breast, 4^th Medley Relay, 4^th Free Relay);

Ethan Kellam, 12, (2^nd IM, 2^nd Fly, 1^st 100 Free, 1^st Medley Relay, 1^st Free Relay);

Mason Stewart, 12, (1^st IM, 1^st Breast, 2^nd Free, 1^st Medley Relay, 1^st Free Relay);

Briana Castellanos, 13, (3^rd Fly, 2^nd 100 Free, 1^st Free, 2^nd Medley Relay, 1^st Free Relay);

Mia Dale, 13, (3^rd IM, 2^nd Fly, 4^th Breast, 2^nd Medley Relay, 2^nd  Free Relay);

Ben Fister, 13, (2^nd Fly, 3^rd 100 Free, 2^nd 50 Free, 2^nd Medley Relay, 2^nd  Free Relay);

Robert Sanz-Anton, 13, (4^th IM, 6^th Fly, 5^th Breast, 2^nd Medley Relay, 2^nd Free Relay);

Rianna Estrada, 14, (1^st IM, 2^nd Breast, 1^st Free, 1^st Medley Relay, 1^st Free Relay);

Tabitha Kellam, 14, (1^st Fly, 1^st Back, 1^st 100 Free, 1^st Free Relay, 1^st Medley Relay);

Hannah Smallhouse, 14, (2^nd IM, 2^nd  Back, 3^rd Breast, 2^nd Medley Relay, 2^nd Free Relay);

AJ Lopez, 14, (2^nd Back, 2^nd 100 Free, 2^nd Breast, 1^st Medley Relay, 1^st Free Relay);

Riley Stewart, 14, (1^st Back, 1^st 100 Free, 1^st  Breast, 1^st Medley Relay, 1^st Free Relay);

Hunter Hill, 14, (3^rd IM, 3^rd Back, 5^th Free, 2^nd Medley Relay, 2^nd Free Relay);

Evan Apuron, 15, (1^st IM, 1^st Fly, 1^st Free, 1^st Medley Relay, 1^st Free Relay);

Aubrey Bridges, 15, (4^th IM, 4^th Fly, 7^th Free, 4^th Medley Relay, 4^th Free Relay);

Star Chavez, 15, (4^th 100 Free, 1^st Breast, 4^th Free, 1^st Medley Relay, 1^st Free Relay);

Alyssa Riekofski, 15, (6^th Back, 5^th Breast, 8^th Free, 4^th Medley Relay, 4^th Free Relay);

BaiLee Hill, 16, (3^rd IM, 5^th Fly, 4^th Back, 4^th Medley Relay, 4^th Free Relay);

Nate Fister, 16, (4^th Back, 4^th 100 Free, 4^th Free, 4^th Medley Relay, 3^rd Free Relay);

Andres Valenzuela, 16, (1^st IM, 2^nd Fly, 1^st Breast, 4^th Medley Relay, 3^rd Free Relay);

Darien Apuron, 17, (1^st IM, 1^st Back, 1^st 100 Free, 1^st Free Relay, 1^st Medley Relay);

Daniel Garcia, 17, (8^th  Fly, 8^th 100 Free, 7^th Free, 4^th Medley Relay, 3^rd Free Relay);

Jessi Rice, 18, (3^rd Back, 7^th 100 Free, 3^rd  Free, 1^st Medley Relay, 1^st Free Relay).

  With the incredible number of best times, outstanding races, Sea Lions Team Records and Central Arizona League Records set at the Meet, the coaches had a tough choice selecting one swimmer to be Beast of the Week.   Hunter Hill was named Beast of the Week for his superb week of practice and exceptional time drops at the Championship.  While many swimmers had times improvements that amount to fractions of seconds or even a second or two, Hunter showed us what a Beast does, he dropped 17 seconds in the 200 IM, 8 seconds in the 100 Backstroke, and over 2 full seconds in the 50 Free.  Hunter’s Beastly results had him wearing 4 medals at the end of the meet. 

  The Sea Lions Swim Team is finished with competition in the Central Arizona Swim League for the summer season, but will compete in several open meets over the next few months.

  There is still time to join the team – contact Alex or Wendy Gort at 896-2190, stop by the Mammoth between 4 and 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, or check sealionsswimteam.com for more information.