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The Sea Lions hosted the Eloy Otters and the Globe Piranhas at the Mammoth Pool on Saturday June 24. The Sea Lions won the meet with a score of 1,001 points, Globe finished with 608 points and Eloy finished with 10 points.
The Sea Lions moved to 4 – 0 on the season and continue to improve every week. For the fourth week in a row, they had over 100 personal best times (115).
“We cannot control how fast other teams swim; all we can do is work on swimming faster on our team. Our swimmers have done an excellent job of putting up over 100 best times for 4 weeks in a row- a reward for the effort put into practices,” Coach Alex Gort stated. “Achieving that many best times every week has never happened in the Sea Lions 20-year history. If you need another good measurement of the rate that the Sea Lions are improving, just look at the points scored over the past two weeks against Globe, 755 last week to 1,001 this week”.
For a team to score 1,000 points, they need score many points in every event. The Sea Lions won 68 of the 86 events at the meet. The team has a good balance of ages of boys and girls in all the age groups (Boys and Girls – 6 and Under, 7-8, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, and 15-18). The Sea Lions won every race in 9 out of the 12 age groups. Points are earned for the top 6 places (7-5-4-3-2-1) in individual races and the top 4 places (10-5-3-1) in relays.
The 9-10 Girls continue to be a strength of the Sea Lions. The Sea Lions have several girls who can win any race and they have the team depth that makes it hard for other teams to score any points in that age group. This week Kori Andrade won the butterfly, Alianna Riney won the IM and the 100 Free, and Bea Olson won the Back, Breast and 50 Free. Kimber Nehrmeyer, a first-year swimmer, who finished among the top three several times, joined Kori, Alianna and Bea to be part an awesome relay team that is clearly among the best in the League.
Bradley Tafoya (8), Grayson Downing (8), Jorden Doucette (9), Colt Nehrmeyer (12), and Isaac Olson (14) all swam the maximum number of events and won all their races.
The following swimmers had first place finishes on Saturday:
Karolee Lutz, 6, (Breast);
Jayden Primero Predgo, 7, (Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Bradley Tafoya, 8, (IM, Fly, Back, 50 Free, Breast, 25 Free, Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Arabelle Primero Predgo, 8, (Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Teddy Olson, 7, (Medley Relay);
Jayden Lutz, 7, (Free Relay);
Grayson Downing, 8, (IM, Fly, Back, 50 Free, Breast, 25 Free, Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Gabiel Hudson, 8, (Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Beatrice Olson, 9, (Back, Breast, Free, Free Relay, Medley Relay);
Kimber Nehrmeyer, 10, (Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Alianna Riney, 10, (IM, 100 Free, Medley Relay Free Relay);
Kori Andrade, 10, (Fly, Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Jorden Doucette, 9, (IM, Fly, Back, 100 Free, Breast, Free, Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Alex Ervin, 9, (Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Mario Primero Predgo, 10, (Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Elijah Primero Predgo, 11, (Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Benny Simons, 11, (Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Colt Nehrmeyer, 12, (IM, Fly, Back, 100 Free, Breast, Free, Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Joshua Doucette, 12, (Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Morgan Cruea, 13, (Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Jocelyn Hudson, 13, (IM, Back, 100 Free, Free, Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Carolina Simons, 13, (Fly, Breast, Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Isaac Olson, 14, (IM, Fly, Back, 100 Free, Breast, Free, Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Juliana Ramirez, 16, (IM, Fly, Back, 100 Free, Free, Medley Relay);
Ethan Erickson, 16, (IM, Fly, Back, Breast, Free, Medley Relay, Free Relay)
Israel Gonzalez, 16, (Medley Relay, Free Relay);
Ethan Kellam, 17, (100 Free, Medley Relay, Free Relay).
Lucy Olson (12) and Jorden Doucette (9) were named Sea Lions Beasts of the Week.
Lucy continues to practice hard every week. Each week she swims well and continues to get better and better. This week she had a beastly performance with improvements in every race plus she finished in the top six and earned ribbons in every race during the meet. Lucy’s steady hard work has put her among the best 11–12-year-olds on the team.
As a 9-year-old, Jorden has to swim races of 50 yards for each stroke (Fly, Back, Breast, and Free) instead of the 25 yard races he did when he was 8. The adjustment is tough for all swimmers, but Jorden does his best in practice. He continues to improve every week and this week had all best times and won every race. This is quite an achievement, but it takes a Beast to pull this off as a 9-year-old.
Over the past 16 years, the Sea Lions have lost only one home meet. It was on June 8, 2019, to the Tucson Aquabears. The final score was 789-785. On July 1, the Aquabears will return to Mammoth for the first time since 2019. The Sea Lions are excited to see how they stand up to the defending League Champions in their home pool.
There is still time to join the team – contact Alex or Wendy Gort at 520-896-2190 or stop by the Mammoth Pool between 3:30 and 5 p.m. (Monday-Friday) for more information.
Scarlett Young
Grayson Downing
Jorden Doucette
Lucy Olson
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