Riley Stewart with 1st Place Medal 200 Free
The Arizona Age Group State Championship Long Course Swim Meet was held July 19-22 at the Oro Valley Aquatic Center. At the Long Course Championships, swimmers compete in a 50 meter pool (the same length used in Olympic competitions). Nine Sea Lions achieved qualifying times at USA Swimming sanctioned meets to allow them to compete at the meet for swimmers ages 14 and under. The Sea Lions finished in 19th place (out of 41 teams in the Arizona) with a total of 115 points.
Ethan Kellam started the scoring for the Sea Lions by finishing 10th place in the grueling 11-12 Boys 1500 Meter Freestyle on Thursday.
Friday afternoon, Mason Stewart, earned a 14th place finish in the 400 Individual Medley (IM), which is the all-around event in swimming where swimmers swim 100 meters of each of the 4 competitive strokes (Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke and Freestyle).
Coach Alex Gort and Riley Stewart with his 5 Medals
On Friday Night Riley Stewart was crowned Champion of the 13-14 Boys 200 Meter Freestyle. In Preliminaries, Riley finished with a time of 2:05.64, just 0.02 seconds behind the leader. In Finals he swam a sizzling time of 2:03.36 in a race that had several lead changes and beat a talented field.
On Saturday Morning the 13-14 Boys Relay Team of the Riley Stewart, AJ Lopez, Ben Fister, and Hunter Hill swam the 200 Meter Medley Relay to a Sea Lions Team Record time of 2:11.53 (edging out the previous record set in 2017 by Evan Apuron, Riley Stewart, AJ Lopez, and Nate Fister). Riley Stewart also qualified for the finals of the 200 Meter Breaststroke and the 400 Meter Freestyle.
At Finals on Saturday Evening, Riley Stewart finished 4th in the 400 Freestyle with a time of 4:29.30 (improving on his own team record). He also finished 5th in the 200 Meter Breaststroke with a time of 2:39.52 (which earned him a Speedo Sectional Championship Qualifying time – the Western ¼ of the USA).
On Sunday Morning the 11-12 Boys Relay team of Joey Castellanos, Johnny Smallhouse, Mason Stewart, and Ethan Kellam finished 11th place in the 200 Meter Freestyle Relay with a time of 2:21.88. The 13-14 Boys (Ben, AJ, Riley, and Hunter) finished 14th in the 200 Meter Freestyle Relay with at time of 1:56.24. Riley Stewart advanced to the finals in both the 100 Meter Breaststroke and 200 Meter IM with top 8 finishes in preliminaries.
At Finals on Sunday Evening Riley Stewart had some outstanding swims to finish 3rd in the 100 Meter Breaststroke with a time of 1:12.59 and 2nd in the 200 Meter IM with a time of 2:18.91. Both times are Speedo Sectional Championship Qualifying times.
Riley Stewart’s top 5 finishes earned him a rainbow of medals – 5th in the 200 Breaststroke, 4th in the 400 Freestyle, 3rd in the 100 Breaststroke, 2nd In the IM, 1st in the 200 Freestyle.
Coach Alex Gort was excited about the swimmers performances at the meet.
“Any time we can get 9 swimmers to qualify and swim at Age Group State, it is a proud moment for the Sea Lions Team. Riley Stewart’s win in the 200 Meter Freestyle is proud and memorable moment for all involved!” he said.
Sea Lions practice at the Mammoth Pool between 4 and 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday; anyone (all ages and abilities) interested in joining is welcome to stop by, check sealionsswimteam.com or call Alex or Wendy Gort at 896-2190.