2023 Western Zone Senior Championships
- July 25-29, 2023
- Fresno, California
- LCM (50 meters)
- Results or on MeetMobile: “Finals – WZ LCM Senior Champs 2023”
Clovis Swim Club hosted the annual Western Zone Senior Championships last weekend at the Clovis North Aquatics Complex and the Clovis West Aquatics Complex. Prelims were divided evenly between the facilities, with finals being run each night at the Clovis North site.
Topping the combined team standings with a total of 2298.5 points was the Sandpipers of Nevada. The Front Range Barracudas snagged the second spot with 1815.5 points overall, while Alpha Aquatics rounded out the top-3 with 1179.5 points.
Team Scores – Combined:
- Sandpipers of Nevada – 2298.5
- Front Range Barracudas – 1815.5
- Alpha Aquatics – 1179.5
- Denver Swim Academy – 1142.5
- Aquawolves Swimming – 1133.5
Five Western Zone Championship meet records fell over the course of the competition, with four of them coming from relay performances and one in an individual event.
Yamato Lucero of the Sandpipers won the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:03.95. His swim marked a huge personal best time by over three seconds, and took him under Josh Prenot’s previous meet record time of 1:04.30 from 2012.
Lucero has not yet made a college commitment, but plans to take a gap year and continue to train with the Sandpipers for the 2023-2024 season.
Savannah Skow of the Las Cruces Aquatic Team came away with the High Point award for the girls. Skow won two events, but finished in the top-8 in her other five races. Highlighting Skow’s meet was the 100 fly, where the 15-year-old swam a personal best time of 1:02.10 to win the event. Her other victory came in the 200 IM, as she stopped the clock at 2:21.45 for another best time.
Another top performer on the girl’s side was Marissa Inouye of the Front Range Barracudas. Inouye, who is committed to the University of Miami, won the 200/400/800 freestyles. She dropped nearly nine seconds in the 800 to post a 9:03.49, while in the 200 she shaved off half a second for a best time of 2:04.14. She clocked a 4:23.52 in the 400, putting her just a second shy of her entry time.
Winning the boy’s High Point was the Sandpipers’ Giovanni Sullo. Sullo collected four individual wins, including completing a sweep of the 400/800/1500 freestyles. He dropped over 16 seconds to take 1st in the 1500 with a time of 16:07.09, while in the 800 he knocked six seconds off his best time to finish in 8:24.49. Rounding out his wins was the 400 free and 400 IM, where he clocked best times of 4:02.62 and 4:31.37, respectively.
Sullo’s Sandpiper teammate Allen Gyang had phenomenal races in the boy’s sprint events. In the 100 freestyle, the 14-year-old took 5th with a best time of 52.76, moving him up to 30th all-time for the boy’s 13-14 age group. He followed up that performance with a 3rd-place finish in the 50 free, where he went a best time of 23.98 to climb to 17th all-time and secure his 1st Summer Juniors cut.
Both the girls’ and boys’ meet records were broken in the 200 medley relay. Denver Swim Academy’s team of Natalie Daum (31.49), Elsa Anderson (33.51), Addy Herl (28.19), and Jameson Young (27.21) combined for a final time of 2:00.40 for a new meet record.
In the boy’s event, the record was broken by Aquawolves Swimming’s Oliver Schimberg (27.15), Carson Morris (29.62), Brodie Johnson (25.28), and Bronson Smothers (23.78) who posted a combined time of 1:45.83.
The 200 freestyle relay meet records also came down on the third day of the meet. Aces Swim Club’s Katie Ketter (26.41), Jenna Fernstrom (26.72), Keira Vail (26.73), and Renee Burton (26.48) clocked a winning time of 1:46.34 in the girl’s event.
The boy’s race went to the Aquawolves, as Smothers, Jacob Sykora, Evan Higgins, and Connor Kelly stopped the clock in a record time of 1:35.90, topping the rest of the field by nearly a second.