Presenting our Weekly Wonders for the weekend of May 20-22, 2016.
Elise Garcia, 16, SOCAL Aquatics Association: 50y free (22.64) – Swimming unattached for Crean Lutheran at the CC CIF State Swimming & Diving Championships, Garcia went a best time by 3/10 in prelims, then came back and won the state title with her second lifetime-best, 22.75. She also placed fourth in the 100 free and anchored Crean’s 200 free and 400 free relays.
Kyla Valls, 16, Miami Swimming: 50m free (26.57) – Valls notched her first Summer Juniors cut in the 50 free at the Gulliver Long Course Invitational sponsored by Gulliver Swim Club and Gulliver Schools. The weekend before, at the All-Florida Senior Circuit meet hosted by Gulf Coast Swim Team, Valls punched her ticket to 2016 Olympic Trials in the 100 free and 200 free.
Raphael Santos, 13, Pompano Beach Piranhas: 1500m free (18:04.14) – Swimming at the Jesse Vassallo Invitatational hosted by Pompano Beach Piranhas, Santos dropped 2 minutes off his best time, which dated from the same meet two years ago. Santos also went a best time in the 200 IM, improving by 2 seconds.
Shamiya Guirre, 13, Wagner Aquatic Club: 100m back (1:08.80) – Guirre had a huge meet at the May Extravaganza hosted by Long Island Express at Hofstra University. She posted dramatic improvements across the board, dropping in the 50 free (-.6), 100 free (-1.2), 200 free (-14.1), 100 back (-1.2), 200 back (-24), 100 breast (-7), 100 fly (-10), and 200 IM.
Katerina Savvides, 15, Wichita Swim Club: 100y back (56.23) – Savvides earned her first Winter Juniors cut in the 100 back at the Kansas Girls State Swimming & Diving 6A Championships. The Wichita-East freshman improved her PB by 8/10 and was runner-up in the event. She won the 200 IM with a best time by 3.1 seconds (2:07.23).
Cade Jolley, 12, Occoquan Swimming: 200m back (2:24.23) – Jolley dropped 12.6 seconds and won the boys’ 11-12 200 back at the River City Open. He also won the 200 free, 50/100 back, and the 400 IM and got new best times in all but the IM.
Callie Dickinson, 16, Tide Swimming: 200m back (2:13.23) – Swimming at the Josh Weaver Memorial “Meet On The Hill” hosted by the North Carolina Aquatic Club, Dickinson dropped 1.6 seconds and won the women’s open 200 back. She was also runner-up in the 100 back, 200 fly, and 200 IM.
Scott Tolman, 17, Ripon Aquatics: 200m breast (2:17.71) – Tolman earned his first invitation to 2016 Olympic Trials with a .7-second drop in the 200 breast at the Fresno State Bulldog Long Course Time Trials, the day after the CIF State meet where he had medaled in the 200 IM and 100 breast and lowered his own school records in both events.
Reminder: The Weekly Wonders column is a celebration of age-group swimming, where new champions are made every day. Anyone can look up the top swims of the week. That’s not what we’re doing here. If we were only reporting on the week’s top swims we would feature the same handful of athletes every Wednesday. Instead, this is an opportunity to introduce the swimming community to athletes who have made great strides in the context of their own particular swimming worlds. By association, it also celebrates their coaches and their teams. The Weekly Wonders column, therefore, amounts to a pat on the back for a job well done, and hopefully encourages swimmers of all levels to continue to reach from within to get to that next level.
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