Six Swimmers Qualify for Nationals And Paly Team Impresses at Industry Hills
By SUE PASCOE Palisadian-Post Contributor Six Palisades-Malibu YMCA swimmers got a chance to visit Washington, D.C. and make an impression at the 2004 YMCA Long Course Nationals last week in Baltimore, Maryland. Competing against the best swimmers from over 150 Y programs nationwide, 17-year-old Alexa Merz finished first in the 50 meter Freestyle in 26.80 and Paly teammate Cara Davidoff finished second in 27.13, making her first U.S. Open cut. Merz, an All-CIF swimmer at Harvard-Westlake, swam the qualifying round in 27.15 while Davidoff, who won the Post Cup Award as outstanding senior athlete at Palisades High in June, qualified in 27.25. Then, in the 100 meter Freestyle, Merz took first place again by clocking 59 seconds flat (six hundreths of a second faster than her qualifying time) while Davidoff was sixth overall in 1:00.29. To cap her stellar meet, Merz placed fifth overall in the 50 backstroke and Davidoff was 11th in both the 50 Butterfly and 200 Freestyle. No one was more excited about the performances of his top two girls than Paly head coach Adam Blakis. ‘Alexa was easily the fastest qualifier in the 100 but she really had to fight to win the finals against an older girl from Green Bay, Wisconsin,’ he said. ‘Alexa just out-touched her at the end and won by one hundreth of a second. Cara also swam great and pushed Alexa the whole way in the 50. To have them finish 1-2 in that event was phenomenal.’ Merz’ two national titles were Paly’s first since the late 1980s when Tim Gair won the 100 butterfly. The boys 200 Medley Relay team of Peter Fishler, Dan Fox, Paris Hays and Brian Johnson became the first Paly relay team to make a national cut in 30 years, placing 63rd in that event. The same foursome also qualified in the 400 Medley Relay. During the regular year, Paly swimmers attend YMCA meets which culminate in the Y Championships in March. In the summer, swimmers switch to the long course season for USA Southern California Meets. To encourage swimmers at all levels, from beginners to those who hope to qualify for Olympic trials, there are different time standards and swimmers compete others with similar times. In order to qualify for the Junior Olympics, swimmers must meet certain time standards. On July 24-25, Paly swimmers who had at least B times in each event were qualified to swim in the Industry Hills Meet. The races were exceptionally fast because it was the last chance for swimmers to try to qualify for summer Junior Olympics. In the 8 & under girls division, Courtney Carswell placed 7th in the 50 Free (43.06), third in the 100 Free (1:33.26), sixth in the 50 Back (51.07), fifth in the 50 Breast (58.76) and second in the 50 Fly (51.11). In the 8 & under boys group, Alexander Landau took seventh in the 100 Free (1:34.16) and 50 Fly (49.90), 10th in the 50 Back (52.85) and fourth in the 50 Breaststroke (55.72). In the girls’ 10 & under division, Catherine Wang was second in the 100 Fly (1:25.65) and 100 Breast (1:35.98), fourth in the 50 Free (34.40), ninth in the 100 Free (1:18.44), fifth in the 200 Free (2:49.70) and 50 Breaststroke (46.24) and sixth in the 200 I.M. (3:05.87). In the B division, Olivia Kirkpatrick won the 50 Breast (49.85) and was third in the 100 Breaststroke (1:50.03). Matthew Piazza placed first in the 50 Free (35.80) and third in the 100 Free (1:23.66) while teammate Nicholas Edel was third in the 200 I.M. (3:39.25), sixth in the 200 Free (3:17.38) and 10th in the 50 Free (38.55) and 100 Back (1:53.18). Paly’s 11 & 12 girls had a strong showing from Alexandra Edel, Alison Merz, Kimberly Tartuvall, Shelby Pascoe, and Jennifer Tartuvall. Edel swam sixth in the 50 Breast (40.11) and 10th in the 100 Breast (1:29.35). Alison Merz qualified for Junior Olympics with a time of 36.20 in the 50 Fly and 100 Fly. In the B division, she also took sixth in the 200 Free (2:43.64) and 10th in the 50 Breast (46.31). Pascoe took third in the 100 Back (1:26.67) and fourth in both the 200 Free (2:41.14) and 50 Back (40.03). Tartavull was 11th in the 100 Fly (1:31.29). Matthew Thornson took seconds off of his previous best times and placed second in the 50 Breast (44.45). Fourteen-year-old Samantha Brill took fourth in the 50 Free (29.99). The qualifying time for her age group for Junior Olympics was 30.90, which she easily made. She also finished seventh in the 100 Free (1:06.22) with another Junior Olympics qualifying time. Earlier, she had qualified for Junior Olympics in the 100 Back and 100 Breast. Jessica Schem, 13, was runner-up in the 200 Backstroke in 3:02.91. Alison Piazza, Alexandra Baraff, and Chelsea Davidoff represented Paly’s 15 & over girls division. Chelsea, who had also already made Junior Olympics in two events, tried to increase the number of events she’d be swimming there. In the B division, Piazza placed seventh in the 100 Free (1:07.61), fourth in the 200 Back (3:05.85) and sixth in the 100 Back (1:27.62). Alexandra Baraff placed eighth in the same event in 1:29.05. For the boys, Paris Hays won the 50 Free in 26.18, a reportable time faster than an AAA time, one day before he left for Y Nationals. Evan Gore took 10th in the same event in 30.40. Daniel Fox placed second in the 200 Free (2:38.66) and ninth in the 100 Fly (1:06.52). ‘Some of the kids have been putting in two practices a day and all their hard work is resulting in excellent swims and faster times,’ Blakis said. ‘I’m really proud of everyone’s hard work this summer.’ The Junior Olympics began Wednesday and continue through Sunday in Mission Viejo. Paly swimmers attending the meet are Danny Fujinaka, Alison Merz, Catherine Wang, Samantha Brill, Chelsea Davidoff, Matthew Piazza, Paris Hayes, and Peter Fishler.
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