The Palisades-Malibu YMCA swim team journeyed to Santa Barbara July 1 to participate in the three-day long course Semana Nautica Meet. ‘It was definitely a fun meet,’ said Paly assistant coach Caroline Ryan. ‘It was the first long course for many kids, so they set their first best times.’ Jimmy DeMayo, 15, entered the race with no time in six events: the 50-, 100-, and 200-meter Freestyle, 100 Backstroke, 200 Individual Medley and the 100 Butterfly. In each event, he had respectable first-time swims, especially since he was competing against swimmers from as far away as Arizona. ‘We don’t practice in a meter or long course pool,’ Paly head coach Brian Timmerman said. ‘It can be daunting, especially for our younger swimmers.’ Timmerman was pleased with the efforts of many of his 10-and-under swimmers. At the meet, plaques were awarded to individual swimmers for overall points earned. The higher the place, the more points earned. Elizabeth Edel placed second overall for 8-year-old girls. She took second in the 50 Freestyle, fourth in the 50 Backstroke, third in the 50 Breaststroke and fourth in the 50 Butterfly. Seven-year-old Grace Heck swam the 50 Freestyle and did well enough to earn an individual plaque for her performance. In the 9 & 10-year-old female category, nine-year-old Mardell Ramirez, who was a standout for Paly throughout the short course season, swam long course for the first time and finished 11th out of 50 swimmers in three events. Kate Heck and Rachel Martin were also first-time long course swimmers and came away with decent times in their events. Ellen Silka and Jayme Rossie swam near the middle of the pack for girls that age. ‘It was the best season times so far,’ Ryan said. Mara Silka, Sabrina Giglio and Olivia Kirkpatrick represented Paly in the 11 &12-year-old category. Giglio in particular had a strong meet, shaving 11 seconds off of her 50 Freestyle time and cutting almost 13 seconds off of her time in the 100 Freestyle. The group of girls who joined Paly’s swim team as 8 and 9-year-olds are now 14 and 15 and continue to be friends and competitors, including Jennifer and Kimberly Tartavull, Allison Merz, Shelby Pascoe, Jessica Schem, Hayley Hacker, Rebecca Ebert and Samantha Rosenbaum, which led Timmerman to conclude, ‘We had a team presence there. That team atmosphere is important when your doing good and when you’re not doing well.’ ‘The swimmers stuck around to support other swimmers,’ Ryan agreed. “It was a really great meet.’ Jennifer Tartavull swam the 800 Freestyle for the first time and clocked an AA time of 10:51.09, just missing a qualifying mark for the Junior Olympics. Allison Merz took her 50 Freestyle time down from an already fast 30.30 seconds to 30.21. For the boys, Paly’s Nicholas Edel earned a high-point plaque by taking fifth in the 11 & 12-year-old group. Leland Frankel, a three-year team member, had a particularly good meet with significant time drops in six events. He dropped six seconds in the 100 Freestyle, 15 seconds in the 100 Backstroke, six seconds in the 50 Breaststroke, nine seconds in the 100 Breaststroke, nine seconds in the 50 Butterfly and three seconds in the 50 Freestyle. Noah Martin also had time drops in his events–the 100 Freestyle, the 50 Backstroke and the 100 Breaststroke, in which he established a new best time. Twelve-year-old Jordon Wilimovsky dropped time in the 50 Butterfly and finished in the middle of the group of 40 swimmers in the events he entered. Younger brother Alec Wilimovsky, 9, was the only Paly male in his age category and dropped time in the 100 Freestyle. The next long course meet for Paly is the COLA meet July 21-23. Coach Timmerman has urged his swimmers to sign up for a stroke or distance they might not normally swim as a way of testing their individual capabilities and strengths.
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