The Palisades-Malibu YMCA swim team took third place at the Y Regional Meet last weekend in San Pedro. Nine-year-old Courtney Carswell made the finals of five events and one consolation heat, which she won. Sixteen-year-old Erica Drennan finaled in all three events of her events, finishing third in the 200 backstroke. Alex Edel, 13, finaled in five events and made the consolationfinals in her other two events. Her brother, Nick, reached four finals and one consolation heat. He took second in the 50 Breaststroke, dropping his time to 40.60. Paly’s standout swimmer was 13-year-old Danny Fujinaka. He finaled in every event and took second place in the 200 Individual Medley in 2:18.05. He received all “AA” times by the USA swimming organization. “He made all of his best times at this critical part of the season,” Paly head coach Kameron Kennedy said. “I drilled the kids with yardage and hard sprint sets all last week and he still managed to dig deep and drop time. This is a prime example of mind over matter. Even though Danny was sore from the previous week, he overcame the soreness by positive thinking. The body is an amazing machine. You just have to know how to fine tune it and where the turbo button is! I think danny will surprise even himself at the championshipship meet at the end of Febuary.” Twelve-year-old Sabrina Giglio made one final and one consolation heat. Nick Kaufman, 15, made two consolation heats and dropped time each race. Olivia Kirkpatrick also appeared in two finals, taking second in the 200 Breaststroke in 3:03.95. Alexander Landau, 9, made one final and one consolation heat. Ben Lewenstein, 14, made his first two final heats by dropping a place each time and swimming personal best times. Tristan Marsh made four consolation heats, dropping time in each event to achieve four new personal bests. He was seeded 17th in the 100 Individual Medley and took third in his heat to finish11th. Thirteen-year-old Allison Merz made four final heats and three consolation heats. She was second in the 50 Freestyle with a time of 26.96. Shelby Pascoe made consolation heats with her 200 Freestyle and 100 Backstroke. Eight-year-old Mardell Ramirez competed with the 9- and 10-year-old age group and made it to two consolation heats. She was the last seed in the 50 Butterfly and finished third in her heat. “I have no doubt in my mind that Allison could have finaled in the Butterfly,” Kennedy said. “She had goggle trouble a couple of times, but she kept pushing and made it to the consolations. She never gave up even with her goggles stuck in her mouth.” Jessica schem made two consolation heats. Kimberly Tartavull, 13, made it into four consolation heats and one final. The female standout swimmer of the meet was 12-year-old Catherine Wang. She reached the finals in every event she swam, taking first in the 100 Butterfly in 1:07.13. “Catherine is always giving 100 percent at meets,” Kennedy said. “No matter if she is sick, tired or sore, she always tries to be the best and soon it will pay off.” The girls’ 13-14 relay team took second in the 200 Medley, third in the 400 Freestyle Relay and third in the 400 Medley Relay. Wang, Georgia Johnson, Carswell and Lila Lewenstein took fifth in the 11-12 girls 200 Freestyle Relay. In the girls’ 10-and-under 200 Freestyle Relay, Ramirez, Kate Heck, Elizabeth Edel and Sydney Cheong were fifth. The boys’ 10-and-under 200 Medley Relay was third with Edel, Marsh, Alexander Landau and Michael Lukasiak. Paly’s girls 11-12 age 200 Medley Relay with Rachel Jaffe, Kirkpatrick, Wang and Lewenstein took fourth. “I was really surprised with some of the swims considering we took two weeks off due to the pool cleaning and the holidays,” Kennedy said. “What amazed me was that the kids maintained correct technique. The endurance part will come a lot sooner this time due to muscle memory. It won’t take as long to get where we were two weeks ago.”
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