Paly Swims Third at Regionals

Wang Sets Team Record; Edel First Place in Four Events

While the hills and highways were being deluged with rain last weekend, 48 swimmers representing the Palisades-Malibu YMCA were making splashes of their own at the annual YMCA Pacific Regional Championships in the City of Commerce. The weather had no effect on Paly, which placed third overall at the 10-lane Commerce Natatorium, equipped with warm-up lanes and a heated pool that kept the swimmers comfortable. Ten-year-old Catherine Wang was more than warm on Saturday’she was scorching hot as she churned through the water to set a Paly record in the 100 Individual Medley (1:12.21) and coming within a hundreth of a second of the Paly mark in the 100 Freestyle (1:03.50). Wang’s 100 Medley time broke the record of 1:13.05 set by Cara Davidoff in 1996. The two-day event yielded positive results for numerous other Paly swimmers, including 11-year-old Kevin Carswell, who went from a time of 1:47.79 in the Breaststroke to a new best of 1:40.37. Swimming in the same age group for the girls, Sabrina Giglio dropped from 1:44.35 in the 100 Breaststroke to 1:34.64. Josephine Kremer went from 1:44.92 in the 100 Individual Medley to 1:34.53. ‘It’s an exceptionally hard meet to make it into the top 16, because times to make the cut have to be an ‘A’ or better,’ Paly Coach Eric Butler said. Younger swimmers also have an added disadvantage: ‘All of the 10-and-unders are grouped together, so you have six year olds racing against 10 year olds,’ Coach Nick Stankovich said. ‘We measured our success at this meet by how many seconds the kids’ times dropped from earlier meets.’ At the Regionals, first place in a relay counts 40 points towards the overall team total. Paly’s 11-12 girls’ team of Alexandra Edel, Jennifer Tartavull, Shelby Pascoe and Allison Merz took first in both the Medley and Freestyle Relays, missing the Paly record in the Freestyle by one second. Paly’s 13-14 boy’s Freestyle Relay team of Alex Fujinaka, Ben Lewenstein, James deMayo and Nicholas Kaufman swam to second place. They also placed second in the Medley Relay with Fujinaka’s 12-yea-old brother, Danny, swimming the second leg. The girls’ 10-and-under 200 Medley team of Catherine Wang, Olivia Kirkpatrick, Josephine Kremer and Sarah Thorson placed third in one of the meet’s deepest events. Wang, Lila Lewenstein, Courtney Carswell and Thorson then placed fourth in the 200 Freestyle. Scoring 22 points for the Paly team was the boys’ 10-and-under Medley Relay team (Noah Martin, Nicholas Edel, Leland Frankel and Andrew Chang) which finished eighth. Also placing eighth was the girls’ 10-and-under Medley Relay, consisting of Courtney Carswell, Sydney Cheong, Lila Lewenstein and Elizabeth Edel. Due to a lack of older swimmers, Paly had no relays in the 15-and-older group. Not only did Paly score well as a team, but several swimmers enjoyed standout individual performances. Twelve-year-old Alexandra Edel took first place in four events and second in three others to earn Paly a whopping 131 points. She was first in the 50 Freestyle (26.96), 100 Butterfly (1:08.53), 100 Freestyle (59.34) and 200 Individual Medley (2:23.26). She was second in the 200 Freestyle (2:09.86), 100 Backstroke (1:11.63) and 100 Breaststroke (1:15.09). Another 12-year-old, Jennifer Tartavull, swam first in the 200 Breaststroke (2:30.08), third in the 500 Freestyle (6:10.81), fifth in the 100 Breaststroke, 10th in both the 50 Freestyle and 100 Backstroke, 11th in the 200 Freestyle and 200 Individual Medley and 12th in the 100 Freestyle. In the same age category, Alison Merz was sixth in the 200 Individual Medley, eighth in both the 200 Freestyle and 200 Individual Medley, 14th in the 100 Breaststroke and 16th in the 100 Backstroke. Shelby Pascoe placed second in the 500 Freestyle (6:07.50), seventh in the 100 Backstroke, 10th in the 200 Freestyle, 14th in the 100 Freestyle and 15th in the 200 Individual Medley. Leading the 10-and-under girls were Olivia Kirkpatrick, who placed seventh in the 50 Breaststroke, and Wang, who, in addition to her two records, placed second in the 50 Butterfly (32.86) and 50 Breaststroke(37.56), fourth in the 50 Freestyle and sixth in the 50 Backstroke. Paly newcomer Erica Drennan, 15, placed third in the 100 Backstroke (1:08.46), 13th in the 200 Freestyle and 15th in the 100 Butterfly and eighth in the 500 Freestyle (6:04.70). For the boys, Alex Fujinaka took fourth in the 14s in the 200 Freestyle (2:02.49) and fifth in the 50 Freestyle (26.05). He dropped his previous 100 Freestyle time from a 1:00.25 to a AA qualifying time of 56.68, good enough for third place. Fellow 14-year-old Nicholas Kaufman was ninth in the 100 Breaststroke and 13th in the 100 Freestyle. Ben Lewenstein, 13, placed 14th in the 100 Breaststroke. Danny Fujinaka, 12, dropped as many as four seconds from his previous best times to place third in the 200 Freestyle (2:08.34) and 200 Individual Medley (2.27.84), fifth in both the 100 Freestyle (1:00.49) and 100 Breaststroke (1:17.85), in which he placed sixth and ninth, respectively. In the 10-and-under division, Nicholas Edel was 12th in the 50 Breaststroke, 14th in the 50 Freestyle and 15th in the 100 Individual Medley. ‘As we are heading into the last six weeks of hard training, I feel confident that we will be a powerhouse at the annual Y Champs Swim Meet in February without any older swimmers,’ Paly Coach Kameron Kennedy said. ‘I would also like to invite anyone to tryout and be a part of the team.’