Paly Swims Third at Y Champs

Merz Qualifies for Nationals in 200 Butterfly

Allison Merz qualified for Nationals, six others qualified for the Junior Olympics and the Palisades-Malibu YMCA swim team finished third in the Y Champs Meet at the El Monte Aquatics Center last weekend. Paly was 77 members strong and leading the way was Merz. The 14-year-old swam a time trial for the 200 Butterfly and knocked two seconds off her previous time, which qualified her for the Y Nationals in Florida in April. She is the first Paly swimmer to qualify since 2004. Six Paly swimmers also qualified for spring Junior Olympics. Courtney Carswell, Olivia Kirkpatrick, Hayley Lemoine, Hayley Hacker, Anna and Mara Silka will join Merz, who qualified at a previous meet. “The whole atmosphere was great at Y champs,” Paly Assistant Coach Eric Butler said. ?About everybody dropped time, which was our goal. Paly’s 13- and 14-year-old 200 Medley girls team of Shelby Pascoe, Jennifer Tartavull, Merz and Kimberly Tartavull won and tied the meet record (1:58.32), barely missing the cut for Y Nationals. Paly’s 200 Freestyle Relay of Jennifer and Kimberly Tartavull, Lemoine and Merz also took first and missed qualifying by a second (1:43.67). “Y Champs is unique because it’s a meet where all levels of swimmers can participate,” Paly Head Coach Brian Timmerman said. ?We had some spectacular swims at the finals.” Three other Paly relay teams also won: the girls 8-and-under (Clara Saab, Grace heck, Gretta Johnson and Caroline Carswell); boys 8-and-under (Hunter Loncar, Joe Walker, Jared Anwar and Finn Bradley); and girls 9-10 (Courtney Carswell, Ellen Silka, Kate Heck and Mardell Ramirez). Second place in the Freestyle relays went to Paly’s girls 11-12 (Olivia Kirkpatrick, Georgia Johnson, Jayme Rossie and Mara Silka), boys 13-14 (Slava Yanov, Shervin Ghaffari, Gabriel Kaufman and Michael Shem), boys senior (Hudson Lofchie, Stephen Anthony, James DeMayo and Nicholas Kaufman) and girls senior (Elizabeth Ebert, Melina Vanos, Katherine Lemoine and Jessica Schem). Medley Relay races proved a tougher obstacle for Paly. The girls 13 & 14 won and four teams took second: the 9-10 boys (Jack McGeagh, Kenneth Saab, Thomas Collins, Michael Lukasiak); 11-12 girls (Georgia Johnson, Olivia Kirkpatrick, Mara Silka and Sydney Cheong); 13-14 boys (Slava Yanov, Shervin Ghaffari, Michael Schem and Gabriel Kaufman); and boys Senior (Hudson Lofchie, Nicholas Kaufman, James DeMayo Stephen Anthony). Courtney Carswell won the girls 9 & 10 100 Individual Medley in 1:20.51 and was second in the 50 Breaststroke. Olivia Kirkpatrick was second in 50 Breaststroke in the 11-12 division and fourth in the 200 Individual Medley and Mara Silka was second in thew 100 Breastroke. Jordan Wilimovsky was second in the boys 200 Freestyle. Hacker was second in the 13 & 14s in both the 100 Backstroke and 200 Individual Medley, Lemoine won the 100 Freestyle in 57.87 and was second in the 50 Freestyle. Merz won the 50 Freestyle in 25.83 and 100 Butterfly in 1:01.74) and Shelby Pascoe won the 100 Backstroke in 1:07.49 and Jennifer Tartavull won the 100 Breastroke in 1:12.69 and the 200 Individual Medley in 2:23.38.