Paly Third at Annual Meet

Local YMCA Swimmers Host Invitational at Temescal Canyon Pool

It wasn’t the Olympics, but one could not tell from the excitement generated during the Palisades-Malibu YMCA swim team’s annual Invitational last Saturday and Sunday at Temescal Canyon Pool. An Olympic atmosphere pervaded the Some 670 swimmers representing 12 of the strongest YMCA teams from Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Orange Counties participated in last weekend’s meet. All but five of Paly’s 120 swimmers, ranging from 5 to 18 years old, competed in at least one race. Their efforts resulted in a third-place finish for the second straight year, once again behind first-place San Pedro and runner-up Crescenta Canada. Paly Coaches Eric Butler and Kameron Kelly agreed that the host team did well considering the quality of competition it faced. ‘The 8-and-unders really did an outstanding job for us. They exemplified the direction the program here is going,’ Kelly said. ‘After all of the schedule changes and coaching changes, the team is exceeding even our expectations.’ Coach Butler added: ‘Our 10-and-unders really put on a great performance. This is the first meet of the season and I think we’re right where we need to be at this point.’ Relays were confined to one session after it became apparent that with so many swimmers it would be a challenge to finish the meet before dark on Sunday. Paly’s 10-and-under girls’ 200 Freestyle Relay team of Courtney Carswell, Pamela Soffer, Olivia Kirkpatrick and Mara Silka finished third. The boys’ 11 & 12-year-old 200 Freestyle Relay of Danny Fujinaka, Jack Porter, Stephen Anthony and Jacob DeFilippis also placed third. Among the Paly swimmers who took to the starting blocks for the first time in an organized meet were Mac Abe, Ruby Allen, Nick Barnett, Catherine Bergin, Caroline Carswell, Andrew and Derek Chang, Tommy Collins, Sean Daigle, Jake Dvorsky, Nicole Elattrache, Jei Gapito, Nicolas Green, Kate Heck, Izzy Kalichman, Griffin Koffman, Kenny Kim, Gabriella Lamm, Maya Landan, Michael Lukasiak, Tristan Marsh, Rachel Martin, Amanda McAdams, Kelly McGinnis, Adam and Caroline Moreton, Mardell Ramirez, Jeremy Ratib, Samantha Richmond, Chris Soffer, John Soneff, Peter Tilton, Melina Vamos, Joe Walker, Alec Wilimovsky, Connor Yost, and Stephanie Zolan. The group of 11& 12-year-old girls who were first-timers themselves five years ago consisted of Alexandra Edel, Allison Merz, Haley Lemoine, Jennifer and Kimberly Tartavull and Shelby Pascoe. They placed second, seventh, ninth, 10th, 12th and 17th, respectively, in the 200 Individual Medley, dropping as much as 19 seconds off of their previous best times and scoring 50 points for the team in that event alone. Individual winners who placed fifth or better were six-year-old Joe Walker (third in the 25 Freestyle); six-year-old Elizabeth Edel (first in the 100 Individual Medley and 25 Breaststroke, second in the 25 Freestyle, 50 Freestyle and 25 Backstroke and third in the 25 Butterfly); Courtney Carswell, who once again proved one of the toughest competitors in the 7 & 8-year-old girls division with a second-place swim in the 100 Individual Medley, 25 Backstroke and 50 Freestyle, and fourth-place finishes in the 25 Freestyle, 25 Breaststroke and 25 Butterfly. Eight-year-old Syndey Cheong took fourth in the 25 Backstroke, while Jayme Rossie swam fifth in the same event. Alex Landau was another top point getter for the Paly boys’ team with a second-place swim in the 25 Butterfly, thirrd in the 25 Breaststroke and fourth in the 100 Individual Medley. Ten-year- olds Matthew Piazza and Adelaide Seaman each placed third in the 50 Freestyle in the boys’ and girls’ divisions, respectively. Danny Fujinaka, the fastest 11 & 12-year-old boy, placed fourth in the 200 Breaststroke and 200 Freestyle and fifth in the 200 Individual Medley, 50 Butterfly, 100 Freestyle and 50 Freestyle. Having an outstanding meet and garnering the most points for the Paly girls’ team was 12-year-old Alexander Edel, who won the 50 (36.48) and 100 Breaststroke (1:20.14), the 50 (28.40) and 100 Freestyle (1:01.47), finished runner-up in the 50 Butterfly, 50 Backstroke and the 200 Individual Medley, and swam third in the 200 Freestyle. Other 11 & 12-year-old girls who place in the top five were Haley Lemoine (fourth in the 50 Freestyle; Jennifer Tartavull, who shaved four seconds off of her previous-best 50 Breaststroke time to place third and added a fifth-place swim in the 100 Breaststroke; Allison Merz (fifth in the 100 Butterfly) and Shelby Pascoe (fourth in the 100 Backstroke). Swimming third in the 100 Backstroke and fifth in the 100 Breaststroke was 13-year-old Nick Karody. Samantha Brill, 14, took third place in the 50 Freestyle while Jessica Schem swam fourth in both the 100 and 200 Backstroke. Sixteen-year-old Chelsea Davidoff placed second in the 100 Breaststroke and fourth in the 50 Freestyle. Hannah Haberfield, also 16, took fifth in the 50 and 100 Freestyle events and second in the 100 Butterfly. Fifteen-year-old Erica Drennan won the 100 Butterfly in 1:13.00), placed second in the 100 Backstroke and swam third in the 200 Backstroke, 200 Individual Medley and 100 Freestyle. For the Paly boys, 16-year-old Paris Hays scored well in the 15-and-over division, placing second in the 50 Freestyle, third in the 100 Butterfly and fourth in the 200 Freestyle. Carlson Cameron, 18, was third in the 100 Freestyle. The Paly Y Invitational has been held ‘as long as anyone can remember,’ according to meet director Rob Merz, dating back at least 32 years when the Paly team was started. Coaches Butler and Kelly invite any swimmers who think they might like to try the excitement of competing to call the pool and schedule a tryout. The coaches also give private lessons at the Temescal Canyon facility to teach proper technique for competitive swimming.