Six PALY Swimmers Make National Meet

Palisades-Malibu YMCA swim team coach Adam Blakis took six swimmers to the YMCA Spring National Swim Meet April 5-8 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida at the International Swimming Hall of Fame Aquatic Complex. Over 1,500 swimmers from 208 teams nationwide participated. This year, the meet’s theme was red, white and blue, and the swimmers showed their spirit by dressing in matching patriotic outfits for the opening ceremony. PALY’s team consisted of Cara Davidoff, David Nonberg, Katie Smith, Alexa Merz, Brian Johnson, and Samantha Brill. The YMCA Nationals are the championship meet that culminates the YMCA swimming short course season. Swimmers must qualify by making the national time standard. Merz, a 16-year-old junior at Harvard-Westlake High, took two silver medals in the 50- (23.82 seconds) and 100-yard (51.83 seconds) Freestyle events. She also swam the 200 Freestyle in 1:52.81 seconds (placing sixth) and the 100 Breaststroke (1:10.22 seconds). Davidoff, an 18-year-old Palisades High senior, took ninth in the 50-yard Freestyle (24.07 seconds) and 13th in the 200 Freestyle (1:53.78 seconds). She also swam the 500 Freestyle in 5:07.36, placing 24th out of 101 competitors), and the 100 Butterfly (1:00.00 seconds). Smith, a 17 year old senior at Notre Dame, swam the 100 Breaststroke (1:07.61 seconds), and placed 27th out of 173 swimmers. Nonberg, an 18-year-old junior at PaliHi, swam the 50 Freestyle in 23.12 seconds and later qualified for the YMCA Summer Long Course Nationals in the same event with a time trial of 22.94 seconds. Johnson swam the 200 Backstroke in 2:03.79 seconds. Swimmers Davidoff, Nonberg, Smith, Johnson and Brill also swam a number of best times in time-trial swims in their respective events. The 200 Freestyle Relay team of Davidoff, Merz, Smith and Brill finished 19th out of 75 teams in 1:40.14, the 200 Medley Relay was 30th out of 72 teams in 1:52.08, the 400 Freestyle Relay was 39th out of 72 teams in 3:41.01 and the 400 Medley Relay was 61st out of 75 teams in 4:10.99. Overall, the PALY women’s squad was 17th overall in total point standing among the 208 participating teams. The competition marked PALY’s largest team since the 1990s and reflects the commitment and hard work of head coach Adam Blakis and the swimmers, as well as the ongoing support of the YMCA and community. The Summer YMCA Long Course Nationals will be in early August in College Park, Maryland.