SAN JOSE, California, August 4. FOUR meet records fell to a talented pool of age group swimmers on the fifth and final night of the 2013 Speedo Far Western Long Course Championships.
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Morganne McKennan of Quicksilver Swimming proved tonight that she is a force to be reckoned with in the breaststroke. McKennan won the girls 13-14 100 breaststroke by a remarkable two seconds (1:13.03), a margin that added another meet record to the 200 breaststroke (2:38.60) mark she claimed on the second night of finals. The second individual meet record fell later in the session to Mexico’s Hector Ruvalcaba in the boy’s 15-16 100 butterfly. He split a 26.57/30.56 for a final 57.13 winning time, under the 57.17 set by PASA’s Andrew Liang in 2011.
Other standout swims came across the age groups, starting with Asia Minnes in the 10&U girls category. Minnes swam three events, pulling off two individual wins in the 100 breaststroke and 50 backstroke and a second place finish in the 400 freestyle. Minnes also earned the girls’ 10 & under high point award. First place in the 10 & under 400 freestyle went to Scottsdale Aquatic Club’s Ashley Strouse. Strouse dominated the field, breaking the 5-minute barrier with a 4:59.89 for the win. Minnes touched second at a 5:09.03.
On the boy’s side, Oakland Undercurrent’s Malcolm Mackey put together an impressive double. He won the 10 & under boys’ 100 breaststroke in 1:28.88, touching a full two seconds ahead of the rest of the field. He came back later in the afternoon to place second in the 100 butterfly (1:16.88) behind Palo Alto’s Guy Zamir (1:14.87). The 10 & under boys’ meet record featured a familiar name: Michael Phelps set the 1:10.48 mark back in 1995.
Seth Chun, who was gunning for Ryan Murphy’s 11-12 boys’ 200 butterfly NAG record during last night’s finals, won in the 100 butterfly tonight in a 1:03.09. In an interview with Swimming World prior to the race, Chun discussed his goal of taking down Michael Phelps’ 13-14 200 butterfly NAG next season and competing as a 15-year-old in the Rio 2016 Olympics. DACA’s Nicholas Burry put together an impressive 1:04.20 100 butterfly for second in the boy’s 11-12 category.
The meet ended with the 200 medley relays, and two new meet records for the girls. Scottsdale Aquatic Club’s Greer Pattison (35.46), Riley Courtney (41.76), Chloe Zapata (33.43) and Ashley Strouse (30.52) put together a record-breaking relay, winning the event by nearly 8 seconds. Their 2:21.17 final time was a full TWO seconds under the previous meet record (2:23.20) set last year by the Walnut Creek Aquabears.
Then came Team Quebec’s dominant 13-14 girls squad. Quebec managed a clean sweep of the 13-14 girls Far Western meet relay records, with Daphne Danyluk, Jillian Pauletto, Eliana Beaudry and Allyson Kis claiming their fifth and final record in the 200 medley tonight with a 2:01.30. Kis also placed third in the 400 freestyle (4:34.32) earlier in the finals session.
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