|
Northern California has thousands upon thousands of youth swimmers, but only 80 of them represented the NorCal area at the Western Zone meet in Utah this past summer. When the selection team finally had the team down to 80, four of the swimmers selected were from Willow Glen's Osprey Aquatics.
Seventeen-year-old Scott London, 15-year-old Jennifer Dean and 10-year-olds Miranda Carter and Zach Selfridge helped the NorCal team to a second-place finish out of 17 competitors at the event.
"[Western Zones] are way bigger, way more overwhelming than what they're used to," said Shannon Mackin, one of the Osprey coaches who accompanied the swimmers to Utah. "It's one of the fastest meets in the U.S. for these age groups. The East has one as well, but I think this was the fastest."
The effort by that quartet highlighted the accomplishments of Osprey Aquatics swimmers this summer. The school-year program is home to four coaches and around 90 kids, but the summer session becomes a challenge, adding 100 swimmers and six additional coaches. The staff managed their nine practice groups well, however, and the club has been met with many successes over the past couple of months.
Most recently, Osprey placed second out of six teams at the Silicon Valley Swim League championships.
Selfridge and 8-year-old Catherine Ladd were the only swimmers for Osprey to perform the remarkable feat of winning each of their races. Selfridge swept three events, while Ladd won seven in her age group.
In the 9-10 division, Carter swam extraordinarily well, collecting five victories and one second-place finish in a variety of events. Ten-year-old Gabe Taikeff managed top-three finishes in seven different races, while Rachel Vaughn-Hulbert didn't place lower than fourth in her races, which included four first-place finishes. Robert Kubacki also touched the wall first in the 50-yard freestyle, butterfly and backstroke events.
In the 11-12 division, Jack Hills swept the 100 and 200 breast events, while Mike London tallied four wins and one fourth-place finish. Molly Selfridge was also impressive, nabbing four first-place awards and one fourth.
For the 13-14 age group, Kevin Hall won the 100 back and took second in the 100 breast and 100 free. Kellen Power was in the top two in three freestyle races, while Danielle Medeiros swept the 100 and 200 fly events. Laura Dunn also picked up five top-five finishes.
In the 15 and over divisions, Dean stormed the competition with two wins and three runner-up distinctions. Jake Finkle placed in the top four six different times, while Ian McAllister swept four back and individual medley races. Eighteen-year-old Ashley Look had five top-three finishes, with two backstroke wins.
|
