RMSC’s National Team recently traveled to Indianapolis, Indiana to compete at NCSA Summer Long Course Junior Nationals on August 6-10. Many of the fastest 18&Under swimmers in the country competed at the meet, representing approximately 120 clubs. 37 swimmers and six coaches made the trip, and the team finished in 11th place. The top 24 finishers scored points for the club, while the top 32 made it back to finals.
Catherine Belyakov led the team in scoring with 84 points, including top 8 finishes in 100 and 200 breast (1:12.21 and 2:36.85) and 200 IM (2:20.72), and a top 16 in 50 breast. Joyce Wu also made the podium with top 8s in 50 and 100 breast (33.15 and 1:12.23), and a top 16 in 200 breast. We also had top 16 finishes by Abby Carr and Molly Benson in 200 fly, Kaitlin Gravell in 400 IM, Sean Santos in 1500 free, and Jane Umhofer in 200 breast. Also qualifying for finals swims with top 32 finishes in individual events were: Ziad Bandak, Zach Bayler, Ryan Gruner, Cody Kim, Alvin Kimwon, Chris Ma, Drew Munson, Maria Sawadogo, Andrei Schwartz, Eamon Smith, Jonik Surprenant, Andie Weitzman, and Pierre Zeineddin. In addition, Toby Barnett broke the 21 year-old team record in 13-14 200 breast with a 2:27.26.
We also had some excellent performances in relays. Our highest finishes came in the boys’ 800 free relay (Kim, Surprenant, Bandak, Munson) and 400 medley relay (Schwartz, A.J. Navaleza, Ma, Munson), both taking 9th. We also had a new team record 4:21.52 in the girls’ 400 medley relay by Sarah Culkin, Belyakov, Carr, and Tia Thomas, as they finished top 16.
Three RMSC swimmers received another special honor: Abby Carr, Joyce Wu and Chris Ma were selected by the NCSA to attend the NCSA training camp at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs this September. They earned the selection by having high finishes among 16&Under swimmers in Olympic events.
In addition, Belyakov, Benson, Carr, Gravell, Schwartz, Umhofer, and Wu qualified for the 2019 Toyota U.S. Open (Winter Nationals), to be held this December in Atlanta, GA.
Congratulations to everyone on some fast swimming
J.Wu and C.Belyakov top 8 in Women’s 100 Breastroke