It was a gorgeous (and HOT) Friday in Rocklin, CA as the Dons were bussed up to Granite Bay High School for the Grizzly Invitational. This is a 2-day meet and the swimmers left Friday morning for a noon start, with the rest of the meet concluding on Saturday.
The meet started off with the 200 Medley Relays – this is 50 yards of each stroke, each done by a different swimmer. The JV Girls team of Indy Perry, Lily Teicher, Ella Schlehr and Mave McAlister finished 8th overall – a great showing! The JV Boys finished 11th, with Ben Paulsen on back, Adrian Anderson on breast, Wes Martin on fly and Logan Lewis anchoring with the free. In the varsity races, the Girls team went NCS Consideration with 1:56.86, finishing 5th. Tess Veronda took back, Adelyn Horciza on breast, and frosh Jayna Guiro and Anika Rehn finished with fly and free. The boys team of Braden Dunton (back), Mason Schlehr (breast), Cruz Tamayo (fly) and Gunnar Grant (free) also went NCS Consideration, finishing 2nd overall!
What is NCS Consideration? This is a cutoff time that swimmers must make to be considered for NCS. The top 40 times qualify for NCS, so a Consideration time MAY make NCS, but not always. An NCS Automatic time means that the team WILL go to NCS. This time is usually the last place in the NCS Finals from the previous year. Having teams already swimming NCS Cons times this early in the season is phenomenal!
The other thing to be aware of is that at a big Invitational, where over 20 teams participate, a top 20 finish is considered amazing – many races have over 100 swimmers!
Indy Perry finished 22nd in the JV Girls 200 Free – cutting almost 4 seconds! Gen Balfour was 25th in the varsity race. Cruz Tamayo and Braden Dunton took 2nd and 3rd overall in the mens race – Cruz earning an NCS Cons time of 1:50.67. Braden’s time was JUST over the cutoff (1:51.11), he went 1:51.38. Gavin Barclay, Aiden Castro, and Charlie Holmes all shaved time as well.
In the 100 IM races, Ella Schlehr finished 18th and Lily Teicher went 24th for the JV Girls (Mave McAlister and Lulu Lancour also raced, doing well). Logan Lewis finished 20th in the JV boys race, with Wes Martin finishing 29th. Duncan Suva also raced, shaving almost 10 seconds off his time! Jayna Guiro finished 12th overall in the varsity girls race, with Perri Smith coming in 21st. Andrew Tanimura and Gunnar Grant went 11th and 12th overall with sub-one minute times, with Mason Schlehr finishing 16th. Jayden Hwang was 20th. Ryan Gerhardt and Owen Andre also had strong showings.
In the 50 Free races, Ella Schlehr and Indi Perry went 27th and 30th respectively. Lily Teicher, Mave McAlister, Lulu Lancour and Maya Clarke also raced. Logan Lewis, Finn Butler, Ben Paulsen, Adrian Anderson, Wes Martin, Jack Morgan, Cooper Morris, Theo Penn, Duncan Suva, Dillon Nagar all swam in the JV Boys race. In the varsity races, Anika Rehn took 4th overall with an NCS Cons time of 25:13! Jayna Guiro finished 11th, and Ava Bell and Perri Smith also raced. Gunnar Grant went 5th overall in the mens race, finishing only 0.04 off an NCS Cons time! Cruz Tamano finished 8th, Andrew Tanimura was 20th and Thomas Butler-Kurimai finished 23rd. Max Musch, Dane Schurhoff, Gavin Barclay, Peter Endemann, Ryan Gerhardt, Jay Shoenhair and Owen Andre all raced as well.
In the 100 back races, Finn Butler, Ben Paulsen and Adrian Anderson all finished in the top 10 of the JV Boys race with huge time improvements! Tess Veronda finished 4th in the Varsity girls race with a strong NCS Cons time of 1:00.71! This puts her at #9 of the AHS All-Time list! Great job Tess!!!! Anika Rehn finished 6th with an NCS Cons time of 1:02.30. Gen Balfour and Ava Bell also raced. In the varsity boys race, Braden Dunton finished 3rd overall, just over ½ second off an NCS Cons time. Mason Schlehr finished 8th, Max Musch was 23rd, Charlie Holmes was 28th and Dane Schurhoff was 30th.
In the final race on Friday, the 400 Free Relay, the JV girls team of Indi Perry, Lily Teicher, Mave McAlister and Ella Schlehr finished 5th overall, dropping 8 seconds! The JV Boys team of Ben Paulsen, Wes Martin, Logan Lewis and Adrian Anderson finished 7th overall. The varsity girls finished 12th overall, with Karly Thor, Perri Smith, Anika Rehn and Tess Veronda coming within 3 seconds of an NCS Cons time. The varsity boys finished 2nd overall in 3:22.98 – well under the NCS Cons threshold! The team of Cruz Tamayo, Braden Dunton, Mason Schlehr and Gunnar Grant did amazing!
The Grizzly Invitational continued on Saturday morning with the 200 Free Relay. The JV girls team of Lily Teicher, Mave McAlister, Indy Perry, and Ella Schlehr finished 8th overall. The JV boys team of Adrian Anderson, Ben Paulsen, Wes Martin and Logan Lewis finished 9th overall. In the varsity races, the girls team of Adelyn Horciza, Lily Briones, Jayna Guiro and Anika Rehn finished 4th overall with an NCS Cons time of 1:44.17 – only 1.8 seconds off an NCS AUTOMATIC time! The boys team of Mason Schlehr, Andrew Tanimura, Braden Dunton and Gunnar Grant also did amazing – finishing 3rd overall with a time of 1:32.59 – also less than two seconds off an NCS AUTOMATIC time! The B team of Gavin Barclay, Thomas Butler-Kurimai, Wilson Daughters and Aiden Castro also went NCS Cons in 1:37.75. The C team of Lachlan Tidd, Owen Andre, Max Musch and Jayden Hwang JUST missed the NCS Cons cutoff (1:39.99) with a time of 1:40.06. Amazing swims boys!
Anika Rehn finished 9th in the varsity girls 200 IM race with an NCS Cons time of 2:21.74! Cruz Tamayo (HE’S A FRESHMAN) finished FIRST in the boys race with an NCS Cons time of 2:01.82. He is now #8 on the AHS All-Time List for 200 IM! Andrew Tanimura finished 7th in 2:09.93. Jayden Hwang finished 22nd, Charlie Holmes was 26th, Owen Andre finished 31st and Ryan Gernardt finished 32nd.
In the 100 Fly, Dillon Nagar and Duncan Suva finished 19th and 21st in the JV boys race. Tess Veronda finished 4th in the varsity girls race with an NCS Cons time of 1:01.09! Jayna Guiro finished 8th, only 0.12 off an NCS Cons time. Perri Smith finished 22nd. Braden Dunton finished 7th overall with an NCS Cons time of 55.82! Gunnar Grant finished 13th, Mason Schlehr finished 19th, Ryan Gerhardt finished 35th, Peter Endemann was 36th, Max Musch was 38th and Lachlan Tidd was 39th!
Indy Perry and Ella Schlehr finished 32nd and 33rd in the 100 Free JV Girls race. Lily Teicher, Mave McAlister and Maya Clarke all had huge time improvements as well! Finn Butler, Wes Martin, Logan Lewis, Ben Paulsen, Adrian Anderson, Cooper Morris, Jack Morgan, Theo Penn, Dillon Nagar and Duncan Suva all improved their times in the JV Boys race. In the varsity girls race, Anika Rehn and Jayna Guiro finished 9th and 11th (out of almost 200 swimmers!) with NCS Cons times of 56.30 and 56.70! Tess Veronda, Perri Smith, Ava Bell, and Avery Tanimura also raced. Cruz Tamayo finished 4th overall in the varsity boys race, with an NCS Cons time of 49.27. Braden Dunton and Gunnar Grant finished 11th and 12th, Andrew Tanimura was 16th, Max Musch was 19th, Thomas Butler-Kurimai finished 24th and Mason Schlehr finished 26th. Aiden Castro, Gavin Barclay, Dane Schurhoff, Peter Endemann, Lachlan Tidd, Charlie Holmes and Owen Andre also raced.
In the 100 Breast races, Lily Teicher took 11th for the JV Girls, and Ella Schlehr finished 18th. Mave McAlister and Maya Clarke also raced, dropping several seconds each. Logan Lewis, Adrian Anderson, Jack Morgan and Theo Penn raced for the JV boys. Gen Balfour raced for the varsity girls, and Jayden Hwang finished 6th for the varsity boys. Aiden Castro finished 26th. Gavin Barclay, Thomas Butler-Kurimai and Jay Shoenhair also improved their times.
The final race of the day was a 100 Free Relay – four swimmers, only one length each of the pool, in an all out sprint. The JV Girls took 7th, the JV Boys were 8th, and both varsity teams finished in 3rd place! The boys varsity team finished 2nd overall at the meet. What a great showing by the Dons so early in the season! Next meet is Wednesday, March 4 at home with College Park. Go DONS!