After driving down to Mission Viejo in the rain on Friday, it could not have been a more beautiful day on Saturday as the Dons rolled into the Marguerite Aquatics Center for the 50th Annual Mission Viejo Invitational. 

The preliminaries started off at 9:15am with the Women’s 200 Free. Olivia Whipple finished 19th place with a season best of 2:10.12, earning her a spot in the consolation final later in the day. Siena La Rotonda, Avery Tanimura and Ella Schlehr also had large time improvements. Braden Dunton swam an impressive 1:51.82, only 0.71 seconds off an NCS Consideration time, finishing in 11th place. 

In the 200 IM, Anna Motes swam an NCS Consideration time of 2:17.64, finishing 6th. Audrey Martin dropped almost 5 seconds in her race, finishing 18th. Mason Schlehr also finished 17th in 2:09.12.  

The 50 Free sprint races were also very exciting! Jessica Gerhardt punched her ticket to the final, finishing 17th with a 26.81. Nina Bundy finished 19th in 27.20.  Ellie Budke and Sadie Hendrickson placed as the alternates for the finals (21st and 22nd). Alternates are expected to be available in case a swimmer drops out of finals (this will become important later). Jace Carter qualified for finals with a 4th place finish in a personal best of 23.07 (only 0.41 away from an NCS Consideration cutoff). Our other senior, Anthony Yamamoto finished in 22nd as the second alternate for finals with a time of 24.12. 

In the 100 Fly, Tess Veronda finished 10th with a 1:03.64, just 0.65 seconds off an NCS Consideration cutoff! Evya Smyth qualified for finals in 20th place in 1:07.62, a 2+ second time drop. Owen Andre dropped almost 4 seconds in the boys race!

In the 100 Free, speedy Jess Gerhardt qualified for finals in 14th place with 58.80 – her first time under a minute! She is 0.81 off the NCS Consideration cutoff. Jace Carter dropped over 5 seconds to qualify in 17th place with a 52.10.  

Olivia Whipple dropped 10 seconds off her time in the 500 Free, finishing 10th in 5:40.26. NCS Consideration cutoff is 5:34.99. Avery Tanimura qualified in 18th place with 6:00.69. Braden Dunton finished 19th with a 5:07.78, just 1.79 seconds off the NCS Consideration cutoff! Andrew Tanimura dropped 7 seconds to swim 5:10.55, and finish as the first alternate. 

In the 100 Back, Tess Veronda finished 7th in 1:03.31, improving her NCS Consideration time by over a second (cutoff 1:04.99). Evya Smyth finished 18th with a time improvement of over six seconds!  Madison Bauer finished as the first alternate with over a 5 second time drop as well!  Mason Schlehr finished 17th in 58.54, only 0.55 seconds off the NCS Consideration cutoff (57.99)! 

In the 100 Breast, Anna Motes finished 5th in 1:09.30, and Audrey Martin finished 6th in 1:10.15 (a three second improvement!). Both girls swam well under the NCS Consideration cutoff of 1:12.99. Nina Bundy finished 16th in 1:15.81, nearly a five second time improvement!  Jayden Hwang finished 19th with 1.07.79. 

After a two hour break, the team was back in the pool warming up for finals! The Medley Relays kicked off the afternoon. The A team of Tess Veronda, Anna Motes, Evya Smyth and Jessica Gerhardt finished 5th with a time of 1:55.96, only 0.87 seconds off the NCS AUTOMATIC time cutoff!  The B team of Madison Bauer, Audrey Martin Ellie Budke and Nina Bundy finished 11th in 2:01.85, well under the NCS Consideration cutoff of 2.04.99. The Boys A team of Mason Schlehr, Jayden Hwang, Anthony Yamamoto and Jace Carter finished 11th in 1:48.00 – well under the NCS Consideration cutoff of 1:52.99. 

In the 200 Free, Olivia Whipple was seeded 21st, finished 19th in prelims and went 16th in the finals, nearly matching her time from the morning – swimming a 2:10.15. Siena La Rotonda was 20th. Braden Dunton was 14th with a 1:51.90 (0.79 sec off an NCS Cons time). 

In the 200 IM, Anna Motes finished 6th again – shaving 1.3 seconds off her prelim time – 2:16.34! Audrey Martin finished 18th, cutting 1.5 seconds off her time. Mason Schlehr was 17th with 2.08.94 (NCS cutoff is 2:06.99). 

In the 50 Free, Jess Gerhardt finished 15th in 26.89, and Nina Bundy was 19th. Ellie Budke and Sadie Hendrickson made it into the finals, finishing 17th and 18th! Jace Carter finished 9th with a 23.35, and Anthony Yamamoto, who wasn’t aware a spot opened up for him in the finals, raced to his block, dropping his swim cap on the way, and swam a 24.39, finishing 19th place! 

In the 100 Fly, Tess Veronda finished 10th in 1:03.18 (she is ONLY 0.19 seconds off NCS Consideration!), and Evya Smyth finished 19th. Jess Gerhardt shaved another few tenths off her prelim time in the 100 free, going 58.49 and is only half a second off an NCS Consideration cut! Jace Carter finished 20th in the mens 100 Free. 

Olivia Whipple finished 10th in the 500 Free, going 5:39.65 while Avery Tanimura finished 15th in 5:52.03 – a nearly 9 second improvement! Braden Dunton finished 15th in 5:06.69 (just 0.7 seconds off an NCS Consideration cut), and Andrew Tanimura finished 18th. 

Next up was a 200 Free Relay races.  The women’s A team of Jess Gerhardt, Nina Bundy, Ellie Budke and Siena La Rotonda swam an NCS Consideration time of 1:47.34, finishing 8th. The B team of Juliet McIlwain, Amayel Guiro, Addison Dankworth and Sadie Hendrickson finished 13th. The mens A team of Gavin Barclay, Max Musch, Anthony Yamamoto and Jace Carter finished 11th in 1:36.73, an NCS Consideration cut. The B team of Braden Dunton (who had just swam the 500), Thomas Butler-Kurimai, Jayden Hwang and Malleus Kadai finished 17th. 

In the 100 Back, Tess Veronda finished 8th in 1:04.92 (an NCS cons time), while Evya Smyth finished 17th.  Madison Bauer made the final and finished 19th. Mason Schlehr finished 17th in 59.6. The 100 Breast races saw Anna Motes, Audrey Martin and Nina Bundy holding their 5th and 6th and 16th place finishes, while Jayden Hwang moved from 19th in prelims to 15th in finals with a 1:06.52! 

In the 400 Free Relays, both girls teams swam NCS Consideration times!  The A team of Juiet McIlwain, Audrey Martin, Siena La Rotonda and Anna Motes (Anna and Audrey had JUST come out of the breast final) finished 9th in 4:03.41, and the B team of Olivia Whipple, Kate Roberts, Madison Bauer and Addison Dankworth finished 12th in 4:09.85. The A team for the men, Mason Schlehr, Andrew Tanimura, Gavin Barclay and Braden Dunton finished 12th in 3:33.35 – an NCS Consideration time! The B team of Owen Andre, Jay Schoenhair, Thomas Butler-Kurimai and Malleus Kadai finished 15th.  

All the points earned from these finals swims moved us to a 6th place finish overall! What a great weekend of swimming for the Dons!  Next meet is Friday, 3/21 at Miramonte.  See you there!