More Records Fall in Latest Orca Victory

The year 2012 may be remembered as the year the Terra Linda Orcas rewrote their record books. 

This past weekend at the the Orcas took an early lead against the Larkspur Tidalwaves and held it throughout, beating them 295 – 265. 

In the process Jonah Albers broke a pool and team record in the Boys 9 to 10 Butterfly, beating his own team record from last year and topping a pool record set earlier this season by a Scott Valley Sea Serpent. Well that didn’t last long.

In contrast, Girls 15 to 18 Tai Hallstein broke a record from 1983 in the butterfly. Nineteen eighty three was my senior year at Redwood High School and it might not seem like long ago to me, but there have been nearly three decades of swimmers who have had shots at breaking that record and Hallstein was finally the one to do it. If it stands for another thirty years it won’t be broken again until the 2040s.

Beating the Tidalwaves had to feel good to the Orcas, This year the temperatures topped 100 degrees on deck, making the Orca accomplishments all the more impressive.  When the Tidalwaves and Orcas meet, Mother Nature loves to make it interesting and challenging.

Despite the heat, or maybe because of it, there were three Orcas who took first place in all three of their events. Albers, Boys 13 to 14 Zach Kent and Boys 15 to 18 Drew Dilsworth all were undefeated on Saturday.

The Orcas had several swimmers who achieved best times in all of their events: Girls 8 and Under Marissa Boysen; Boys 8 and Under Daniel Hadar and Arther Calvi, who along the way scored two thirds and a second place; Boys 9 and 10 Danny Cribin and Blake Thompsonm who scored two firsts and a third place; Girls 11 to 12 Kaila Campos and Victoria Navarro; Girls 13 to 14 Inge Lehtonen-Tomass; Girls 15 to 18 Natalie Wambach; Boys 15 to 18 Ryan Chung and Chad Sambellm who picked up a first and second place along the way.  

Another notable performance, last week Girls 8 and Under Thalia Yamini missed making the All Star meet by .01 in the breaststroke.  This was her last opportunity to attend the All Stars as a swimmer and I’m happy to report that Yamini practiced hard all week and had no problem coming in almost a second under the All-Star qualifying time.

Unfortunately, only my older daughter Skylee made the All Stars this year in the breaststroke. My younger daughter Sabrina has been fast in the pool all year, but just not fast enough. While she didn’t make it this year, I get the feeling at only 8 years old she’s got lots of years of fun, competitive swimming ahead of her. In a highlight of this year on Saturday, Sabrina took third place in the IM without the benefit of her goggles which were hanging around her neck from the time she dove in. Coincidentally Skylee also had her goggles come off when she dove into the IM and she managed a fourth place finish.

Next weekend the All Star meet will be a nice bonus for the swimmers who made it. It’s an accomplishment we all should be proud of, but no more proud of the accomplishment of our kids starting the season in the chill of March and swimming for four months into the heat of summer  Everyone’s truly a winner for participating and every week there are too many great stories to tell from these meets.