CA/NV Winter Sectionals  12/18/2009 - 12/22/2009

The 2009 California/Nevada Sectional Championships at Belmont Plaza was a huge success for Canyons as several team records fell in the five days of competition.  Competing with only 5 high school seniors, Canyons put several swimmers in finals and numerous swimmers in top 24 scoring position.  Featuring swimmers from all across California and Nevada, the competition was fierce as even collegiate powerhouse USC entered the competition and had to battle against some of the best prep swimmers in the country.  Add to that appearances by a few ex-Olympians, (including gold medalist and world record holder Kotsuke Kitajima) this was an event to rival the Junior Nationals in talent.  For Canyons the results were best times, repeat swims in finals and several team records broken or threatened.

Friday saw Canyons score early putting 7 swimmers in the 1000. For the boys Riley Mita picked up a 2009 Short Course National cut by .09 with his 11th 9:27.30 place swim with Konrad Antoniuk placing 12th.  Mitchell Johnson earned his first Jr. National by beating the 2009 standard with his 9:34.33 19th place finish.

For the girls, Nicole Antoniuk lowered her age group and open team record with her 10:18.01, a two second drop from her record-breaking swim at Junior Nationals a week earlier and good enough for 19th place.

Day two saw Bob Hwang power his way to a 6^th place finish in the 200 fly with a 1:49.81, just a few one hundredths off his team record. Joining Bob in the evening finals was Konrad Antoniuk, picking up points with his 24^th place finish.  Michelle Duraj picked up a personal best in the 200 breaststroke with her 10^th place finish and a 2:17.08 time.

Day three had Bob in consolation finals for the 200 free turning in a 1:42.85 effort good enough for 20^th place.  Riley Mita earned a second swim completing the 400IM in 4:03.94 for 21^st place.

The boys’ relay team of Konrad Antoniuk, Riley Mita, Nui Harris and Bob Hwang took 7^th place just off their team record set a week prior at Junior Nationals.  The girl’s relay of Maggie Hanson, Hayley Good, Sam Asencio and Kearsten Livingstone also came just shy of a club record with their 7:38.52 effort earning them 12^th place.

Monday saw Nicole Antoniuk take another stab at a club record as she recorded back-to-back 5:02 500 free swims.  With the club record at 4:59, Nicole (only 15) has this number etched in her brain. Sure she has 4 more years, but it’s a good bet she’ll take this elusive record out this year.

The Men’s 500 Free saw Konrad Antoniuk finish 14^th with a preliminary time of 4:34.43 less than a second off his team record time.  Riley Mita won the bonus heat which was  good enough for 17^th place overall with his 4:35.72 effort.

In the 400 free relay the quartet of Michelle Duraj, Kearsten Livingstone, Maggie Hanson and Hayley Good combined for a 3:31.75 swim just a bit off the Canyons open record but good enough the shatter the 17-18 team record set in 2005 by Sarah Colvin, Jessica Chen, Melissa Bowers and Hanna Kim. 

The boys quartet of Nui Harris, Bob Hwang, Riley Mita and Konrad Antoniuk took 12^th in team record time with their combined effort of 3:11.16 breaking the team record of 3:11.43 owned by Harris, Antoniuk, Hwang and Nick Korth.

The final day of competition saw Kearsten Livingstone take 23rd in the 100 back, while Nui Harris took 21st on the men’s side.

Riley Mita came up just shy of his team record in the 1650 with his 15:48.72 swim good enough for 8^th place with Konrad Antoniuk placing 9^th just off his best time and Mitchell Johnson earning 15^th place with his 16:16.60 time. Another notable mile swim came from Matt Johnson, recording a 16:37.68 mile at only 13 years old.

For the ladies it was Nicole Antoniuk again as she continued her attack on the record books with her 17.11.25 1650 swim good enough for 7^th place and just 1/100^th slower than her team record time set earlier in the week at Junior Nationals.  Megan Schultz took her mile time down to 17:33.04 good enough for 15^th place and putting her within a few seconds of the 13-14 age group record.

Michelle Duraj finaled in the 100 breaststroke earning a 1:03.89 time in the preliminaries and finishing 7^th for the day. Kearsten Livingstone took 16^th in the 100 fly and Bob Hwang took 11^th in the 100 fly flirting with his team record.

The Women’s 400 Medley of Livingstone, Duraj, Hanson and Good took out their second 17-18 team record with their 3:56.46 swim breaking the team record of 4:00.40 set in 2005 by Melissa Bowers, Lizette Patterson, Sara Colvin and Jessic Chen.  Tired after a week of competition (two weeks for Hanson and Duraj) the girls were off of their 3:51.81 seedtime.  To make things more interesting, the SCS record for 17-18 girls is 3:51.15 with the possibility of these four swimming the event again this January or February.

In the end there were three relay records broken plus an open relay record and several team records threatened.  The Senior swimmers who trained through this meet are setting sights on January’s Grand Prix meet for their break out swims.

Meet results can be found HERE