Canyons top 12 and under swimmers hit the water at Belmont Plaza this past weekend in the first part of the Southern California winter Junior Olympics. Featuring the top age-group swimmers from Orange County up to Santa Maria and as far east as Las Vegas, the Canyon Aquatic swimmers were very competitive and finished the three day meet in 3^rd place. This coming weekend, Canyons 13 and older swimmers will attend the meet and attempt to build on that solid foundation.

GOLD MEDAL SWIMMERS

Canyons was led by 10 year-old Tanner Olson who put his mark on the team record books by breaking one of Canyons oldest records, the 9-10 100 breaststroke. Tanner’s time of 1:14.97 took nearly two second off Andre Cuhna’s team record set way back in 1987.  In addition to the record, Tanner won the event earning a gold medal. Tanner’s second gold medal came during the 200 IM where his powerful breaststroke propelled him to the win. Other top 8 finishes for Tanner include 4^th place in the 100 IM.

Canyons saw female swimmers take gold with 12 year-old Maliah Grim winning the 11-12 50 breaststroke with a time of 32.01. Maliah followed that title with a silver medal in the 100 breaststroke

10-year-old Alexa Skours-Neely won the 100 freestyle with a 59.59 and earned several other finals swims including finishing 3^rd in the 50 free, 5^th in the 100 IM, 6^th in the 100IM and 7^th in the 200 free.

The 10 & under Boys relay of Tanner Olson, Brandon Hwang, Adam Osowski and William Chung captured gold in the 200 free relay.

RECORD RELAYS

The 11-12 boys 4 x 50 medley relay notched up a team record with their 1:55.26 combined swim. The relay included Kevin Dai, Joseph Ang, Jose Ovalle and Cole Cogswell. Their swim broke a 2006 team record set by Alex Ngan, Riley Mita, Jonathan Hwang and Bob Hwang.

The girls 11-12 relay team of Liza Kuznetsova, Maliah Grim, Mik Ranslem and Tamara Santoyo broke their own team record set in December at the Winter Age Group Championships with their 1:57.90 swim, beating their best of 1:58.79.

TOP 8 SWIMS

Canyons saw numerous swimmers make it into the top 8 championship finals. For the girls, in addition to Alexa and Maliah, three other girls reached the championships with Tamara Santoyo taking 6^th in the 11-12 100 free and a bronze medal in the 200 free. In addition she finished 7^th in the 500 free.

An under-the-weather Liza Kuznetsova showed what toughness is all about as she finished 4^th in the 100 backstroke but had to leave the meet early due to illness. Teammate Mik Ranslem finished 6^th in the 100 IM.

For the 10 & under boys, Adam Osowski picked up a bronze medal in the 200 freestyle while William Chung took 7^th in the 50 free.

The 11-12 boys were led by 11 year-old Kevin Dai who took 3^rd in the 100 freestyle and 5^th in the 50 free where he was the only 11 year old in the top 19 finishers. Kevin also medaled in the 50 back (6^th) the 100 back (7^th) the 100 IM (7^th) and the 200IM (6^th). Kevin’s 6 finals swims led the entire 12 and under squad.

Cole Cogswell finished 5^th in the 500 free earning a personal record in the swim and Jose Ovalle took 6^th in the 50 yard butterfly.

TOP RELAY RESULTS

In addition to the 11-12 boys record setting relay, several other Canyons quartets hit the medals stand including the girl’s 11-12 200 yard medley relay of Liza Kuznetsova, Maliah Grim, Mik Ranslem and Tamara Santoyo. The four girls combined for 3^rd place and then did it again in the 400 yard medley.

Following up their gold medal swim, Adam Oswoski, Tanner Olson, William Chung and Brandon Hwang took silver in the 200 medley relay.

Cole Cogswell, Josh Unas, Jose Ovalle and Kevin Dai combined for bronze in the 11-12 400 free relay. Joseph Ang joined Cogswell, Dai and Unas to take 3^rd in the 400 medley relay.

With the Senior swimmers gearing up for a Thursday start, Canyons is in 4^th place for the women, 3^rd place for the men and 3^rd place combined only 360 points behind perennial power Mission Viejo and about 800 points behind Irvine Novaquatics. The Canyons coaches hope to close the distance on Nova with the senior swimmers, but Mission Viejo, with its strong senior program will make a move for the title. Even so, expect Canyons to be in contention for the team title awarded on Sunday.