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Austin Grand Prix Brings Best in Nation
Together for Unique Meet
Twelve of the La Mirada Armada's best athletes traveled to
the great state of Texas for the third Grand Prix stop on
the USA swimming circuit. The meet served as a
championship conclusion to the first half of the year for
the Armada. Samantha Shellem led the way with her
second and third place finish in the 800 and 400 free
respectively. The Armada's women's relays were a
highlight throughout the meet and scored the bulk of the
points needed for the Armada's fourth place finish in the
meet.
The meet was a
unique format in that it ran short course prelims in the
morning and long course finals at night.
"I
loved this format!" noted coach Shipherd.
"This benefited our team greatly, as it
gave us an early head start on the long course season, and
surprisingly we discovered that most of our athletes are
ahead of where they finished in long course 2008."
Several of the
Armada swimmers stood up and raced with the best in the
nation as they qualified for the 'A' or 'B' finals,
Kirstie Chen was fourth in the 400 IM and 200 fly. The
400 IM field was one of the fastest ever assembled outside
of a national championship. It included American
record holder Dagny Knutson, Olympianns Elizabeth Beisel and
Katie Hoff. Jessica Marsh had an outstanding meet with
best times and B consol appearances in the 200 and 400 free,
as well as, sparkling best times in the 100 free and 100
back.
Samantha
Shellem
In addition to the
'A' or 'B' finalists there were
terrific performances in some of the later finals.
Nikki Chang had a very nice 200 free and an 18 second drop
in the 800 free, Kylie Garcia stood out in the 100 back,
breaking a minute for the first time and placing in the 'C'
finals with a very good 200 fly. Kirsten Shew had a
best time in the 200 back and Maddie Golison looked great in
both the 100 and 200 breast with best times. Alyssa
Shew achieved a personal best time in the 100 fly and 200 m
breast.
On the boys
side, Matt Chong was really excited about breaking a minute
in the 100 breast for the first time and did best times in
the 200 breast and 400 IM as well. Brennan Jacobsen
finished in the top 16 for the 1500 free with a best time by
21 seconds. Brennan also went best times and made it
into the 'C' final for the 400 IM and 100 fly. John
Chang was at his best in the 100 fly with a personal best.
"All of our
relays swam well, but my highlight for the meet came in the
400 m free relay for women. " said coach Shipherd
Sam
Shellem took the tough leadoff position and posted a very
good 58.9, Kirstie Chen followed with a 59.4 (her first time
under 1:00) and Nikki Chang, the rookie on the squad,
followed with a 1:00.8. Jessica Marsh anchored with a
blistering 58.4 (her first time under 1:00). The
3:57.2 time qualified our women for the national
championships in August.
Matt, Kiersten, Coach Rick, John, Jessica, Alyssa
(back row)
Henry, Brennan, Sam, Kirstie, Nikki (front row)
Kylie and Maddie (Not pictured ) |
We had some fun too.
Jimmy John's, Rudy's worst barbeque ever and
shopping cart rides at
the Fiesta Market were the highlights. |
"Seems these
guys make fun out of almost anything. Backing off for only four days and then stepping up when it counts, I
was really proud of the team, we represented ourselves well.
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