FGC JO’s Results: CSSC Takes Fifth Overall; Hamilton, Powell Break Club Records

The team from Coral Springs Swim Club turned in one of its best performances in recent years at this past weekend’s Florida Gold Coast Junior Olympic Championships.  The meet, which was hosted by CSSC at the Coral Springs Aquatic Complex, showcased many exciting, winning and fast swims by the home team, including two club record breaking results.  In the overall team results, CSSC placed in the fifth position out of 32 teams, securing 421.50 points, boosted by the third-place finish of the 10 & under girls (94 points) and the 11-12 boys fourth place result (131.50 points).  Other point totals by age category were ninth place by the 10 & under boys (42 points), seventh place for the 11-12 girls (72 points), and sixth for the 13-14 girls (82 points.)

Brian Hamilton (12) of Blue Group, was the team’s leader at JO’s, garnering 54 points for CSSC, to finish in third place in the individual high point results for 11-12 boys.  His weekend consisted of seven individual events, qualifying for “A” finals in all seven, as well as four relay swims.  Hamilton was event champion in both the 50-yard freestyle and 50-yard butterfly, notching USA Swimming AAAA times in both. Not only that, but his time of 23.49 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle shattered the CSSC club record of 23.81 that had been held by Tristan Celestin since 2011 in the 11-12 boys category. His other results included silver in the 100-yard freestyle (also an “AAAA” time), fourth in the 500-yard freestyle, 100-yard individual medley, and 50-yard backstroke, as well as ninth in the 100-yard butterfly.  It goes without saying that Brian Hamilton had an outstanding Junior Olympic swim meet.

Also swimming in the boys’ 11-12 age category was John Albornoz, who had a successful swim meet as well.  Albornoz earned 17.5 points for CSSC which placed him in 18^th position in that grouping. He also swam seven individual and four relay events, with his seven individuals resulting in five “A” finals swims and two “B” final swims.  His best results were third place in the 500-yard freestyle, including an “AAA” time and seventh in the 400-yard individual medley, which featured a time improvement of almost 9 seconds.  Albornoz was an alternate in the 50 yard freestyle but took full advantage of a swimmer scratch which allowed him to compete in the “B” final, where he finished seventh.

Will McAndrews gained 32 points in the boys 10 & under grouping, good enough for 8^th place in that age category.  A glance at the seven individual events on McAndrews’ schedule shows “A” finals swims in six of them.  He also turned in personal best times in each event, including identical time drops of 4.71 seconds in both the 500-yard freestyle (6^th place) and 200-yard individual medley (4^th place).  Mc Andrews’ other top ten finishes featured fifth place in both the 50- and 100-yard breaststrokes, as well as seventh place in the 100-yard individual medley and 200-yard freestyle.

Stepping over to the girls’ side of the heat sheet, Carolyn Powell and Grace Weeks each earned 36 points for their team in the individual point competitions, highlighting an abundance of girls from Coral Springs Swim Club that competed in the finals races at JO’s.  Powell, competing in the girls’ 13-14 age group, showed why she has been one of the most successful and consistent swimmers for CSSC during the last few years.  One high point of Powell’s outstanding weekend was her 50-yard backstroke swim during the girls’ 13-14 200-yard medley relay, in which she broke the club record of 27.88 seconds, previously held by Megan Schimansky since 2014.  Powell’s time of 27.60 is the new Coral Springs Swim Club record for 13-14 girls in that event. 

Powell’s competition weekend included six individual races, along with four relays, and in all six individuals, she achieved USA Swimming “AAA” times, including her time of 157.21 200-yard freestyle, which brought home the gold medal for CSSC.  Powell’s other events featured five more “A” final swims, including the 200-yard backstroke (third place), 100-yard backstroke (fifth place), 100-yard freestyle (fifth place), and 100-yard butterfly (sisth place.)  In addition, her only race in which she did not qualify for the “A” final was the 50-yard freestyle, however the result was still outstanding, as Powell won that “B” final, with her finals time placing her in the top ten overall. Her 36 points positioned Powell in the seventh overall spot for 13-14 girls, even though she did not swim the maximum seven events.

Grace Weeks was also tremendously consistent at JO’s, swimming the “A” final in all seven events in which she was entered to earn her total of 36 points, and 9^th place in the girls’ 10 & under age group. Weeks’ best results included bronze medals in both the 500-yard freestyle (“AAA” time) and 50-yard backstroke.  Also contributing to her point total were fifth in the 100-yard backstroke, sixth in the 200-yard individual medley, seventh in the 200-yard freestyle (“AAA” time), eighth in the 100-yard individual medley, and ninth in the 100-yard freestyle.  Weeks was also an instrumental part of both 10 & under relay teams to lead her teammates in that age group.

Manuella Lima was not far behind Powell and Weeks in the battle for CSSC girls point totals, finishing with 27 points, which placed her 13^th in the 11-12 girls age category.  Lima swam finals in all seven events, highlighted by a silver medal in the 200-yard individual medley (“AAA” time.)  And in a true exhibition of versatility by a swimmer, Lima’s schedule for “A” finals also included the 1650 freestyle (sixth place “AAA” time), 100-yard breaststroke (third place “AAA” time), 200-yard freestyle (seventh place), and 50-yard backstroke (tenth place.)  Her “B” finals results were in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly, emphasizing that Manuella Lima can swim any and all strokes with success.

Continuing on with the many girls who earned points for Coral Springs Swim Club, Jameela Rashad (9), had an excellent meet, garnering 23 points and the fourteenth overall spot in her age group. Rashad was an “A” finalist in six of her seven races, with her 50-yard freestyle (fourth place) and 100-yard freestyle (seventh place) swims resulting in “AAA” times.  Rashad also finished in the top ten in the 500-yard freestyle (seventh), 100-yard backstroke (tenth), 50-yard backstroke (seventh) and 200-yard freestyle (eighth).  She also swam on the relays for the 10 & under girls.

Carly Chin finished in the seventeenth position in the 11-12 girls grouping, with a total of 17 points, swimming in finals in all of her events.  Chin was an “A” finalist in the 100-yard freestyle (fifth and “AAA” time), 100-yard butterfly (fifth), 200-yard individual medley (ninth), 100-yard backstroke (ninth), and 50-yard freestyle (tenth and “AAA” time).  She was also the winner of the “B” final in the 200-yard freestyle, with her time landing her in sixth place overall for time, while also swimming the “B” of the 50-yard butterfly.  Chin was an integral part of all of the 11-12 girls’ relay teams.

Ivanka Bukele was a breaststroke specialist this weekend, qualifying for “A” finals in both the 100- and 200-yard distances of that stroke to earn 12 points for Coral Springs Swim Club.  Bukele finished in fifth place in both events, achieving “AAA” times in both, and displaying overwhelming time improvements along the way.  She also swam the “B” final of both the 50- and 200-yard freestyles to round out her JO’s experience.

Other swimmers earning points for Coral Springs Swim Club were Emma Baker, who finished ninth in the 11-12 50 breaststroke while also swimming “B” finals in the 200 yard freestyle, and Kendall Parrott who qualified for the “A” final in the 10 & under 50 yard breaststroke in this, her first JO meet.  Caroline Almeida, Joshua DeSouza, Sophia El Chantiry, and Madison Laski did not earn points, but swam in “B” finals in one or more events, contributing to the team atmosphere and enthusiasm of CSSC during the course of the weekend.

A large factor in the fifth-place team point finish for Coral Springs Swim Club was the success of the various relay teams.  The 10 & under girls team of Isla El Chantiry, Kendall Parrott, Jameela Rashad, and Grace Weeks performed tremendously for CSSC.  The team came away with a silver medal in the 200-yard medley relay, missing the top spot by less than a second and holding off the third-place finisher by 0.05 seconds in an exciting finish. The same girls earned the bronze medal in the 200-yard freestyle relay in an equally exciting race, this time being bested by the silver medalist by only 0.12 seconds. On the boys side, the 10 & under team of Dylan Ehrlich, Nicolas Favre, Will McAndrews, and Joel Robins turned in a solid 6^th place result in the 200 yard medley relay. 

The 11-12 and 13-14 age groups featured four relays for each gender.  Starting with the boys this time, John Albornoz, Brian Hamilton, Roman Kondrashov, and Joseph Villalobos, turned in a silver medal result in the 400-yard freestyle relay, missing out on the gold medal by a mere half a second.  This same team was sixth in the 400-yard medley relay, earning valuable points for CSSC.  In the shorter distances, those being the 200-yard freestyle and medley relays, Albornoz, Hamilton and Villalobos teamed up with Jayden Guo to turn in two third place results, just missing second place in the 200-yard freestyle.

The 11-12 girls also did well at JO’s, with Caroline Almedia, Emma Baker, Carly Chin and Madison Laski the team that competed in the 400-yard relay distances, resulting in eighth place in the 400 freestyle relay and eleventh position in the 400 medley.  Almedia, Chin and Laski were joined by Manuella Lima in the 200-yard freestyle relay (fifth place) and the 200-yard medley relay (seventh place.)

Sophia El Chantiry, Samantha Grossman, Carolyn Powell, and Hope Suther comprised the 13-14 girls 200-yard relay teams.  The medley relay in that distance was fifth, with the freestyle relay turning in an eighth-place result.  In the 400-yard medley relay, Emma Lin, Sophia El Chantiry, Carolyn Powell, and Hope Suther finished in sixth position, and Lin, Grossman, Powell and Suther rounded out the relays with eighth in the 400-yard medley event.

Alongside all of the successes of the team, relay and individual events at JO’s came the qualification of many CSSC swimmers to the Florida State All-Star swim meet.  JO’s serves as a qualifying meet for All-Stars by finishing in sixth place in at least one event.  Those qualifying for All-Stars were John Albornoz, Ivanka Bukele, Carly Chin, Brian Hamilton, Manuella Lima, Will McAndrews, Carolyn Powell, Jameela Rashad, and Grace Weeks.  CSSC’s own Coach Brittany Bellomo will be in attendance as well, as she was selected to be a coach at All-Stars up in Indian River the week of March 25.

Speaking of Coach Bellomo, she had high praise for the members of CSSC at the FGC Junior Olympics… “I am so proud of our CSSC swimmers this past weekend at JOs! It's amazing to see all of their hard work pay off. The highlight of the weekend was being there for Brian Hamilton's club record breaking 50-yard freestyle. He is a former Silver Group member and it's so amazing to see how far he has come. He is such an inspiration to many! Huge shout out to my Silver Group star, Kendall Parrott, on her first ever Junior Olympics meet! She qualified individually in the 50-yard breaststroke where she went a best time in prelims and placed 10th in finals. She also swam both 10 & under girls relays where she helped her team capture 2nd & 3rd respectively. I am so proud of my Kendall! 

I want to congratulate the following White & Blue Group swimmers for qualifying individually: John Albornoz, Caroline Almeida, Emma Baker, Joshua DeSouza, Isla El Chantiry, Jayden Guo, Roman Kondrashov, Madison Laski, Will McAndrews, Jameela Rashad, Joseph Villalobos, and Grace Weeks. Everyone mentioned went at least one best time this weekend! Caroline, Carly & Will had a perfect meet, dropping time in all of their individual events. John, Emma, Carly, Will, Jameela & Grace all finished in the top 10 at least once (John & Grace both placed top 3!). Dylan Ehrlich, Nico Favre and Ryan Robins all had their first JO experience swimming the 10 & under boys relays along with Will McAndrews!”

This meet wraps up a very successful short course season for the swimmers of Coral Springs Swim Club who compete in the age group swim meets.  Up next for CSSC is the Florida Gold Coast Senior Championships, to be held in Pembroke Pines March 17-20 (admission to barricaded areas only is $5.00). The events on Thursday evening will be swum as timed finals, with prelims and finals sessions scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  It should be another successful weekend of swimming for Coral Springs Swim Club!