MCST in Antioch Tanner Lopez, Nelly Nevares, Jenna Hekl, Briar Cue, Alathea Fuller, Addie Purweal, Dani Morill, and Sierra Thompson.
By COURTNEY MASELLA-O’BRIEN
The Martinez Community Swim Team (MCST) Otters started off a busy week on June 25, 2018 with the Middle Ages Invitational at Gehringer Park in Concord.
The invitational was for local 9 to 14-year-old swimmers and was Middle Ages themed, complete with giant turkey legs at the snack shack.
MCST placed fourth in the meet with a combined team score of 208 points.
Also participating at the invitational were swimmers from Gehringer Park, Crockett, Vista Diablo, and Springwood swim teams.
Thirteen-year-old Jackson Barnacal swam two county meet qualifying times at the invitational. Barnacal swam 25.62 in the 50-yard freestyle and 30.31 in the 50-yard backstroke. He came in first place for the boys overall with a score of 21 points for MCST, also placing first in the 50-yard freestyle race.
MCST swimmer Sam Benz, 14, placed fourth with 19 points. Noah Nevares, 11, and Patrick Keller, 10, tied for twenty-third place with 10 points. Owen Bolstad, 12, was twenty-ninth with 8 points.
For the girls, Casey Concepcion, 14, swam a county time in the 100-yard individual medley, finishing in 1:10.87.
Nine-year-old Briar cue finished first overall for the girls with 21 points. Her sister, Tatum Cue, 13, placed fourth, earning 19 points for MCST. Casey Concepcion, Chiara Ke, 11, and Nelly Nevares, 9, all placed fifteenth with fourteen points. Sara Meadors, 12, and Madailein Melendez, 9, earned 13 points each, finishing twentieth overall.
MCST eleven-year-olds Chiara Ke and Laila Leonard placed second and fourth in the girls’ 100-yard individual medley. Sara Meadors placed fourth for the 12-year-olds. Tatum Cue was second for the thirteen-year-olds and Casey Concepcion first in the fourteen-year-old girls’ 100-yard IM.
Nelly Nevares was first in the 9-year-old girls’ 50-yard breaststroke and Madailein Melendez was second. Sierra Thompson placed fifth in breaststroke for the 10 -year-olds and Leila Leonard was second for the 11-year-olds. Sara Meadors was fourth for the 12-year-olds and Kayla Keller fourth for the 13-year-olds. Fourteen-year-old Casey Concepcion was first in her age group.
Noah Nevares was second in the 11-year-old boys’ breaststroke and Xavier Poyadue was third for the 12-year-olds. Ten-year-old Patrick Keller placed first in his age group in the 50-yard butterfly. Sam Benz was second in butterfly for the fourteen-year-old boys. Ten-year-old MacKinnley Kirshen placed sixth in backstroke.
On June 27 Oakwood Athletic Club swim team visited MCST at Rankin Aquatic Center. The combined team scores were MCST 472, Oakwood 132.
Five Martinez boys tied for first place overall, earning 10 points each for MCST. They were Agi Montes, 10, Max Keifer, 14, Jackson Barnacal, 13, Del Roderick, 15, and Hunter Burns, 8. Placing next with 9 points each for MCST were Carter Burns, 6, Own Bolstad, 12, Oliver Cutting, 6, Beau Cutright, 15, and Chandler Kent, 8.
For the girls, eight Martinez swimmers tied for first place, earning 10 points each for the Otters. They were Sara Cutright, 13, Jaida Chellew, 16, Ana Rubio, 16, Layna Panaguiton, 12, Briar Cue, 9, Annette Cevasco, 12, Bella Wilhite, 8, and Casey Concepcion, 14. Next, with 8 points each for MCST, were Sydney Bower, 15, and Gianna Smith, 8. Earning 6 points each for MCST were nine-year-old Nelly Nevares, six-year old Claire Padilla, 13 year-old Brielle Duarte, six-year-old Rachel Delgado, fourteen year-old Taylor Takamoto, 12 year-old Frankie Schulze, 12 year-old Sara Meadors, 13 year-old Tatum Cue, and 10 year old Kaylee Salazar.
For the older swimmers’ individual medleys, the top finishers were all Otters. Layna Panaguiton, 12, Lilli Harbaugh, 11, Owen Bolstad, James Roderick, 12, Sara Cutright, 13, Grace Barnacal, 14, Max Keifer, 14, Sam Benz, 14, Jaida Chellew, 16, Beau Cutright, 15, and Jake Bower, 17 all finished at the tops of their age groups.
In the six and under age group, the top freestylers were also all Otters. Maeve Mullen, 6, Paige Russey, 6, Grace Willis, 6, Hailey Trim, 6, Noelle Wilhite, 6, Oliver Cutting, 6, Logan Moschel, 6, Isaac Le, 6, Austin Briley, 6, and Anderson Newell, 6, all finished in the top six.
On June 29, the Otters traveled to Antioch to take on the Antioch Delta Skimmers. The final overall scores were MCST 464, Antioch 159.
Fourteen-year-old Max Keifer was the top swimmer for the boys, earning fifteen points for MCST. In fourth place, each earning ten points for MCST, were Max Schulze, 9, Liam Morabe, 11, Carter Burns, 6, Finn Morabe, 15, Kyle Takamoto, 12, and Hunter Burns, 8. Earning eight points each for MCST were Jack Keifer, 13, Aaron Tornero, 12, Logan Moschell, 6, Brandon Silveira, 8, and Chandler Kent, 8. Aydan Silveira, 10, Zachary Frisbie, 9, Jaisen Le, 8, Kirby Davoren, 10, Elam Bender, 16, and Shawn Keifer, 10, each earned six points for MCST.
For the girls, Tatum Cue, 13, Bella Wilhite, 8, Tanner Lopez, 9, Sara Cutright, 13, and Sara Meadors, 12, all earned ten points for MCST. Chiara Ke, 11, Sierra Howard, 16, Layna Panaguiton, 12, Emma Kolb, 12, Addie Purewal, 9, and Briar Cue, 9, each earned eight points for MCST. Earning six points each for MCST were Jaida Chellew, 16, Sydney Bower, 15, Hailey Trim, 6, Nelly Nevares, 9, and Maeve Mullen, 6.
The Otters swam exceptionally in every race. In the medley relay, MCST teams came in first in every boys’ and girls’ age group with the exception of one. Otters also came in first in almost every other race also.
In butterfly, for the six and unders, Hailey Trim, Maeve Mullen, Carter Burns, and Logan Moschell placed first and second for the boys and girls. In the 7-8 girls’ group, Daphne Smyth, Georgia Leonard, Gabriel Duque de Estrada, and Emma Kitchen were among the top five.
For the boys, Hunter Burns and Chandler Kent were first and second. In the 9-10-year-old categories, Addie Purewal, Dani Morrill, Max Schulze, Shawn Keifer, Dillon Kitchen, and Isiah Cassidy placed in the top four.
Twelve-year-old Sara Meadors was first, eleven-year-old Elva O’Brien fourth, and eleven-year-old Leila Leonard fifth in their age group. For the boys, Liam Morabe, 11, and Xavier Poyadue, 12, placed first and fourth. In the older age groups, Jocie Yee, 14, Rilie Bennett, 13, Rosy Deilke, 13, Max Keifer, 14, Taylor Holland, 14, Sydney Bower, 15, Jaida Chellew, 16, Elam Bender, 16, and Jake Spencer, 15, were all among the top four finishers.
Wrapping up a busy and successful season, MCST’s last meet is the Twin Counties League Championship at American Canyon High school on July 28.
