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Evan Apuron swimming the Butterfly Stroke. Vince Apuron | Miner
Reilly Stewart swimming the 200 Breaststroke. Vince Apuron | Miner
Tabitha Kellam swimming the 200 Breaststroke. Vince Apuron | Miner
The Arizona Age Group State Championship Swim Meet was held March 5-8 at the Oro Valley Aquatic Center. Tabitha Kellam (11), Evan Apuron (11), Riley Stewart (11), and Nate Fister (12) achieved qualifying times in events at USA Swimming sanctioned meets to allow them to compete at the meet for swimmers ages 14 and under. Additionally, Ben Fister (9), Joey Castellanos (9), and Mason Stewart (9) qualified to swim on the 12 and Under Relays. Swimmers were allowed to swim up to a maximum of six events at the meet, if they achieved the qualifying times. Sea Lions Head Coach Alex Gort expressed pride in the fact that many of the swimmers were at the young end of the their respective age groups and this year provided valuable experience for the future.
Nate Fister qualified in the 50-yard Freestyle and swam a personal best time of 28.88 to finish 27th.
Tabitha Kellam qualified in the 200-yard Breaststroke and the 400-yard Individual Medley (IM). Both grueling events took place on Friday and Tabitha was able to swim several seconds faster in each finishing 22nd in the 200 Breaststroke (2:52.64) and 28th in the 400 IM (5:31.75).
Evan Apuron and Riley Stewart both qualified in many events and had to select their six best to compete at state.
Riley Stewart entered the distance and breaststroke events. In a spectacular 1650-yard Freestyle, Stewart went over a minute faster than his previous best time and finished 14th with a time of 20:29.57. Stewart finished the 200-yard Breaststroke in a time of 2:54.83 and a 20th place finish. Stewart qualified for the Consolation Finals (ninth–16th place) in the 50-yard Breaststroke and finished 16th that evening. In a timed finals session, Stewart broke the six minute barrier in the 500 yard Freestyle with a time 5:56.67 going 20 seconds faster than his previous best and finished 23rd, among the best of the 11-year-olds. Stewart finished off the meet with a 23rd place in the 100 Breaststroke and 18th place in the 1000-yard Freestyle.
Evan Apuron entered all the butterfly events along with some IM and freestyle events. In what turned out to be a grueling Friday, Apuron let the state know he was the best 11-year-old butterflier. After preliminaries and finals in the 200 Butterfly and 50 Butterfly against considerably bigger 12-year-olds, Evan finished fourth place in both events with tremendous time improvements. In a remarkable period of two weeks, his best time in the 200 fly dropped from 2:45.8 to 2:31.4 to 2:23.42. His 50 fly time of 29.20 is one that many high school swimmers would be proud of. At the rest of the meet, Apuron continued to swim his best when it mattered most. He finished 10th in the 200 IM (2:23.76), 17th in the 100 Freestyle (1:00.69), ninth in the 100 IM (1:07.26), and 10th in the 100 fly (1:04.99).
The Sea Lions competed in four 12 and Under relays at the meet with help from some 9-year-old boys that helped the teams qualify. The team of Riley Stewart, Ben Fister (9), Nate Fister, and Evan Apuron finished 16th in the 400 Freestyle Relay and 19th in the 200 Freestyle Relay. In the 200 Medley Relay, Joey Castellanos (9) swam the Backstroke leg, with Stewart (Breast), Apuron (Fly) and Nate Fister (Free) and the team finished 20th. In the 400 Medley Relay, Mason Stewart (9) swam the Breaststroke leg with Riley Stewart (Back), Apuron (Fly), and Nate Fister (Free) swimming to a 17th place finish.
Two more San Manuel Swimmers will be competing at the Eight and Under Championship Meet to be held on March 21-22 at the Peonix Country Day Pool in Paradise Valley. Johnny Smallhouse (8) and Anya Zovko (7) are both scheduled to compete in several events at the meet.
Sea Lions will begin practice in San Manuel on April 1 for the summer season. Registration will be at the pool on weekdays 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. beginning April 1. Contact Alex or Wendy Gort at 896-2190 for more information.
There are news or informational items frequently written by staff or submitted to the Copper Basin News, San Manuel Miner, Superior Sun, Pinal Nugget or Oracle Towne Crier for inclusion in our print or digital products. These items are not credited with an author.
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