The Santa Maria Swim Club sent eight swimmers to Orlando, Florida, on March 13 for the Next College Student Athlete Junior National Championships, an intense competition where many young athletes are scouted by college coaches for the first time. More than 1,600 swimmers from across the nation competed at the meet.
Central Coast New Tech High School senior Wyatt Marsalek took sixth in the men’s 1650 freestyle and reached the finals in several other events. Blake Simpson, a sophomore at New Tech High, placed 17th in the men’s 1650 freestyle, and Izzie Fraire, a senior at Righetti High School, finished 38th in the women’s 200 breaststroke.
Austin Aguirre and Saray Brown, both sophomores at New Tech, and Marcos Hillje-Enthoven and Keshaun Patel, seniors at Orcutt Academy High School, were also among the Swim Club’s top competitors. Youngster Parker Reynolds, an eighth grader at Lakeview Junior High School, made it to the championships as well.
“I obviously was excited to get kids over to that level,” Mike Ashmore, Swim Club head coach, told the Sun. “It’s a big deal to get over there, and the kids that went put in a lot of hard work to achieve that goal.”
This article appears in Mar 29 – Apr 5, 2018.