Easop Lee Dominates in Friday’s Age Group Session at CeraVe Invitational

By Swimming World Intern Carmen Triola

PISCATAWAY, New Jersey, January 10. THE first day of the age group timed finals at the 2014 CeraVe Invitational saw North Baltimore Aquatic Club sweep the freestyles and the backstrokes, and their own Easop Lee taking three first-place spots. It was not, however, without stiff competition from Long Island Aquatic Club and Scarlet Aquatics.

Women’s 13-14 200 free
The girls from North Baltimore owned this event, with Easop Lee (2:06.33) and Megan Fields (2:12.00) winning first and second place, respectively. Long Island was not far behind, with their athlete, Alice Ye (2:13.90), making third, and several of their players — Kimberly Chan (2:15.91) Kathleen Duong (2:16.15) and Bridget O’Shaughnessy (2:16.83) making up most of the top ten. Representing Scarlet Aquatics, though, in fourth place was Abigail Kilgallon (2:13.95).

Men’s 13-14 200 free
North Baltimore continued to dominate in the 200 free with Dylan Arzoni (2:03.76) taking first, but not without some competition from Berkley Aquatic Club, and most especially Scarlet Aquatics. Kevin Flynn, 14, of Berkeley came in just after Arzoni with a time of 2:04:87, while the Scarlet Knights held their own with Austin Lee (2:05.32) Johannes Calloni (2:06.80) and Cortright (2:07.42), in third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

Women’s 11-12 50 back
The 50 back saw a pretty close top three, but it was Long Island’s Lauryn Johnson who ultimately finished before the others with a time of 33.20. North Baltimore, however, squeezed behind with Gaby Jantac and her second-place time of 33.83, as well as Elizabeth Fry, swimming a 33.98 race, and coming in third.

Men’s 11-12 50 back
It was no competition for Leighton Mayers (29.82) of Scarlet Aquatics, as he finished well over 2 ? ahead of River Wright (32.47) of Bluefish Swim Club. Mayers had more reasons to celebrate as he managed to even break Vincent Mariano’s 2013 New Jersey record of 29.95, and Lenny Grant’s 2011 meet record of 31.35. Still behind Mayers and Wright was Max Scalamandre, of Long Island (34.00) who took third.

Women’s 10 & under 50 free
It didn’t go to North Baltimore, nor to Scarlet — not even Long Island came in first. Instead of the typical powerhouses, Megan Kramer (31.44) and Anya Pabby (31:60) represented Bluefish and Badger Swim Club in first and a very close second place, respectively. The third best time came from Joanie Cash (21.05) of Long Island, but was still not that far behind.

Men’s 10 & under 50 free
The race was not a long one, but that didn’t stop Timothy Jimenez (32.71) and Luc Francis (32.28) of Scarlet Aquatics from winning big in first and second place. Each clocked in nearly a second ahead of their seed time, helping them to pull ahead of North Baltimore’s Luke Jantac. It was a close race for the bronze, though, with only .10 difference between Jantac’s and Francis’s times.

Women’s 13-14 100 back
The younger swimmers of this group were definitely in charge, and definitely, again, from North Baltimore. Easop Lee earned yet another first place spot with her time of 1:08.40, while her teammate, Lauren Poole (1:09.72), placing second. Their older North Baltimore peer, Cassie Kalisz (1:10.08) raced well, too, ahead of Scarlet Aquatics’ Marie Fagan (1:11.49) Emily Gorham (1:11.86) and Abigail Kilgallon (1:12.59).

Men’s 13-14 100 back
While Berkeley’s Johannes Callioni (1:04:16) earned his first top time at the meet, placing second overall, it was just another high-placement finish for Scarlet Aquatics’ Kevin Flynn who ended up with a time of 1:04.16. Flynn also got to go head-to-head with Dylan Arzoni who beat him in the 200 free.

Women’s 11-12 400 free
North Baltimore did it again, this time with Elizabeth Fry (4:42.36) and Samantha Ai (4:44.05) making first and second place. Long Island made a decent showing, too, as their Lauryn Johnson (4:47.37), 12, and Madeline Competello (4:55.78) took third and forth.

Men’s 11-12 400 free
River Wright (4:45.33), of Bluefish, snagged another nice win, this time over Max Scalamandre (4:45.93), of Long Island, but not with as large a margin as his backstroke. The race was, in fact, rather close — the two finished well ahead of North Baltimore’s Will Hoogenboom, whose third place time came out to 4:53.97.

Women’s 10 & under 100 back
As Bluefish began to gain some momentum, their own Megan Kramer took another top title in the 100 back with a time of 1:19.70. Berkeley saw their swimmer, Clarissa Sabin (1:21.13), come in second, but it was the Jersey Flyers who got a nice surprise by coming in third, courtesy of Kira Baltaytis (1:21.52).

Men’s 10 & under 100 back
Luke Jantac saw another impressive race as his first place time came in at 1:21.80 for North Baltimore, way ahead of Westchester Aquatic Club’s Emmet Santry (1:25:60). Jantac’s teammate, Robert Fry, got third in the back, with a time of 1:26.18.

Women’s 13-14 200 breast
In the afternoon’s closest match, Scarlet Aquatics’ Alicia Iizuka (2:46.75) gained just .03 seconds on the second place winner, North Baltimore’s Lexi Kolodgie. That didn’t stop a younger athlete, Berkeley’s Lindsay Rispoli, from earning a respectable 2:50.94 time.

Men’s 13-14 200 breast
After struggling to make more first place times, Long Island made a comeback with Timothy Marksi’s top time of 2:42.57. Another surprise came from a local New Jersey team, Tidal Wave Swim, and their own Deion Alfajora, with his 2:43.22 time earning him second place. Not to be absent from the winner’s circle, though, North Baltimore joined the top swimmers again with Hamed Hudhud’s time of 2:44.88.

Women’s 11-12 50 breast
Elizabeth Fry (36.95) of North Baltimore, showed another strong finish, as she and her teammate, Samantha Ai (38.09) came in first and third, respectively. Scarlet Aquatics, though, secured their own high-up spot with Danning Hu and his time of 37.75.

Men’s 11-12 50 breast
Tidal Wave brought more action, again in the breaststroke, as their Eric Wang (34.63) took first place. Thomas Shepanzyk of Berkeley came in a little afterward, with his 38.61 time, and Nicholas Poulos (38.92) managed to come in to a pretty close third.

Women’s 10 & under 100 breast
While Clarissa Sabin (1:24.50) scored her second top three time, it was Bluefish’s Megan Kramer (1:33.65) who earned her third top three ranking of the day. Sabin, nonetheless, came in impressively ahead, gaining about nine seconds on Kramer, and a full ten on North Baltimore’s Minna Hudhud (1:34.63) who was awarded third place.

Men’s 10 & under 100 breast
Scarlet Aquatics’ Luc Francis (1:32.16) soared ahead of the competition in his 100 breast, swimming a full eight seconds ahead of Long Island’s Geonwoo Kim (1:40.22) and ten seconds before North Baltimore’s Robert Fry (1:43.51).

Women’s 13-14 200 IM
North Baltimore’s Easop Lee (2:26.26) continued to squash her competition, earning her third race win of the day almost seven seconds before Long Island’s second place filler, Claire McNeary (2:33.29). Very nearly tying for second was Lee’s teammate, Lauren Poole, who came in at 2:33.29.

Men’s 13-14 200 IM
For the last event of the afternoon, the day’s top swimmers came to duke it out again. Ultimately, Hamed Hudhud (2:21.05), of North Baltimore beat out Kevin Flynn (2:21.29) of Berkeley, and his time of 2:21.29. Nonetheless, Hudhud’s teammate, Dylan Arzoni, earned himself another top time, completing a 2:22.12 finish.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use