King Aquatic Club Wins Washington Speedo Championship Series

By Erin Greene

COLUMBUS, Ohio, March 14. THE 2007 Washington Speedo Championship Series proved to be a battle of age as veteran females competed against the rookies for event titles. The King Aquatic Club emerged as the winning team of the meet, while Sun Devil Aquatics was the runner-up and Tualatin Hills Thunderbolts took third.

Leading the veterans, Megan Jendrick proved she still at the top of her game with two first-place finishes in both breaststroke events. She swam a sub-minute 100-yard breaststroke to grab the win in 59.02. Continuing her breaststroke dominance, she swam the 200 in 2:07.80.

Kevin Muncsh recorded more wins than any swimmer at the meet. He edged Jake Salaz by just .02 seconds in the 200-yard breaststroke to earn his first gold medal in 1:59.95. Munsch also recorded the fastest time of 55.61 in the 100-yard distance. The 16-year-old used his breaststroke skills to catapult him to the top podium position in both the 200- and 400-yard individual medley for a total of four first-place finishes. He swam the events in 1:51.51 and 3:57.71, respectively.

Lauren Thies, 27, hit the wall in 49.26 in the 100-yard freestyle to earn the first of three wins. She came back the next day to shave six seconds off her preliminary time, finishing the 200-yard freestyle with the top time of 1:45.37. She closed the meet by notching a victory in the 50-yard freestyle in 23.23.

Ariana Kukors also took home a trifectum of gold medals. Kukors stopped the clock first in the 200-yard backstroke (1:55.96) as well as the 100-yard distance (53.98). Immediately after the 100 back, she came back to win the 500-yard freestyle in 4:44.86.

On the men's side, Mark Dylla was also a triple-event winner. He touched in six seconds ahead of his competition in the 200-yard butterfly (1:45.57) to garner his first win. Switching strokes, he posted the winning time of 49.43 in the 100-yard backstroke. Then moving on to demonstrate his endurance, Dylla swam the 1,650-yard freestyle in 15:23.50.

At just 15 years old, Ashley Evans took home two event titles this weekend, claiming both the 1,000- and 1,650-yard freestyle. The only swimmer under 10 minutes in the 1000, Evans clocked a time of 9:49.36 for the win. She concluded her meet in the 1,650, swimming the race in 16:23.14 to pick up her second win.

Caitlin Leverenz displayed her ability to swim all four strokes, with victories in both the 200- and 400-yard individual medley. She edged triple-event winner Kukors for the gold in 4:11.18 in the 400. She then swam under two minutes in the 200 to finish ahead of the heat in 1:59.78.

Logan Storie and Morgo Henderson-Kunz each took home a pair of wins. Both freestyle-specialists, Storie captured the 500-yard distance in 4:27.66, as well as the 1,000 in 9:13.64. Meanwhile, Henderson-Kunz claimed the 100- (44.55) and 200-yard freestyle (1:37.14).

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