Belmont “Q” Meet Produces Fast Times

LONG BEACH, CA. January, 17. IN a field studded with post grad stars and age-group phenoms, the pool at Belmont Plaza continues to play host to some of the best meets in the country. Over the holiday weekend, Justin Mortimer, Sachiko Yamada, and Jessica Schmitt, to mention a few, had great meets.

Mortimer competed in and won six events. He took all the freestyle events from the 200 up to the 1650 along with the 200 and 400 IM. He touched in at 1:39.46 in the 200 free, 4:25.94 in the 500, 9:08.72 in the 1000, and 15:17.82 in the mile. His IMs were 1:51.60 and 4:00.05.

The big winners on the women's side of the meet were Yamada from Mission Viejo who too the 500 free in 4:45.69, the 1000 in 9:45.60 and the mile in 16:50.08. Schmitt, from North Coast Aquatics, who just returned from her National Junior Team trip, won the 400 IM in a blistering 4:12.31 and the 200 breast in 2:13.74. Another big winner was Katherine Raatz from Arizona Desert Fox. Raatz won the 50 free (23.22), 100 free (50.10) and the 200 free in a 1:48.06. Not too bad for a 17 year old. She also took second in the 100 fly with a 55.17.

Some other standouts were Nova's John Criste in the 200 breast with a 2:01.08 and Juan Veloz from Ford Aquatics who doubled in the 100 and 200 fly with respective times of 49.43 and 1:48.30.

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