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August 5, 2010

Dalton swimmer sets new standard at meet

From Staff Reports

Some of Carpet Capital Aquatics Club’s best swimmers finished their summer season with the kind of performances that suggest next year might be even better.

Ethan Young brought back several medals, set one state record, helped set another and turned in some of the nation’s fastest times during a USA Swimming Zone Meet last week at Georgia Tech. At the same time, the Dalton Dolphins — a summer/recreation league extension of the CCAC — enjoyed a good showing at the Georgia Recreation and Park Association State Championships in Carrollton.

Young competed against swimmers from 11 states around the Southeast in the 11-12 boys division as a member of the Georgia All-Stars, who finished second to Florida in team competition.

He won both the 100-meter backstroke with a time of 1 minute, 4.42 seconds and the 50 backstroke (29.75 seconds), in both cases turning in the second fastest time in the nation for his age group. His time in the latter race missed Georgia’s USA Swimming record for that event by .05 seconds.

Young did set the state record with his second-place finish in the 100 butterfly (1:01.73), breaking Eric Moore’s 2003 record of 1:01.76. He was two-tenths of a second off another state mark with his second-place finish in the 50 butterfly (28.17).

He also finished fourth in the 200 individual medley (2:24.25) with the ninth fastest time in the nation and was part of Georgia’s second-place showing in the 200 medley relay (2:01.73), of which he swam the butterfly leg. That team also set a state record with its time.

CCAC coach Charles Todd had already come to expect big things from Young, and the young swimmer’s latest performance only reinforced his faith.

“Olga Davis is his primary coach, she’s our head age group coach, and she’s done a phenomenal job with him,” Todd said. “She sets goals down for Ethan and he’s the type of kid who tries to go out and accomplish those goals and he did just that. He wanted to get a state record and he wanted to win his events.

“He had some stiff competition there, but he still came out with two firsts, two seconds and a fourth. We’re really proud of him and we’re looking forward to another year of training. He turns 13 in February, so he can still break more records before the winter.”

Meanwhile at the GRPA State Championships, the Dolphins’ Chas Jones and Stephen Jones, brothers, each won titles.

Chas won the 50-yard backstroke (26.99) in the 13-14 boys division, while Stephen won the 50 freestyle (21.93) in 15-18 boys. Stephen was also second in the 50 backstroke (25.15), while Chas was fifth in the 100 freestyle (52.80).

“We ended up with some of our best swims of the season,” Todd said. “We’re really proud of the Jones boys winning and we also had some strong second-place finishes. We had 37 go down to state and that’s probably the largest team we’ve ever had qualify for state competition.

“We’re really proud of all the kids. We’ll give them a few weeks’ break and start on Aug. 16 with the CCAC team getting ready for next year.”

Other Dolphins swimmers who medaled with a top-eight finish at the meet, by age group with event, time and place in parentheses:

• 15-18 boys — Hunter Mulkey (50 breaststroke, 28.67 seconds, second place; 100 individual medley, 59.84, fourth); Stephen Jones, Mulkey, Mark Saad-Naguib, Ben Pipkin (200 medley relay, 1:45.62, fourth).

• 15-18 girls — Rebecca Davis (50 breaststroke, 33.34, second; 100 individual medley, 59.84, third); Maranda Storey (50 backstroke, 31.12, third); Storey, Davis, Tyler Todd, Ana Hannah (200 medley relay, 2:10.53, eighth place).

• 13-14 boys — Alan Trejo, Taylor Mathis, Alex Wood, Chas Jones (200 freestyle relay, 1:43.42, sixth); Chas Jones, Wood, Mathis, Trejo (200 medley relay, 2:01.83, eighth place)

• 11-12 girls — Romina Mendoza (100 freestyle, 1:03.36, eighth).

• 9-10 boys — Alex Mashburn (100 individual medley, 1:16.98, third; 25 backstroke, 16.82, fourth).

• 9-10 girls — Reese Bingham (50 freestyle, 30.82, fifth; 100 individual medley, 1:22.98, eighth).

• 7-8 boys — Emilio Valdez (25 freestyle, 15.95, fourth; 25 butterfly, 18.82, seventh); Oscar Chenard (25 breasstroke, 22.23, seventh; 25 butterfly, 17.19, third).

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