Garrett Pullis capped off the weekend with a 52.60 100 Free 13th Place finish. Matt Ahlmeyer earned a 5 second improvement and a 17th Place 200 Fly. Jamie Viotto slashed 23 seconds with a 14th Place 500 Free and Brian Stiles scored a 14th Place in the 50 Free with a 26.78.
Fast
Finishes For Foursome
The
four athletes representing the Morris County Swim Club at the NJ
Swimming Junior Olympics raced to fast finishes and improved their
times in 26 of 28 events. The Junior Olympics is the championship
meet for the Short Course (25 yard pool) season in New Jersey.
Garrett
Pullis and Brian Stiles of Denville swam to 19 of 19 Best Times and
12 Top 20’s. Jamie Viotto of Morris Township earned 2 of 3 Best
Times that included a 14th Place and Matt Ahlmeyer of
Morris Plains powered to 5 of 6 Best Times and a 17th
Place finish.
Pullis
swam in nine preliminary events and in spite of just recently aging
up into a new age group, made two finals. He earned a 10th
Place in the M13-14 200 Fly in 2:12.37, crushing his previous best
time by 9.63 and beating his preliminary time by 1.2 seconds. “He’s
an amazing swimmer and we are impressed with his abilities when he
focuses on his training” says Head Coach Jenn Ciulla of Madison.
His 200 Fly Time was fast enough to qualify him for the 15-19 Age
Group 200 Fly, which is still two years away for the swimmer. Pullis
finished 13th in the 100 Free in a time of 52.60, 2.94
better than his previous mark. He earned three 17th Place
times, with Best Times of 59.52 in the 100 Fly, a 1:08.19 100 Breast
and a 4:42.02 400 IM, beating his old time by 10.55. Pullis also
improved with a 1:58.52 200 Free, 2:13.96 200 IM, 2:15.81 200 Back
and a 24.68 50 Free.
Stiles
competed in 8 events and earned a 14th Place in the M11-12
50 Free with a time of 26.78, 1.37 seconds faster than his previous
mark. He finished 16th in the 200 Free in 2:07.96, 6.20
faster, came in 17th in the 100 Back in 1:08.38, a 4.19
improvement and had two 20th Place finishes, the 50 Back
in 31.70 and 100 Free in 59.64. Stiles also improved in the 100 and
20 IM’s with times of 1:08.38 and 2:30.12 respectively and cut 6.64
in the 200 Back to finish 2:28.69. “Wow, it’s awesome seeing
Brian doing so well,” commented Coach Kim, who also operates the
KimSwim Pool Academy in Denville. She added “He started lessons
with me years ago and I just love to see how he’s progressed.”
Viotto
earned a 14th Place finish in the M10&U 500 Free,
slashing 23.13 from his previous time to finish 6:40.41. He also
dropped 10.08 with a 2:31.67 finish in the 200 Free. Viotto’s 3rd
event was the 100 Free with a time of 1:12.81, a mere .40 from his
Best Time.
Ahlmeyer
charged to a 17th Place in the M11-12 200 Fly in 2:36.95,
cutting 5.00 from his previous time. He sliced time in four other
events as well. His 1:11.84 100 Fly time was .84 better, 100 Back in
1:12.77 was .25 better, 200 Back in 2:29.34 was 3.95 better and he
improved by .06 in his final event, the 50 Fly with a time of 32.51.
“These boys really set their minds to have a great season and they
worked so hard for these excellent accomplishments,” noted Coach
Jenn, “Even the kids that didn’t make JO’s have been working
hard and it takes time to build up their strokes. The MCSC is less
than 2-years old and I expect many more of these hard working
athletes to join these young men next year at the Junior Olympics.”
MCSC
President Jeff Stiles added, “The MCSC is proud of the four
swimmers, their strong finish to the Short Course season and the 170
club members that they represented.” Of the 170 members, 55 train
year-round and 70 train from September to June. 30 members took part
in a School Pre-season Program that runs from September to November.
Participating in meets is optional with the MCSC, with approximately
60 members competing in meets from age 6 to 19. Many also take part
in their respective town summer leagues. They are accepting
registrations for their 9-Week Spring Training Program and Long
Course (50 meter pool meets) Program. The year-round Morris County
Swim Club has flexible scheduling and practices for all levels 7-days
a week at the Morristown-Beard School.
The
NJ Swimming Junior Olympics were hosted by the Berkeley Aquatic Club,
held at Rutgers University March 16-18 and were attended by 1,600
athletes from 47 Swim Clubs. Go to mcscnj.com for more information.
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