Sea Dragon quartet swim Pac Winter 14U Championships

Competing with hundreds of high-level 14-year-old-and-under youth swimmers from all zones in the Pacific Section – the second largest region in the state – at the recent three-day Winter Age Group Championships at the Morgan Hill Aquatic Complex, four Sonoma Sea Dragons turned in lifetime personal best efforts.

Representing the Valley’s Sonoma Sea Dragons swim team – directed by head coach Jane Hansen and assistant coaches Keith Ryan and Lisa Dorman – at the Winter Age-Group Championships were 13-year-old Maya Grajczyk, and 10-year-old Greyson McCaw, Sierra Pine and Glorianna Ring.

Highlighting the meet for the Sea Dragons in his final swim was McCaw, who, in the preliminaries of the 100-yard backstroke event, qualified with a 14th-place finish with a time of 1 minute, 14.89 seconds, which was an eye-opening time-drop of nearly five seconds for the Sonoma boy. 

Then in the 100 back finals, McCaw swam a lifetime-best 50-yard split over the first half of the race, and rallied to yet another time drop of more than one second, finishing the event in a solid 11th place in 1:13.78.

McCaw’s final time qualified him to compete in the Far Western Swimming Championships, which is, arguably, one of the most prestigious meets for 12-and-under age-group athletes in the country that will take place at the same Morgan Hill swim site in April.

“Greyson (McCaw) showed great poise and a great resolve, and completely earned his success at this meet,” said Sea Dragons’ coach Ryan. “He is a super consistent and very hard-working athlete, and he does it all with a smile and a true love for the sport – he is the prime example of what we try to teach our athletes, that swimming is a sport that is so much fun, so rewarding, and teaches so many positive life lessons.”

Other notable Winter Championship swims from the Sea Dragons were Grajczyk’s lifetime best of 1:12.77 (33rd place) in the 100 breast stroke; Ring’s 6:31.36 (12th) in the 500 freestyle; and Pine’s 1:04.70 (17th) in the 100 freestyle, which was a Far Western qualifying time standard.

The Sea Dragons will next continue their short-course season, which culminates with the Junior Olympic Championships being held in Concord in March 2015.

For more details about the Sea Dragons competition swim team visit sonomaseadragons.com, email janehans@sbcglobal.net. or call 939-8833.