The Turlock Seadogs summer swim program finished just behind the top spot at the Mid-Valley Swim League Finals this past weekend after winning the MVSL the last five seasons.
Despite the Seadogs effort, they ran into the Ripon Sea Lions, who managed to topple all with a score of 2,017.5 while Turlock placed second with a final score of 1,581.5.
“We had won five in a row,” said Turlock Seadogs head coach Michaela Richter. “We lost a lot of our older kids who were top point earners and we knew Ripon gained some. We lost eight to aging out and a handful to transitioning to year-round.”
With a rollercoaster season at hand, the Seadogs knew it would be shaky but they embraced the challenge and took it on, still seeing multiple top place finishes.
“We knew it would be a rebuilding year for us and Ripon earned the win 1000 percent,” said Richter. “They deserved it. We were holding second from the start of the day; Ripon held the lead from Medley Relays through the Free Relays.”
The Seadogs were still able to see some competitive swimmers come from their side.
“We had a lot of Seadogs that had amazing swims. Most of our athletes took time off and swam some great races,” said Richter. “We had Caleb McDougal from 6 and Under boys and Maddy Ngo and Noah Cossey from the 13-14 age group who took home high point trophies.”
McDougal took first in four different events, including three individual events. He was also part of the third-place relay team in the 100 free along with Giselle Cisneros, Meggie Romeo and Payton McDougal.
Ngo placed first in the 50 back and 50 breast and finished with two second place and a third-place times.
Cossey captured two first place finishes in the 200-medley relay and the 200-free relay.
“Our 11-12 boys were hot in Diego Armas and Aiden Braley, while the 7-8 had Alexander Esquibel and Maryn Hall,” said Richter. “The 9-10 girls’ Kaylee Amarant swam amazingly, taking off time in all of her events.”
Armas took home two first place finishes and three second place results while Braley added two first place finishes.
Esquibel finished with four second place results and a first-place finish in the 25 breast.
Amarant added three third place finishes and captured second in two events (100 free and 50 breast).
“The 13-14 age group for boys was a tight race with Cesar Flores and Ethan Braley being on the heels of Noah Cossey,” said Richter. “Also, our 13-14 girls were also top earners at this meet with the help of Tiffany Figurell, Makenzie Peterson and Joelle Lok.”
In the 15-18 age group, Ashley Figurell, Audrey Morgan, Nolan Lok, Elliot Lewis, Tanner Clayton, Naomi Wenstrup and Kay McMillan all assisted the Seadogs in earning points for a second-place result.
“Some amazing point earners,” said Richter of her 15-18 group. “We need to build up our program and regain the depth we had. It will take a few years, but we will get there. Our kids went out there and fought hard from start to finish, we are very proud of them.”
