Sea Otters have record-breaking season

The Folsom Sea Otters completed another fantastic season, placing fifth in the league and fourth at the Suburban Swim League Championships. This is the second year in a row for the team to place that high at champs, as the team hadn't placed that high for nearly 10 years prior to 2022. The Sea Otters also broke a total of 18 team records this season, with one of them being a new Suburban Swim League Championship record. The team also had 41 swimmers qualify for Meet of Champions (MOC) this year, of which 35 athletes attended. At MOC, the team placed sixth out of 23 teams in the large team division. This is the first time the team has competed in the large team division at this meet. "The staff and I are overwhelmed with all of the amazing accomplishments from everyone this season." Folsom Sea Otters Coach Gabrielle Avallone said. "It is beyond incredible what the kids have accomplished and the staff couldn't be prouder." The Sea Otters scored 50 more points at the Suburban Swim League (SSL) Championships compared to last year, and they have a number of swimmers that contributed towards that. Briar Compton, 8, broke a team record, which was set in 2012, and won the 25-yard Freestyle at Champs with a time of 14.91. She also placed third in backstroke and breast stroke, and second in the butterfly. This collected a total of 36 points, earning her first-place high point at SSL Champs for her age group. Compton also earned the second high-point award at the Meet of Champions. Austin Barr-Wood, 10, also broke a team record in the 25-yard breast stroke record that was set in 2012 and won the event in 16.72. She also earned second place in high point at Champs for her age group with a total of 48 points. At the following week at Meet of Champions, Barr-Wood would also take home the 25-yard freestyle record with a time of 13.76, besting the record from 2007. 9-10 girls' Shay Ceasar, Austin Barr-Wood, Rebecca Wong, and Claire Jin took down a relay record from 1987 in the 100-yard medley relay with a time of 1:08.55; along with earning themselves a first place in the event. Ava Moss, 12, took down three records this season in the 100-yard individual medley (IM) with a time of 1:08.41, besting the record set in 2018, 100-yard freestyle with a time of 1:00.84, also previously set in 2018, and 50-yard butterfly with a time of 29.80, besting the record set in 1989. Moss won the 100-hard IM and 100-yard freestyle at Champs and was first-place high point in her age group. Moss then went on to earn herself another second place in high point at Meet of Champions the following week. 11-year-old Kyron Gulley claimed a win and a record in the 50-yard backstroke with a time of 30.78, which was previously set in 2019. Gulley also took home the second place high point award in his age group by placing second in the 100-yard IM, first in the 100-yard freestyle and 50-yard butterfly, and eighth in the 50-yard breast stroke. Like Moss, Gulley would go on to also earn himself a second place in high point for his age group at MOC the following week. Rowen Compton, 12, broke the previous team record in the 50-yard freestyle, set in 2017, at Champs with a time of 26.59, and then re-broke his own record the following week at Meet of Champions with a time of 26.14. Compton also won the event at both Champs and at MOC. The new records don't stop there, especially for the 11-12 Boys. Swimmers Amai Ilankatharan, Anderson Fassler, Gulley, and Compton broke the team record in the 200-yard medley relay, set in 1995, and won the event at Champs with a time of 2:09.30. They then re-broke their own record with a three-second time drop at MOC and placed second overall with a time of 2:06.19. Darren Johnson joined in with Ilankatharan, Gulley, and Compton with another record for the team in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:52.76, besting the record set in 2010 and earning themselves first places both at the SSL Champs and MOC. Another stand out Sea Otter swimmer, 14-year-old Julian Myers-Calderon, broke three records for the Sea Otters this season. He broke the 100-yard individual medley, set in 2005, with a time of 59.66, and the 50-yard butterfly, set in 1995, with a time of 25.79; winning both events at champs. At Meet of Champions, he also took down the 100-yard freestyle record from 2001 with a time of 53.67. Myers-Calderon earned 50 points at SSL Championships and placed first high point in his age group at the SSL Championship. He would then go on to earn 77 points at Meet of Champions and earn himself second place high point for his age group. The Folsom Sea Otters 15-18 boys also had their share of broken records. Max Schiappacasse, 15, broke the team's 100-yard freestyle record from 2008 with a time of 51.08. Josh Sayo, 16, broke the 100-yard individual medley record, also from 2008, with a time of 57.17. Sayo also broke both the team record and the league record in the 100-yard breast stroke with a time of 1:00.56. The team 100-yard breast stroke record was set in 1998, and the SSL league record was from 2018. Matt Kersey, Sayo, Wallace Muscott, and Schiappacasse also earned themselves the 15-18 boys' 200-yard medley relay record with a time of 1:43.31, placing fifth in the event; nearly taking two seconds off the previous record, which was set in 2008. Additional Meet of Champions qualifiers that swam this last weekend include ladies Margaret Harrington, Chloe Collard, Laney Barr-Wood, Eva Weiler, Saige Harrington, Sami Olden, Jett Lewis, Amelia Huetter, Kayla Bayley, Sydney Mayoral, Kylie McCue, and Lauren Pham. For the boys, the Sea Otters had Reece Mesbah, Avery Merritt, James Peterson, Ethan Leng, Elliot Anderson, Felix Favro, Colin Li, Caiden Costa, Jeremy Wong, and Gabriel Cortez. "Every swimmer should be proud of their accomplishments from this season." Avallone said. "The coaching staff and I recognize how hard every swimmer worked this summer, and I hope that each one of them knows they were a part of Sea Otter history this year."