Tsunamis Storm Through Home Opener
By Guest Contributor: Ron Spink
Lead Photo: Tsunamis Jacob Hubert (Foreground) and senior Julian Williams prepare to attack for the 15-18 Boys
Saturday marked the beginning of PWSL action with a home meet for the Piedmont Tsunamis, where the team capped a strong day of swim by delivering an opening victory over the Ashland Stingrays. At a final tally of 2855.5 v 2406.5, the Tsunami squad brought a healthy balance of both relay and individual performances that ultimately secured the home turf win, enabling the club to launch into the season with a 1-0 record.
The Tsunamis went to work quickly, outpacing the seed rankings by winning 7 out of the initial 11 relay events. This included an impressive 100 Medley Relay record-setting performance by the Tsunami 9-10 Boys group of Parker Treadwell, Christopher DeVito, Joseph Coleman and Patrick Hooper, Jr. Their time of 1:14.09 displaced a four year old mark for the team and set the tone for the individual performances to come. Here, in head-to-head swims, the Tsunamis used top tier strength and bench depth to control the meet – ultimately taking first place honors in over 60% of individual races.
The individual swim accomplishments by the Tsunamis proved to be impressive across PWSL as well, as Piedmont led the charts in 6 of the top PWSL times on the day. Christian Mulroe (2), Camille Spink (2), Matthew Pianoto, and Katherine Diatchenko all shared number one overall placements in the league for individual performances.
In single swim record-breaking news, six individual bests for the Tsunami club fell on Saturday – representing over 25 years of combined time “on the books” before being dismantled. Camille Spink opened the run by turning in a 28.01 in the 50 Free – a mark strong enough to be PWSL’s leading time for all girls (regardless of age group), and breaking the long-standing Tsunami record set by Sofia Revilak back in 2011. Spink followed up later by taking .68 seconds off another of Revilak’s 2011 marks in the Girls 13-14 50 Fly, for a new record time of 30.38. Also for the Piedmont girls, Emma Hannam turned in a stellar opening performance in the 13-14 Breast to down a seven year club record, producing a 35.64 result that was previously capped by Tsunami veteran Reni Moshos. In fact, breast event top times were under considerable fire by the Piedmont squad on the day, starting with Christopher DeVito – who broke his own Boys 9-10 record from just under a year ago and clocked a new time of 43.53. In similar fashion, Matthew Pianoto downed his own 2017 13-14 Boys Breast record to come in at 33.42. For Pianoto, this was a “doubling down” from his earlier accomplishment on the morning, where he toppled the 2016 Boys 13-14 IM result for a new time of 1:04.84.
Next Saturday, “Tent City” stays put as the Tsunamis enjoy a rare back-to-back home meet matchup, looking to build momentum on the start of the season as they challenge the Kingsbrooke Sea Lions.