Ellis Aquatics placed 14th out of more than 50 swim teams, representing 800 athletes, at the Pacific Swimming Junior Olympics Championships in Concord on July 20 to 22.

Leading the way were the younger division girls in the freestyle distance events, with Kamryn Lucero and Keiana Fountain finishing in the top four in the 11-12 girls 800- and 1,500-meter races.

10U girls

Caitlin O’Neill placed second in the 400 free (5:26.84), third in the 200 free (2:31.26), fourth in the 200 IM (2:55.64), sixth in the 50 free (33.04), seventh in the 100 breast (1:31.89), and eighth in the 50 breast (43.28). Abigail Figueroa was eighth in the 100 breast (1:32.65) and 10th in the 50 breast (44.64), and logged her best time yet in the 200 IM (3:12.24). Brianna Do saw her best times in 100 breast (1:46.96) and 200 IM (3:19.98).

The 200 free relay team of O’Neill, Figueroa, Do and Jilliyn Lucero placed fifth (2:23.75).

11-12 girls

The Ellis 11-12 girls got their team’s best scores in the distance freestyle events. Kamryn Lucero and Keiana Fountaine were neck-and-neck in the 800 free, with Lucero second (10:33.81) and Fountaine third (10.34.26). Lucero was also third in the 1500 free (20:39.35) and Fountaine was fourth (21:02.53). Lucero also finished sixth in the 400 free (5:02.09), 11th in the 200 free (2:26.56) and 14th in the 100 free (1:07.98).

The 200 free relay team of Lucero, Fountaine, Brianna Carino and Alex Colina placed fifth in the (2:05.36), and the girls also placed 12 in the 200 medley relay (2:29.38).

13-14 boys

Nathan Hu logged his personal best times in the 100 breast (1:22.71) and 200 breast (2:58.52).

15-18 girls

The 200 free relay team of Amanda Christensen, Michaela Loomis, Rachel Holmstrom and Cassidy Waters placed eighth (2:01.38), and also placed ninth as a 200 medley relay team (2:19.35).

15-18 boys

Ian Cox finished second in the 200 breast (2:40.85) and fifth in the 100 breast (1:12.85), picking up Far Western qualifier times in both events. Cox also finished 11th in the 200 back (2:31.12). Bradley McCain placed seventh in the 800 free with a personal best of 9:43.71. McCain also finished eighth in the 200 back (2:28.40), and 11th in the 100 back (1:09.26).

The 200 medley relay team of McCain, Cox, Miguel Munoz and Daniel VanNiekerk finished ninth (2:03.57), and the same team also placed 10th in the 200 free relay (1:51.48).

More success

Ellis Aquatics followed up its success at the Junior Olympics on July 27 to 29 in Sonora at the Tuolumne County Aquatics Age Group Open meet.

The team placed first out of 15 participating USA Swimming teams with a score of 1,400 points. Twenty-one team records were broken over the three-day weekend, and Logan Edwards, Caitlin O’Neill, Kieana Fountaine, and Ian Cox each took home their age group’s high-point award. Further details on that meet were not available.