Camryn Stannard of the Ravensong Breakers wasted no time climbing the podium at the Far Western Swimming Championships in California last week, netting a silver medal in the 400-metre individual medley Wednesday on the opening day of competition and adding another silver in the 50-metre butterfly Thursday.
Stannard, 11, was one of four members of the Breakers swim club competing in the five-day international championships, the largest age-group meet of its kind, in Concord, Calif.
Stannard, 11, swam a time of 5 minutes, 19.56 seconds in Thursday’s 400 IM, which combines the backstroke, breast stroke, butterfly and freestyle. That shaved nearly 11 seconds from her qualifying time and gave Stannard second place second in the 12-under division to Mia Rankin of the Phoenix Swim Club of Arizona (5:14.72). She was the only 11-year-old among the top seven finishers in the final.
On Thursday, Stannard, swimming in lane 1, earned silver in the 50-metre butterfly, in 29.51. That lopped more than a second off her qualifying heat time of 30.74 seconds, which gave her the seventh seed into the finals. The eight finals qualifiers were separated by just 52-hundredths of a second. The race was won by Yelin Tahk of California’s Sunnyvale Swim Club, in 29.34.
In other racing on opening day Wednesday, Stannard narrowly missed a spot in the 100 freestyle finals, earning an alternate berth with a 10th-place finish in qualifying in 1:04.34. Also, Jack Confortin, 15, placed 13th in qualifying in the boys open 1,500 metres, in a time of 17:31.63.
Stannard also posted a 1:13.97 clocking in the girls 12-under 100 backstroke. That placed her 17th in qualifying among 35 entrants.
In Friday’s early preliminaries, Stannard placed 16th in qualifying for the 200 IM in 2:38.64, missing a spot in the finals. She was also among 71 entrants in the girls 12-under 50-metre freestyle, with the heat yet to be completed at The NEWS went to press.
The club’s two other entrants, Megan Romke and Jakob Brager, had not yet raced through the first two days of swimming.
This story will be updated with additional results from the final days of the Far Western meet.
—NEWS Staff