News release
Canyons Aquatic Club recently hosted more than 700 young swimmers at the Southern California Swimming June Age Group Championships, held at the Santa Clarita Aquatic Center June 16-19.
Teams, their coaches and families traveled from as far away as Kauai, Hawaii, to visit Santa Clarita and compete at the regional championship over four days of preliminaries and finals, with the youngest 12-and-under swimmers having their own mid-day championship sessions each day.
Canyons Aquatic Club had more than 50 athletes competing, and swam to a second-place team finish.
Brendan Keating (15), Dustin Saguros (16), and Emma Hussein (13) obtained a USA Swimming Futures qualification time in the 50m free, 200m breaststroke and 100m breaststroke, respectively, while Bailey Nickols (14; 50m free, 100m free), Tori Yamamura (15; 200m fly, 100m free), Chelsea Dela Calzada (17; 100m free), Bethany Burga (15; 400m free, 100m back) and Patrick Grant (16; 100m fly, 800m free) obtained Speedo Sectionals qualification times in their above listed events.
Canyons also had several swimmers finish in the top three of individual point earners for the meet: Jace Lloyd, 13, came in third place on the boys side, while Bailey Nickols, 14, and Caitlin Brown, 16, finished second and third, respectively, on the girls side.
“I’m happy that we performed so well, being as tired as we are at this phase in the season,” said Canyons Head Coach Kyle Hastings. “Canyons has always been a place where people come to swim fast. Doing it in our home pool is an added bonus.”
Additionally, the meet was the first championship meet hosted at the Santa Clarita Aquatic Center since its recent remodeling that included a new concrete deck, replastered pool shells, and numerous other facility upgrades.
Canyons has previously hosted numerous Speedo Sectionals and USA Swimming Futures Championships at the facility.
“The Santa Clarita Aquatic Center is one of the premier locations in Southern California to host swim meets such as this, and we have successfully worked with Canyons Aquatic Club to co-host these types of prestigious swim competitions for the past 19 years,” said city Recreation Administrator Doug Botton.
Canyons Aquatic Club has been training swimmers in the Santa Clarita Valley for 45 years, coaching athletes from novice to Olympian. For more information or if you’d like to join the team, visit www.canyons.org.
