Owen Kao (14), Justin Nguyen (14), Kevin Tu (13), and Hunter Hitchens (14) of Irvine Novaquatics crushed the national age group record for the boys 13-14 800 meter free relay Thursday evening at Southern California Swimming’s June Age Group Championships hosted by NOVA.
Their combined 8:00.81 was more than four seconds faster than the 2010 mark of 8:04.91 set by Mission Viejo Nadadores’ Matthew Chalcarz, Patrick Early, Connor Dobbs, and Janardan Burns.
The NOVA relay’s splits were:
Kao 1:56.51 (27.41 – 29.46 – 30.02 – 29.62)
Nguyen 2:01.71 (27.14 – 31.02 – 31.76 – 31.79)
Tu 2:03.43 (27.94 – 30.97 – 32.26 – 32.26)
Hitchens 1:59.16 (57.60 first 100, then 31.05 – 30.51)
Coach Ken LaMont and Hunter Hitchens of Irvine Novaquatics in April, 2014. Photo: Anne Lepesant
Kao’s leadoff 200m free was his best by 1.1 seconds and moved him to Number 3 in the country this season for 14-year-old boys, just ahead of Michael Andrew.
Ken LaMont, Associate Head Coach of Irvine Novaquatics, said, “it was a really exciting race from start to finish. Owen led off with a best time and broke the team record. Then Justin went a best time by about ten seconds. Kevin was three seconds faster than he’s ever been, and Hunter brought them home. It was a great race.”
NOVA’s 13-14 boys seem to have impressive depth. Congratulations to those barrier breakers!!
What an amazing race and accomplishment for these guys! We are so happy and proud of them. They believed and achieved! Looking forward to watching what they do during the rest of the LC season.
The future looks bright for the 13-14 Nova Boys as they strive to take down the 400 Medley Relay at tonight’s finals. Stay tuned…..
Wow!! Impressive performance. Well deserved with those splits.