MVN AAPI Lunar Festival
- Mission Viejo, California
- February 14-16, 2025
- SCY (25 Yards)
- Meet Results: Available on Meet Mobile “2025 CA MVN AAPI Lunar Festival”
The Mission Viejo AAPI Lunar Festival meet went off in the middle of February, and while there was a lot of fast swimming, the events were highlighted by two swimmers who won 11 events.
Ben Yang, a 13-year-old from Mission Viejo won seven individual events, four relays, and got one silver medal, scoring 81 total individual points to help MVN win the meet.
The meet was split into age groups, which means that the 13-year-olds were scored separately from the 14-year-olds, rather than being scored as a 13-14 event.
He started on Friday with an event win in the 200 freestyle, finishing in 1:46.68, about a tenth of a second off his previous best of 1:46.83. He went on to also win the 100 back and 200 breast events on day one as well. In the 100 back, he dropped more than two seconds to swim 56.67, and in the 200 breast he added a few seconds to swim 2:14.36.
Day two saw his only loss of the meet. Yang ended up finishing 2nd in the 200 backstroke in 2:01.87, more than a second behind teammate Liam Chung, but a nine second drop from his previous best time. He went on to win the 100 fly in 53.50, a one-and-a-half second drop from his previous best, and the 200 IM in 2:01.13.
He won his final two individual events on Sunday in the 200 fly at 1:59.40, a more than seven second drop and the 50 free at 22.75, which was a three tenth drop.
Yang was also a member of Mission Viejo’s 400 medley relay (breast: 1:04.10), 200 medley relay (breast: 28.67), 200 free relay (lead-off: 23.00), and 400 free relay (51.03)
Olivia Covey is a 9-year-old out of Bellevue Gold Swim Club who also won 11 events, 9 individual and two relays, this was every event she swam in almost all personal bests
On Friday, she won three events and had her only two non-best time swims. She started with the 200 free in 2:23.55, a three second drop. She won, but added in the 100 back in 1:16.62 and the 100 IM in 1:18.22.
All of her wins on Saturday were new personal bests. Her first event was the 100 freestyle, where she dropped about a second to swim 1:06.49. She then swam the 50 back with her winning time of 34.53, a three-tenth drop, and the 100 fly in 1:12.08. Her prelims time of 1:10.91 was a two-and-a-half second drop.
Sunday’s event wins were the 50 fly in 32.76, a six-hundredth drop with her prelims time of 31.86, the 50 free 29.75, she went 29.02 in prelims to drop almost a second, and the 500 freestyle in 6:25.91, a 36-second drop.
Her other two wins came in the 200 medley relay (fly- 33.40) and the 200 free relay (4th- 29.78)
Other notable swims came from Gabi Brito, who went 22.37 in the 50 free, which was her new best time. About a week later, she swam 22.30 leading off the relay at the CA/NV sectionals meet, a time which ranks her 5th in the all-time 13-14 rankings. Brito also swam the 200 back where she won in 1:57.25, a slight add from her previous best.