2023 Pacific Northwest Senior Championships
- July 19-22, 2023
- King County Aquatic Center, Federal Way, WA
- LCM (50 meters)
- Results
The 2023 Pacific Northwest Senior Championships took place earlier this month at the King County Aquatic Center, located in Federal Way, Washington. The Seattle Metropolitan Aquatic Club topped the team standings on both the girls and boys side of the competition, scoring 1699.5 points and 1349 points, respectively.
Team Scores – Boys:
- Seattle Metropolitan Aquatic Club – 1349
- Bellevue Club Swim Team – 1207
- Issaquah Swim Team – 801
Team Scores – Girls:
- Seattle Metropolitan Aquatic Club – 1699.5
- Bellevue Club Swim Team – 1586
- Olympic Cascade Aquatics – 560
The top performer of the meet this year was Syunta Lee from West Coast Aquatics. Lee, 13, came away with six individual victories, setting personal best times in all of them. Among his top performances was the IM events, where he posted times of 2:10.14 and 4:27.20 to move to 65th and 72nd all-time in the boy’s 13-14 age group.
Lee saw a significant improvement in the 400 freestyle, where he knocked over four seconds off his best time from earlier in the month to post a 4:06.37, good for 87th all-time in the age group. He also took over two seconds off his best in the 200 free (1:57.34), and a second and a half off in the 100 free (54.49). Rounding out his wins was the 200 backstroke, where Lee clocked a best time of 2:10.01
In the girl’s 13-14 category, Nora McCarthy of Seattle Metropolitan led the way with four 1st place finishes individually. The 14-year-old had an outstanding swim in the 100 backstroke, where she dropped over a second to record a time of 1:04.33 and secure a Summer Juniors Nationals cut. She also won the 400 free (4:38.97), 200 back (2:23.04), and 100 free (1:00.56), establishing new personal bests in all of them.
In the boy’s 15 and over category, Andrew Jin of Bellevue Club Swim Team collected three wins over the course of the weekend. Jin swept the mid-distance freestyle events, going best times of 1:51.54 and 4:00.22 in the 200 and 400, respectively. He also got his hand on the wall 1st in the 200 IM, where he dropped well over a second to clock a 2:06.72.
Another standout swimmer among the older boys was Seattle Metropolitan’s Ben Bricca, who won both backstroke events. Bricca, a Tennessee commit, came within a hundredth of the 2024 Olympic Trials cut in the 100 backstroke, as he posted a 55.70 on a relay lead-off. He won the individual event in 55.82, and took 1st the 200 backstroke with a best time of 2:04.93.
Highlighting the 15 and over girls was Catherine Andrews of Seattle Metropolitan. Andrews, a UCLA recruit, also swept the backstroke races with best times of 1:02.85 and 2:16.62. Her 200 back marked a personal best by over two seconds, while her 100 time was a new best by nearly a second.