Donner Swim Club athletes warm up for the Jamie Miller Invitational last weekend at Donner Pool.
Submitted photo
Although Donner Swim Club didn’t come away with a victory last weekend when it hosted its annual Jamie Miller Invitational, the club posted several notable accomplishments.
Two Donner swimmers were runner-up in their divisions for the High-Point Award, four swimmers earned Open Water State Cuts, two individuals and a relay team achieved Age-Group State cuts and eight individuals landed Divisional cuts for meets coming up later this summer.
This was Donner’s second long-course meet of the season. Its first was a couple weeks ago at Franklin.
“We had a lot of new kids swimming in the meters pool for the first time in the first meet, so I thought everybody was really swimming well,” Donner interim coach Aaron Fry said. “It was good to get a base setting. Now that restrictions have left, we have a lot of kids coming back and little bit more participation. Some of those kids, it’s been two years since they’ve been in a long-course pool, so there were a lot of time drops there. I think we had good (time) drops across the board from everybody.”
Camila Mejia Murguia finished second in the 9-10-year-old girls division with 91.5 points. Kennedy Greer-Bos took second in the 6-and-under girls division with 17 points.
Donner Swim Club’s Rebecca Mejia Murguia, Lexi Miller, Camilla Mejia Murguia and Shaivi Nighokar earned an Age-Group State cut in the 10-and-under medley relay.
Submitted photo
Jude Abdullah, Camilla Meija Murguia, Rebecca Meija Murguia and Mridula Muthukumaran achieved Open Water State cuts. Earning Age-Group State cuts were Rebecca Meija Murguia in the 10U girls 50-meter breaststroke, Camilla Meija Murguia in the 10U 200 individual medley and 100 butterfly and the 10U girls medley relay team of Lexi Miller, Shaivi Nighokar, Rebecca Meija Murguia and Camilla Meija Murguia.
Donner swimmers earning divisional cuts were Cora Tregoning (13-14 100 breaststroke), Harshith Saisri Devaguptapu (13-14 200 IM), Aarush Mahato (13-14 100 backstroke and 100 breaststroke), Camilla Meija Murguia (9-10 100 backstroke, 50 backstroke, 50 breaststroke and 50 freestyle), Rebecca Meija Murguia (9-10 50 breaststroke, 50 butterfly and 50 freestyle), Alexis Miller (9-10 100 butterfly and 50 freestyle), Reyansh Nighojkar 9-10 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke, 50 backstroke and 50 breaststroke) and Shaivi Nighojkar (9-10 200 IM).
“We have a lot more kids participating, and our girls are really doing well,” Fry said. “Our 10-and-under girls are really growing.”
Close to 600 kids from 19 teams participated in the Jamie Miller meet over the three days in the 50-meter outdoor pool at Donner Park.
“It was a great meet, great weather, not too hot,” Fry said. “It was fantastic. We had good participation from all the teams. Everybody had a good time.”
Donner returns to Franklin for a meet next weekend, then heads to IUPUI’s Indiana University Natatorium the following weekend. Senior State is in the middle of July, along with a meet at Seymour. The long-course season concludes with Age-Group State and Divisionals at the end of July.
Fry will continue as interim coach through that time, after which he will turn over the reins to new coach Michael Cunningham. Cunningham currently is wrapping up his duties with CATS Aquatics Club in the Chicago area.
Cunningham came out to Donner on Thursday to talk with the coaches and help them set up for the meet, then was in attendance for part of the day on Friday.
“He’s a very outgoing guy,” Fry said. “He wanted feedback from the kids. He was asking them what they like about the club, what they like about swimming. He’s really engaging. He seems like he’ll be a good technical coach and be able to teach, but also really relate to the kids and grow the team.”
