Three young men have qualified to compete at the Southern California Grand Prix in Long Beach from January 15^th to the 18^th.   The Meet to be held at the Belmont Plaza Pool will be attended by world-class swimmers Michael Phelps, Rebecca Soni, Katy Hoff, Alex Vanderkaay and more.

Estephen Saliba, 15, who also swam at the CA/NV Sectionals Meet in December, arrived at the Qualifying Meet last weekend ready to swim the 100 and 200 Breaststroke, the 200 IM and the 200 Butterfly. The St. John Bosco freshman made finals for the 200 Breast, 200 IM and 200 Fly and dropped time in all events.  Saliba has been swimming with Lakewood Aquatics for over 5 years, and will be swimming his strongest events, the 100 Fly (53.55 seed time) and the 200 Fly (2:03.09 seed time) at the Grand Prix.

Josh Anatalio, 15, swam the 100 and 200 Backstroke, the 200 Breaststroke and the 200 IM at the Q Meet last weekend.  He swam finals for the all but the 200 Back and had a great meet.  He will swim the 100 Breast (1:02.36 seed time) and the 200 Breast (2:19.53 seed time) at the Grand Prix this weekend.  Josh also attends St. John Bosco and has been with Lakewood Aquatics for 7 years.

Derek Ahmed, 14, swam 50 Free, 100 Free, 100 and 200 Back and 200 IM at the Q Meet. Derek came back for finals for the 200 IM, 100 and 200 Backstroke.  He had an amazing swim for his best event, the 200 back in prelims with a time of 2:01.52 and took first place.  He came back for finals in the evening and dropped time again, winning first place overall with a time of 2:00.67.  Derek has been swimming for Lakewood Aquatics for 6 years and currently attends Los Alamitos High. Derek will swim the 100 (57.00 seed time) and 200 (2:00.67 seed time) at the Grand Prix.

Also in attendance at the Q Meet were Lakewood Aquatics Swimmers Katelyn Holm (Calvary Chapel Christian), Derek McArthur (Lakewood High School), Maryssa McArthur (Lakewood High School), Jeffrey Morris (Rio Hondo City College), Eugene Runas (Millikan High School), and Brandon Saliba (St. John Bosco High School).

PACIFIC COAST ALL STAR MEET

A meet in Downey last weekend showcased 65 local young swimmers who were trying to achieve qualifying times for the upcoming Spring Junior Olympics on January 29-31 and February 4-7 at the Belmont Plaza.  There was also a Pacific Coast All Star meet held in Cerritos where the top thirty-two 14 & Under swimmers from Local Swimming Committees (LSCs) all over the West Coast and British Columbia came together to compete in All Star fashion!  Swimmer Daniel McArthur represented Lakewood Aquatics as a swimmer for the Southern California Swimming (LSC) team.  Daniel, 12, had an outstanding weekend where he swam 6 individual events and two relay lead off spots where he garnered SEVEN National Reportable Times (NRTs) and one Southern California Swimming Reportable (SCSR) time for 11-12 boys.  He placed in the top 3 of all the 11-12 boys in attendance for four of his individual events.