The Malibu Seawolves will have three swimmers — Kennan Hotchkiss, Amy Perna and Marcel Hurtubise — competing in the July 29 to Aug. 2 Southern California Junior Olympics at Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.
Seawolves head coach Max Jaben said a top 16 finish at the event would be good for any of the swimmers. He said it is important for the swimmers to end the summer on a good note before heading into their high school seasons.
“Both Amy Perna and Kennan Hotchkiss will be freshman next year and they both have the ability to greatly influence Malibu High swimming,” Jaben said. “Marcel Hurtubise was a standout on the Malibu High JV swimming squad last year, and I think all of his hard work this summer and results will prepare him to start making waves on the varsity level.”
Heading into the Junior Olympic competition, the Seawolves, a full-service swim club, placed 12th out of dozens of teams in the men’s division at the July 15-19 Speedo California/Nevada Summer Sectional Championships at the Santa Clarita Aquatics Center.
Malibu was led by swimming standouts, including Kennan’s older brother, Logan Hotchkiss, and Matthew Johnson.
The two were the only swimmers from the same team to have top eight finishes in the men’s 200 and 400-meter freestyles.
Duke University swimmer Johnson came in fourth in the 200 freestyle with a time of one minute, 54.6 seconds. The 2014 Hart High School graduate finished sixth in the 400 freestyle with a time of 4:06.92.
Logan, a 2015 Malibu High grad who will be a member of the UC Santa Barbara swim team next season, came in eighth in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:55.45, and fifth in the 400 freestyle with a time of 4:06.52.
Johnson finished a little more than one second ahead of Logan in the 800 freestyle. Johnson finished 10th with a time of 8:40.24, and Logan finished 11th with a time of 8:41.18.
Johnson’s summer with the Seawolves came after a sophomore campaign in the pool for Duke that featured him breaking school records in the 500, 1,000 and 1,650 freestyles.
Logan rang up CIF title after CIF title during his swim career at Malibu High. He won eight CIF individual for relay championships during his years as a Shark.
Jaben said Logan and Johnson pushed each other daily in the pool.
“They battled in workout day in and out, and their close finishes at the meet reflected the back and forth between the two during training,” he said. “Both are very talented swimmers and are the fastest Malibu has seen.”
The Seawolves fall swim session will begin on Sept. 1. Jaben said he expects about 50-60 swimmers of all ages to be Seawolves. The coach said the Seawolves will continue to make their presence known throughout Southern California and develop young swimmers during the 2015-16 season.
“Logan’s departure next year will leave a hole in the top end of our program,” he said, “but we have a handful of Malibu High schoolers in our program that are ready to step up. By watching [Logan], they know what it takes to be successful in the pool.”