Standout swimmer Kennan Hotchkiss swam off with a win, while four of his Malibu Seawolves teammates finished first overall in point scoring in three mixed relays at the Santa Barbara Swim Club’s Oct. 14-15 meet at the Carpentaria Community Pool.
Hotchkiss, 16, won the 500 freestyle in four minutes, 47.81 seconds and Izzy Morriss, 10, and 10-year-old triplets Wiley, Ranger, and Tallu Murphree, the Seawolves 10 & Under Mixed Relay squad, finished the 200 medley relay, the 200 freestyle relay and the 400 freestyle relay with top times to win first at the event.
Seawolves coach Max Jaben said Hotchkiss’ performance was an “excellent ‘in-season’ performance.”
“It is great sign for his year that he is already swimming so close to his best time,” Jaben said. “As we continue to build his speed and endurance through the year and then taper him for CIF, he will be much faster. His goal is to win CIF and qualify for Junior Nationals.”
Jaben said the relay team’s first place finish was a huge boon for the Seawolves program. He said the fact that the Seawolves’ youngest swimmers are winning against some of the strongest swimming programs in Southern California shows that the Seawolves program has come a long way.
“Just this past summer was the first time in our history our program had enough Malibu swimmers to even put a relay team together, and now our 10-and-under team has won Coastal Club Championships and now the Santa Barbara competition,” Jaben said. “I give much credit to our youth development coach, Brad Ulbrich, because he is doing an excellent job of teaching the fundamentals to the beginning five-10-year-olds on our team.”
The Malibu Aquatics Foundation will hold the third annual Spook Halloween Fundraiser and Costume Contest at the Malibu Swimming Pool on Saturday at 10 a.m. Seawolves swimmers will participate to raise money for the swim club. Malibu youths are invited to participate in the costume contest at 10:30 a.m.