Walnut Creek Aquanuts Medal at U.S. Junior Olympic Championships

The Walnut Creek Aquanuts wrapped up their competitive season with a trip to Tonawanda, New York for the U.S. Junior Olympic Championships June 29-July 6^th.

WCA sent a team of 11-12 year old athletes and two 13-15 teams to compete in the national event. Nearly one thousand athletes from around the country competed in age groups 11-12 to 18-19.

In the 11-12 division, WCA athlete Chloe Davitiani took gold in every event she entered making it a grand slam meet for the 12 year old swimmer. Chloe won gold in the 11-12 solo by over three points.

WCA’s Mako Begossi took the solo silver medal. Karen Xue joined Davitiani to win gold in duet followed by WCA’s Ava Chu and Mako Begossi. The Aquanuts also took gold in 11-12 Team, swimming the same Swans-themed routine that won them the gold in 2018.

In the 13-15 category, WCA took gold and bronze in the Free Combination event where 10 athletes swim at one time. In the 13-15 team event, the Aquanuts A-squad won the routine portion. However, figure results, worth 50% of the overall score, brought the Aquanuts down to a silver finish overall.

The WCA B-squad finished seventh in 13-15 Team overall placement. The Aquanuts enjoyed one more 13-15 podium finish in the duet event with Joanna Liu and Dalia Ovadia winning bronze followed by Miya Yamamoto and Emileen Moore in fourth place. Finally, in 13-15 solos, Alexis McCracken placed fifth out of thirty missing a podium finish by 4.3 points.

This month the Aquanuts sent four junior athletes and three 13-15 athletes to National Team Training camps in Las Vegas and Stanford University respectively. The Junior athletes, Marlena King, Ryan Lewis, Aubrie Rutan and Miko Begossi, will compete in the 2019 UANA Pan American Championships held in Windsor, Canada in August.

WCA’s 13-15 athletes, Atira O’neil, Megan Kerner and Alexis McCracken, travel to Slovakia for the FINA Youth World Championships also in August.

The synchronized swimming club will host its annual Fall Swim Show, “DIVAS”, on Labor Day weekend Aug 29-Sep 1st. For information on the show and to purchase tickets, visit www.aquanuts.org.

“The Walnut Creek Aquanuts is a world-renowned synchronized swimming club based in Northern California. Their mission is to develop athletes from novice to elite, building both bodies and minds and instilling skills that will serve swimmers throughout their lifetime.” The WCA has had several Olympian athletes in its ranks.

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