Riverside Aquettes Looking Strong
Finals on tap for Saturday at Speedo Juniors

Riverside can be happy with two top placings on Friday at the Speedo Junior Synchronized Swimming Championships in Fort Collins, Colo.

The Aquettes, overall champions at the Speedo Junior Championships last year for their first time, took first place in the solo and trio preliminary events as well as in Thursday's figures competition.

U.S. Junior National Teamer, Barbara Nesbitt, led the way for the Aquettes in solo and figures competition. Her teammates, Brooke Abel, Meryl Grandia and Caitlin Stewart all showed the same success with their first place preliminary swim as a trio.

Not far behind the Riverside team are two Northern California teams with equally impressive performances at the meet. The Walnut Creek Aquanuts secured a first place finish in the team preliminary event with a score of 81.056. Second place in the team prelims went to the Santa Clara Aquamaids with a score of 80.036.

Preliminary scores are weighted to 50 percent and combined with 50 percent of Thursday's figures score to determine the eight finalists in each event. In the final, the 50 percent free routine prelim score is replaced with 50 of the final routine score.

The 2003 SPEEDO Junior Synchronized Swimming Championships are being held at the Edora Pool and Ice Center in Fort Collins, April 3-5. More than 350 elite athletes ages 14-18 are vying for junior national titles in the solo, duet, trio and team events. Also up for grabs are 10 roster spots on the 2003 U.S. Junior National Team.

The Speedo Juniors is hosted by the Rocky Mountain Synchro Association and the Fort Collins Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Competition continues Saturday with duet preliminaries at 10 a.m., followed by finals at 3 p.m.


Solo Preliminary (including figures)
1. Barbara Nesbitt, Riverside, 80.712. 2, Christina Jones, Santa Clara, 80.331. 3, Becky Kim, Walnut Creek, 80.137. 4, Lidia Birukova, Santa Clara, 80.124. 5, Kate Hooven, Walnut Creek, 79.244. 6, Annabelle Orme, Walnut Creek, 78.619. 7, Brooke Abel, Riverside, 77.992. 8, Danielle Kramer, Canton City, 77.927.
Trio Preliminary (including figures)
1, Brooke Abel, Meryl Grandia, Caitlin Stewart, Riverside, 78.149. 2, Poppy Carlig, Kathy Duong, Hae-Rin Lee, Santa Clara, 77.292. 3, Jayme DeLancy, Leah Pinette, Leayn Pinette, New Canaan, 75.886. 4, Diana LaScala-Gruenewald, Deborah Shim, Jeanine Wurzel, Walnut Creek, 75.461. 5, Fiona Lundie, Elizabeth Burns, Bahareh Nikbakht, Santa Clara, 75.305. 6, Meghan Kinney, Jaclyn Mundy, Michelle Theriault, Riverside, 74.539. 7, Lindsey Davis, Tori Hay, Alandi Stec-Neifert, Walnut Creek, 73.696. 8, Paige Chang, Brittany Smiley, Ashly Wenzel, Arizona, 73.455.
Team Preliminary (including figures)
1, Walnut Creek Aquanuts A, 81.056. 2, Santa Clara Aquamaids A, 80.036. 3, Riverside Aquettes A, 79.729. 4, Seattle Synchro, 76.609. 5, Santa Clara Aquamaids B, 75.969. 6, Riverside Aquettes B, 75.470. 7, Walnut Creek Aquanuts B, 75.354. 8, New Canaan Aquianas, 75.286.