Last week in Irvine, CA, distance ace Matthew Chai was one of a handful of eighteen and under athletes nationwide to compete in the USA Swimming National Championships. While racing against Olympians, former National champions and international competitors, Matthew finished 20th in the 800M Freestyle, 21st in the 1500M, and 25th in the 400M. He will be back in action this week at the USAS Junior Championships also being held in Irvine. For more information on the competition see the USA Swimming webpage here. Congratulations and good luck this week...

Congratulations to all the FAST Masters swimmers who raced in the Newport Pier to Pier event this past weekend. The annual 2-mile open water swim is the highlight of the summer for FAST Masters of all ages. We encourage participation in these events -- it gives meaning to the training and builds self-confidence. If you are motivated to try open water swimming, visit the Southern California event list here. Thanks Coach Keith for preparing our athletes for success and proving once again that, "Work Works"!

In their final meets of the long course season, FAST swimmers carted off excellent results, including a 2nd Place Combined Team finish at the CA/NV Sectional-South Championships in Santa Clarita. At the same time in Mission Viejo, Junior Olympic veterans and multiple first-time qualifiers performed well, garnering swims in the finals and having strong relay performances. Overall it was an awesome way to finish the 2022 Summer LCM Season. Congratulatoins to all -- we are looking forward to the Fall!

As FAST wraps up the last week of the summer season, National, Junior National, Sectional, and Junior Olympics qualifiers are excitedly preparing for their season-ending competitions. With all their extra time and energy, some swimmers have kept themselves busy by designing their own shirts! Swimmers who have already concluded their summer competitions will be on a two-week break from July 18 to July 31. The FAST program will resume on August 1 with Pre-Season Training (an abbreviated schedule will be announced soon). The full training schedule will start on August...

On National Pool Day FAST swimmer and SwimSwam reporter par excellence Annie Johnson chose the Janet Evans Swim Complex as her favorite pool. Read the article here. Thanks Annie, there's no place like home!

At the SoCal Invite this past weekend Kailee Chow swam to her first Summer Junior National cut in the 200M Butterfly. Her time of 2:16.95 eclipsed the former FAST team mark set eight years ago. Previous 200M Butterfly Record: Isabella Kearns--2:17.09, 2014 Kailee swam personal best times in the prelims and again finals. However, the next day proved to be the charm when she swam the event for the third time in a time trial, proving the value of determination. The 17 FAST swimmers competing also recorded an impressive 11...

Over the weekend 74 FAST swimmers posted 147 personal best times, gaining significant performance momentum as we move towards the end of the summer season. FAST athletes also achieved 53 new USA Swimming National Age Group times (2 "AAA", 8 "AA", 9 "A", 15 "BB", 19 "A"). Great swimming FAST!

Congratulations to Jason Lee on being selected to the SCS All-Star Zone Team. Jason will compete in the 11-12 division. FAST's own James Gallagher will also serve as the team's head coach for the event which will happen the first week of August. Twelve boys and twelve girls from each age group were selected for the honor of representing Southern California Swimming in Sacramento, CA. Good luck Jason and James!

With an excellent teaching staff, including FAST swimmers Raine Parker and Ayanna Thompson, more than 150 local children are learning to swim the Janet Evans Swim Complex this summer. Information on the FAST summer swimming classes and other programs are below. Make it a great, safe summer!

This morning in his second appearance at the 2022 FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary Simon Lamar finished as the top American in the field. After 5 hours 6 minutes and 13 seconds, Simon swam to a 12th place overall in the 25K event. Earlier in the week Simon competed in the 5K event, finishing in 15th place. He is pictured after the race with American Brennan Gravley and president of USA Swimming Tim Hinchey. These were the second World Championships for Simon, the previous being the 2017 edition also...