Thanks to Michael Phelps, Natalie Coughlin and the rest of the USA swim team, the pool has been on the news and on peoples’ minds more than ever. For an elite group of young athletes, however, swimming dominated their brainwaves well before it hit television waves this year. And it’s paid off.
The Seahawks, a year-round competitive swim team based at Dolores Bengtson Aquatic Center, had another great year, sending swimmers to top competitions around the country–and outside of it–setting records and just generally swimming fast.
In addition to other high-profile meets, Seahawks recently sent five swimmers to the North American Challenge Cup in Canada and four other swimmers to Western Zones in Oregon to represent Pacific Swimming.
Of more than 100 teams representing Pacific swimming, Seahawks with nine swimmers was one of only five teams to send eight or more swimmers to the All-Star Teams.
In addition to the swimmers sent to the meets, Seahawks staff members represented Pacific Swimming at the meets. Seahawks coach Jon Pallesen went to the NACC as Pacific’s head coach and the coach of the 15-16 girls, while Seahawks club president Gary Knowles was the Pacific Team Coordinator at Western Zones.
“To take a bunch of young, relatively inexperienced swimmers to this caliber of tournament is phenomenal,” Knowles said. “It was a phenomenal experience for me and a phenomenal experience for them. They all stepped up to the challenge and did incredibly.”
The swimmers facing that challenge were Nick Silverthorn, Bryan Hughes, Marissa Brown, Andrew Seitz and Tory Houston at the North American Challenge Cup, and Maxime Rooney, Rachel Knowles, Natalie Wong and Brianna Neumayr at Western Zones.
“I went for the experience,” Houston said of the NACC trip. “It was about trying to win as a team and get the experience.”
Both meets are designed to give young swimmers the trials/ finals experience. This format is somewhat familiar to those that have been watching Olympic swimming, as swimmers race to qualify then race for medals later in the day.
“You have to have that finals experience,” Pallesen said. “They have to swim fast in the morning and even better in the evening.”
In keeping with the Olympic spirit, Pallesen said the international NACC featured different national anthems each night and small medal ceremonies for swimmers that placed in the top three of their event. Pacific, Canada, Mexico and Southern California participated in the NACC, while Pacific swimmers at Western Zones were up against Pacific Northwest and Oregon. While Pacific didn’t win either meet this year, the swimmers all performed well, setting personal bests and making it to the podium, when that applied.
For Silverthorn, the podium applied. The 12 year-old won nine gold medals and one silver in Canada.
“The North American Challenge Cup was different than any meet that I’ve been to,” Silverthorn said. “The best part was swimming fast and being with all your friends.”
Three swimmers also set records for Pacific swimming in these meets and others this season. Catherine Breed, 14, set four new Pacific Swimming Records; Brandon Fisher, 18, set one new Pacific Swimming Record; and Silverthorn, 12, broke seven Pacific Swimming Records this year and set five NACC records.
“It just felt good,” Silverthorn said about his many records. “All the races felt good.”
Seitz, 15, has had the trial experience before, so the format of the NACC was more familiar. Even so, he said the international aspect was fun.
“It really wasn’t too much different but it was still cool racing against and meeting swimmers from Mexico and Canada,” he said.
At the NACC, Canada took first with 5,227 points; Southern California came in second with 4,596 points; Pacific took third with 4,182 and Mexico followed with 1,841.
At Western Zones, the competition was fierce and the results close. Pacific Northwest barely won with 1,070 points while Pacific put 1,061 points on the board for second. Oregon came in third with 1,014 points.
New retail, dining options coming to Stoneridge Shopping Center later this yearApril 19, 2026 9:24 pm
