Santa Barbara’s Alex Valente, swimming for Buenaventura Swim Club, won a Gold Medal in the 100 butterfly at Junior Nationals last week in 53.09 seconds.
Alex Valente at Junior Nationals – SwimSwam.com Photo
Valente’s opening leg was 24.72 followed by a 28.37 return length. He beat second-place finisher Luis Martinez by 0.25 seconds. Martinez was slightly faster on the return length but Valente had built up a lead before the turn.
In third place was 15-year-old professional Michael Andrew, who holds over a dozen national age-group records.
The USA Junior National Championships feature the best swimmers 18 years or younger in the country.
Valente, 17, improved on an eighth-place finish from last year.
Valente, a soon-to-be high school senior at Dos Pueblos, is also competing in his first USA Senior Nationals this week at the Woollett Aquatics Center in Irvine.
At Senior Nationals, Valente is entered in the 200, 50 and 100 fly. On Wednesday, Valente started out with a 36th overall finish in the 200 as the second-youngest competitor in the top 50.
In the 50 on Thursday, Valente came in 28th overall in the preliminary heats with a time of 24.61. He was the youngest swimmer in the top 40.
The 100 fly is on Friday.
