Swimmer Chloe Isleta clocked a 5:16.92 in 400 IM at Far
Westerns, ranked best in the nation for 11 year olds
HOLLISTER
Chloe Isleta is said to be motivated by the competition.
“When somebody is really close to me it makes me want to go faster,” the 11-year-old swimming phenom said this week. “I don’t care how tired I am. I just go for it.”
And more often than not, the competition doesn’t have much say in the matter.
Nearly four months removed from a 7-for-7 sweep at both the Pacific Swimming Short Course Junior Olympic Championships and the Far Western Short Course Championships, where the sixth-grader at Maze Middle School took home a pair of high-point honors in the 10-and-under age category, Chloe Isleta silenced the competition once again, this time at San Jose’s Independence High School in late July.
Competing at the Far Western Long Course Championships, Isleta earned two first-place finishes, but it was her time in the 400-meter Intermediate Medley that had everyone talking.
Clocking a 5:16.92 in the 12-and-under age category at Far Westerns, the the 11-year-old Isleta not only trumped her mostly 12-year-old competition by 14-plus seconds, but she set the national standard as well, according to USA Swimming.
Isleta’s time in the 400 IM is the fastest recorded time in the nation this year for 11 year olds, topping Frisco Aquatics swimmer Destiny Nelson’s 5:20.76, which was set on July 9, by nearly four seconds.
“Which is out of this universe,” said Dave Steele, who coaches Isleta at Rovella’s Athletic Club in Hollister. “Some of the girls in the Olympics and the world championships, when they were 11 years old, were the same speed as Chloe.
“She’s staying on track.”
Considered to be one of the more difficult swimming events, if not the most difficult, the 400-meter IM combines 100 meters each of the butterfly stroke, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. And Isleta, who defeated Arizona 12-year-old Kathleen Shannahan (5:17.42) by less than a second at Far Westerns (no other competitor finished better than 5:30.00), said she was neck-and-neck with Shannahan through the first three strokes.
“But on the freestyle, I sort of got her,” she said.
“It was hard but I tried my best and I tried to swim as fast as I can.”
The 400 IM is a focus of Steele’s when he’s coaching his Manta Ray swim club. As he said, “If you get good at the 400 IM, you’ll be good at everything.”
And that may be true, as Isleta also took third in the 100 back (1:13.18), second in the 200 back (2:33.11) and first in the 200 IM (2:32.11) at Far Westerns, the latter two events also equaling the fastest recorded times in Pacific Swimming this year.
But her 400 IM time, well, that’s tops in the nation.
“It’s amazing,” Steele said simply.
Having taken off some 17 seconds from her previous best time in the 400 IM, though, Isleta feels there is still room for improvement, even if she already owns the top spot.
“I think I could have done better, faster, in the breaststroke,” said Isleta, feeling that is her weakest stroke of the four.
“I think it’s pretty fast, but I think I can take off more time.”
And Isleta’s competition might not have much to say in the matter.
