The 84th Semana Nautica Summer Sports Festival was full of outstanding, inspiring athletic performance. Here’s a recap highlighting the top performances from each event on the 2023 festival schedule.
Complete results from all events can be found HERE.
Mullen & Henzell 2-Mile Swim
Kristof Igloi, Amelie Ogilby, and John Bish were some of the standouts. Igloi was the overall winner with a time of 38 minutes and 22 seconds. Ogilby was the fastest female and the 1st overall without a wetsuit, recording a time of 41:25. Bish, in 6th overall, earned the top placement for males without wetsuits. Another notable finisher was Vic Bartalan as the only octogenarian to compete in the race.
Mullen & Henzell 3-Mile Swim
Amelie Ogilby returned to sweep the Mullen & Henzell swims, finishing 3rd overall with a time of 1:02.13.
The men’s champ was Myles Peck as the only swimmer to break one hour (58:28). John Bish and Jim Avrea were among the leaders in both the 2-mile and 3-mile races.
Semana Nautica 6-Mile Swim
John Bish, 18, captured his first title in the six-mile race, a year after finishing in 2nd place. The winning time was 2 hours, 31 minutes and 24 seconds. Taylor Thomas was the fastest female and third overall with a time of 2:33.59.
5-Mile Biathlon
Chrissy Faulding repeated as women’s biathlon champion while Ed Sweeney finished 1st overall with a time of 41:10. The Semana Nautica 5-Mile Biathlon consists of a four-mile beach run followed by a 1-mile ocean swim. Brian Roth and John Clark finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
Stud Ironman
This traditional lifeguarding competition attracted an elite group of triathletes and ocean swimmers. Jason Smith and Kyle Visin led the field, finishing with times of 37 minutes and 10 seconds, and 37:55, respectively. Caitlin Swalec and Chrissy Faulding were the top female performers. Swalec posted a time of 44:10.
The Stud Ironman race included five ocean-swimming lengths and four beach-running sprints in between.
CBVA Santa Barbara Open
Two local teams captured championship titles with surprising twists. The men’s team of Ric Cervantes and Will Rottman were supposed to be playing at the AVP Tournament in Denver but their plane flight was canceled last minute allowing them to compete in their hometown instead. Cervantes and Rottman defeated Tennessee Fulks and Logan Mister, 28-22, in the final.
The women’s tournament was won by Taylor Racich and Kelissa Lemoine, who were playing together for the first time after Lemoine’s original partner dropped out not long before the tournament. Racich-Lemoine outlasted Portia Sherman and Logan Tusher, 28-26, in the title match.
4th of July 5K Trail Run
Kristian Howell edged Zack Schock on the up-and-down hilly course at Elings Park, posting a winning time of 21 minuets and 22 seconds. Amy Alzina was the fastest women with a time of 24:06. Helen Payne wasn’t far behind (24:31).
Robbie Fitzgibbons, 10, came in 1st place in the kids 1.25-mile race. Sloan Visin, 8, set the pace for the girls.
Santa Barbara Tennis Open
Tournament fields were narrowed down over several days to Championship Sunday at Knowlwood Tennis Club. Matt Berry came from behind to beat Garrett Patton in an exciting men’s singles final, 3-6, 7-6, (10-8). Hana McKinney survived a hard-fought semifinal match and cruised in the final 6-2, 6-3.
In doubles, Ethan Ha and Austin Stone earned the men’s title as the fourth seed, topping Graham Maassen and Darius MacKenzie 6-4, 6-4. Jill Gardner and Stephanie Stone defended their top seed in the women’s doubles tournament, winning the championship match 6-1, 6-4 over Abigail Pak and Jacqueline Resler.
Sea Shell Alumni Regatta
On July 2nd, the Santa Barbara Sea Shell Association held the current member junior Zimmerman Cup regatta, and the first annual Semana Nautica Alumni Regatta. Sia McAvoy and Savannah Zollett both scored first in each of the Sabot and O’Pen Skiff divisions, respectively. Over three races, in moderate breeze, each sailor earned three first places. In the Alumni Regatta, Jim Muir and Jason MacMurray traded first and second across the two races, with MacMurray earning first overall with his lower combined total time. Paul Castleberg finished third in the series.
