Local Swimmer Excels in West Coast Meet

A local swimmer recently competed in the 2012 Pacific Coast All-Start Meet held Jan. 7-8 in Langley, British Columbia.

James Bilbrey was selected to represent Southern California Swimming at the meet by being one of the eight fastest swimmers in the 11-12 and 13-14 age groups during the Southern California Swimming December Championship meets, according to a news release.

James, a seventh-grader at Thompson Middle School, traveled with the team to Canada to compete against top swimmers from Pacific Swimming, Pacific Northwest Swimming, Oregon Swimming and British Columbia Swimming, the news release stated.

He raced in six events: 200M Free, 400M Free, 50M Fly, 100M Fly, 100M Back and 200M IM. James finished fourth in two of his events, the 400M Free and 200M IM, earning points for Southern California Swimming, which ultimately won the meet, according to Susan Wirth of MESA Aquatics.

MESA Aquatics is a nonprofit swim team formed in 1995 that offers a year-round learning and competitive program for children ages 5 and up living in the Temecula Valley and other Inland Empire communities, Wirth said.

Three professional coaches and nearly 150 swimmers currently make up MESA Aquatics, which practices at its home pool at Elsinore High School in Wildomar.