Malibu Seawolves swimmers spent part of their Halloween raising over $5,000 for the team at a Swim-A-Thon fundraiser at Malibu High School (MHS).
Swim-A-Thons are sanctioned by USA Swimming — the sport’s national governing body — as a way for its 2,800-member clubs to raise money for program necessities. Swimmers ask their donors to pledge a certain amount of money for every length of the pool the swimmer is able to complete within two hours.
Green group swimmer Tijes Kline raised the most money for the Seawolves — $640 by completing his training group’s goal of 200 laps.
Several swimmers surpassed their lap goals, allowing them to raise more money than expected. Nine-year-old Stevie Sturges, a member of the team’s Sealion training group, swam 53 laps — over double her group’s 20-lap goal.
Max Jaben, the club’s owner, was impressed by Stevie’s performance.
“She really went above and beyond and was one of the younger swimmers that really pushed themselves,” Jaben shared.
Senior group swimmer Kennan Hotchkiss logged his goal of 250 laps in an impressive time of one hour and 10 minutes. He also raised the second-highest amount of money, contributing just over $600.
Another standout performance came from nine-year-old Alex Bani-Esraili — a member of the Seawolves’ partner program at the Wise School in Bel Air — who surpassed his goal by swimming 100 laps without stopping.
The fundraiser also bought Halloween spirit to the MHS pool deck, as swimmers and coaches dressed up and participated in a costume contest before the swimming began. Filip Kurial, nine, and Morgan Perlmuter, 13, were deemed best-dressed for their age categories and each won a pair of Beats Solo headphones. Urban Barrels, a beach accessory company founded by Pepperdine alumni, donated Bag Towels as prizes for the two runners-up.
Special guest appearances were made by South African Olympian Glenn Snyders and three-time Brazilian Olympian Thiago Pereira, who signed autographs for the swimmers after they completed their lap goals. Both Olympians are training for this summer’s Olympic Games with University of Southern California’s Trojan Swim Club.
September marked the beginning of Malibu Seawolves’ fourth year as an independent USA swimming club, after previously being run as a branch of Westside Aquatics. It is currently the only USA swimming club in Malibu.
Jaben, founder of the Swim Fit L.A. organization, began ownership of the Seawolves in the fall of 2014 and has since been working to grow the program.
“Programs are not successful without great coaches, and we have an amazing coaching staff” Jaben said. “That’s what has helped us go far in a short amount of time.”
Jaben’s strategies for success have thus far paid off. The now 64-member club nearly doubled in size this year, bringing in 31 new swimmers at the start of the fall quarter. The program gained publicity last year after local swimming standout Logan Hotchkiss became the club’s first athlete in history to receive a scholarship to a Division I program. Logan is currently a freshman at UC Santa Barbara.
“Our goal is to keep our younger swimmers in the program and get more of our kids going to college to swim,” Jaben said.
Funds raised from the Swim-A-Thon will help contribute to this goal. Some of the money will go toward the Anthony Frederick Memorial Scholarship fund to provide financial aid to swimmers who qualify, and the rest will go toward team gear and other program expenses.
“Using the money for team gear will get all of our swimmers looking the same on the pool deck and help create a team atmosphere,” Head Coach Jason Block said. “We all represent the same team and should be proud of it.”
The Seawolves continue their competition season at the Ventura BRW meet this weekend, Nov. 6-7. New swimmer sign-ups for the winter quarter begin on Nov. 30, and the coaching staff is hoping to welcome even more new members.
“My biggest goal for the rest of the season is that the kids have fun with it and learn life lessons along the way,” Block said. “If that continues to happen, membership will take care of itself.”
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