The Ellis Aquatics swim club sent eight of its swimmers to the USA Swimming Spring 2012 Junior Olympic Championships at the San Ramon Aquatics Center over the weekend, March 16 to 18.

More than 1,000 swimmers from USA Swimming’s Pacific Region competed, and the Ellis team was the largest from the Central Valley.

Swimmers set new personal records and Ellis team records and qualified for the Far Western Championship in Morgan Hill on Thursday, March 29, and the Western Zone championship in Colorado this summer.

“This was a great meet for our athletes,” coach Pat Windschitl said. “For most of our 12-and-unders, this was their first time making a second swim for finals, and we are incredibly proud of how they did.

“It’s physically and mentally exhausting for swimmers to come back and re-compete in their events later in the day, but all of our athletes came back incredibly strong and went right on to personal or meet bests.”

In the 10-and-under girls, Caitlin O’Neill established team records in all seven of her events, including a 10th-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley, 2 minutes, 37.06 seconds, which was 12 seconds better than her previous time and qualified her for the Western Zone meet. She also placed 13th in the 100 IM, 1:14.31.

O’Neill qualified for the zone meet with eighth-place finishes in the 200-yard freestyle, 2:18.94, and 100-yard breaststroke, 1:21.95, and a ninth-place finish in the 50 breaststroke, 38.13.

She was seventh in the 50 free, 29.32, and 10th in the 100 free, 1:04.69.

In the 10-and-under boys, Cristian Munoz set a personal best in the 100 butterfly, 1:25.23. His other events were the 100 free, 1:10.00, and 50 back, 37.29.

In the 11-12 girls, Maddie Wittkowske placed eighth in the 200 butterfly, 2:29.28, bettering the team record by two seconds. She also set a team record with her 17th-place finish in the 500 free, 5:40.65. She set personal bests in the 200 backstroke, 2:30.39, and 50 free, 29.02, and also swam the 200 free, 2:09.

Also in the 11-12 girls, Kamryn Lucero shattered the team record in the 100 free with a 17th-place time of 58.64, which qualified her for the Far Western meet. She also swam a personal best in the 50 free, 28.68, and a time of 2:10 in the 200 free.

Keiana Fountaine, swimming in the 11-12 girls, improved her personal best by four seconds with an eighth-place finish in the 100 butterfly, 1:07.92, and also set her new best times in the 50 free, 27.69, and 500 free, 5:50.13.

In the 15-18 women’s division, Michaela Loomis won the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:07.61. She placed fourth in the 200 yard butterfly trials, 2:19, which was a personal best by five seconds and a Far Western qualifying time, and also placed fourth in the 400 individual medley, 4:47, her best time by 13 seconds.

In the 15-18 men’s division, Miguel Munoz set a team record in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:08.65, which placed him 12th in the trials.

Bradley McCain, also in the 15-18 men’s division, had events all three days, including a second-place finish in the 500 free, 5:13.39; fifth place in the 200 back, 2:14; eighth in the 100 free, 53.77; eighth in the 100 back, 1:01.77; and ninth in the 200 free, 1:57.