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Arnas Monkelis, a St. Petersburg, Florida native will make the trip across the width of his state to enroll in and swim for Indian River State College. On his reasoning for making the roughly two- and half-hour journey, Monkelis writes,
I'm super excited to announce my commitment to swim and study at Indian River State College! Big thanks to Coach Cashel, Coach Smalley, and Coach Lisa for helping me get to this point, I really appreciate everything they've done for me. Thanks to my family, friends, and everyone who's supported me along the way. Most of all, I thank God for always being there for me. I'm also excited to train under Coach Sion and keep working toward my goals. GO PIONEERS!!
Monkelis started off his season with a strong performance at the FHSAA Class 3A State Championships in November of 2024. He set personal bests in the both of his individual events, placing 7th in the 200 free with a time of 1:40.55 and was one podium spot better in the 100 free as he finished 6th in 46.33. a time that would have been a PB had he not swum 46.23 leading off the Osceola Fundamental's 4×100 free relay. His school finished tied for 13th with 74 points.
The St. Petersburg native was just a little off his bests at the Winter Junior Championships - East meet as he was 46.32 in the 100, good for 85th, and 1:41.87 in the 200, which earned him 98th place. He did however, time trial the 50 free, cracking 21.80 for the first time, with a very impressive new PB of 21.43.
He continued that success into the long course season and posted new personal bests in multiple events at this past July's Florida Senior Championship. He set a new PB of nearly a second and half in the 50 breast, going from 35.31 to 33.95.
At the start of the new year, Monkelis recorded a new LC PB in the 50 free of 24.71, but smashed that result with a 24.42 prelims swim and a 24.32 finals swim, dropping .39 of a second off his old best. The 100 free saw a similar result, albeit dropping more time and from an older PB. He entered Senior Champs with a PB of 52.91 from the Huntsville Futures meet from the Summer of 2024. That time was his only sub-53 result of his career, but he easily demolished that going. 52.31 in prelims, slicing .60 off his old PB. He dropped a further .14 off that mark in the finals, recording a new PB of 52.17 to finish 3rd overall.
While he was short of the top of the podium in his individual events, Monkelis earned a gold medal on his West Florida Lighting Aquatics' 200 free relay. Splitting 23.83 on the third leg, Monkelis was joined atop the podium by teammates Jackson Healy (24.89), Owen Taylor (25.83) and Joey Campagnola (23.64), with the quartet stopping the clock at 1:38.19.
Best SCY Times:
* 50 Free - 21.43
* 100 Free - 46.23
* 200 Free - 1:40.55
* 500 Free - 4:48.15
* 1000 Free - 10:07.29
Monkelis is set to join an Indian River team that has dominated the NJCAA Championships, with the men winning 24 of the 25 contested event last year, enroute to their 51st overall title, earning a whopping 1362 points, more than the next two closest schools combined.
The lone event the Pioneers lost was the 100 free, which was claimed by Till Schroder of Southwestern Oregon in 43.92. Indian River did however occupy the next three spots on the roster as Tom Ferguson, Riccardo Pandin and Dre Blanchard went 2-3-4 with times of 44.19, 44.24 and 44.57 respectively.
In the 50 it was their teammate Oliver Nell who got the best of the field claiming first by nearly a full second with a blistering 18.95, .98 ahead of teammate Pandin and his 19.93. The 200 was a similar story as Elliot Weisel took the title in 1:36.36, a full 1.40 seconds ahead of teammate Knut Robinson.
While those times are faster than Monkelis' by a fair margin, with Indian River being a junior college, the team has limited eligibility and therefore must refresh their roster every year. Both Nell and Robinson return for their sophomore year, but the rest of their sprints do not appear on the roster. Monkelis's PB in the 50 free, 21.43, would have placed 9th in prelims, earning him the top spot in the B-Final. His 100 PB of 46.23 also would have slotted into 9th, while his 200 time of 1:40.55, could he replicate it in the prelims, would have slotted him into 7th overall.
Joining Monkelis in Fort Pierce this year are Coleman Brown, Kalaa Hall, Brayden Hunt, Fisher Kelly, Ricky Lottering, Cutter Shipman, Nolan Steele, Matias Tapia and Danzhel Tuliao.
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