Athlete of the Week: Garrett Glaudini - Breaking records
By Joe Naiman
Ramona High School swim coach Frank Yturralde — and the rest of the Bulldog swim community — first saw Garrett Glaudini compete for Ramona on March 3, 2011, when his time of 4:44.37 not only won the 500-yard freestyle race in a dual meet at Grossmont High School but broke the previous school record by more than 5 seconds.
During his freshman season, Glaudini also broke the 200-yard individual medley record by more than 6 seconds before lowering it to 1:49.48 in the league finals to win the Palomar League championship. He lowered his 500-yard freestyle school record to 4:37.84 with a fifth-place finish in the CIF finals, and he finished ninth in the CIF finals while setting a school record of 1:44.69 in the 200-yard freestyle.
During the 2012 dual meet season, Glaudini won races in seven of the eight individual events. During Ramona’s May 1 and May 5 meets, he won all four of his individual races and was on the winning relay team three of four times.
“Every week that Garrett swims he’s always in contention to win no matter who he’s swimming against,” Yturralde said. “He is one of the top athletes when it comes to swimming in all of the county. No matter what stroke, he can always swim with the best of them, and he proves that every week.”
While Glaudini’s times of 23.44 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle and 50.86 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle won those events May 1 against Mt. Carmel, he also faced Sundevils sophomore Grant Schenk in an exhibition race. The two competed in the backstroke for 500 yards.
“It was amazing to watch,” Yturralde said.
Glaudini was also on the winning 200-yard freestyle relay team against Mt. Carmel. During Ramona’s May 5 home meet against Classical Academy, Glaudini won the 200-yard individual medley in 2:05.63 and the 500-yard freestyle in 4:54.18 while being part of the winning 200-yard medley relay and 200-yard freestyle relay quartets.
“He’s got a very strong work ethic when it comes to practice,” Yturralde said. “He’s always challenging himself to work hard.”
Glaudini participates in USA Swim and has been invited to the Olympic trials. He is the Ramona Sentinel Athlete of the Week.