13-Year Old Ethan Dang Swims Third-Fastest 13-14 200 Breast Ever

At a time of year where most 13-year olds are thinking about upcoming age group championships, 13-year old King Aquatic Club swimmer Ethan Dang is winning Senior Championships.

Racing at the Pacific Northwest Swimming Senior Long Course Championships, Dang swam a 2:20.53 in Thursday evening’s finals session; that’s a new lifetime best for the National Age Group Record holder by 1.4 seconds.

While the single-age history in USA Swimming is not as good as the age group history, that swim by Dang appears to be the fastest ever done by an American 13-year old, ahead of Sean Mahoney’s 2:20.9 from 2002; and ranks him as the third-fastest 13-14 in history, even though he just aged up in February.

In that swim, he beat another impressive young breaststroker; 15-year old Jonathan Cook took 2nd in 2:22.01.

The home team King Aquatic Club boys were the stars of the show on Thursday, as their 15-18 200 meter free relay broke a National Age Group Record.

Read more about that record here.

Other Night 1 Winners:

• Sage Speak won the women’s 200 breaststroke in 2:37.01. She used a fast final 50 to pull past Nicole Limberg, who took 2nd in 2:37.68.
• Speak’s teammate Christina Domanowski won the women’s 200 free in 2:05.26, which is her best time to date. 14-year old Yulia Groysman took 2nd in 2:08.47.
• TCU commit Tommy Thach won the men’s 200 free in 1:53.01. While that’s not a best time, its yards conversion still likely will make him the TCU 800 free relay anchor as a freshman next season – they graduated their top 3 from last year. Thach later won the men’s 200 IM big in 2:06.74 – almost four seconds ahead of the field.
• Emma Carlton won the women’s 100 fly in 1:02.88, holding off a hard-finishing Gabby Dang (no relation) and her 1:03.29. The pair are just 15 and 14, respectively. King’s Heidi VanderWel was 3rd in 1:03.34 – she’s likely headed for U.S. Nationals in three weeks, so this meet is much a final tuneup for her.
• Minnesota’s Chase Bublitz dominated the men’s 100 fly in 56.04, making him a second-and-a-half clear of anyone else in the field.
• Angela Gagliardo and Mackenna Briggs battled back-and-forth in the 200 IM, but it was ultimately Gagliardo’s breaststroke leg was the difference. She fought her way to a 2:25.33 victory, just out-touching Briggs’ 2:25.50.