14 & Unders Top 400 IM Podium at NCSAs, 13-Year-Old Kathryn Grimes Hits OT Cut

2019 NCSA JUNIOR NATIONALS

• Tuesday, August 6 – Saturday, August 10, 2019
• Indiana University Natatorium, Indianapolis, IN
• LCM format
• Prelims 8:30 AM / Finals 5:30 PM (U.S. Eastern Time)
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheets
• Live results available on Meet Mobile under “2019 NCSA Summer Swimming Championships”

After notching her first Olympic Trials cut earlier this week in the 800 free, Sandpipers of Nevada’s Kathryn Grimes put together another outstanding performance in the 400 IM tonight. She first broke five minutes in prelims with a 4:56.94, then tonight took it down to a 4:51.13, getting under the OT cut by over half a second and winning the NCSA title.

SPLITS

• 1:06.03 fly
• 1:11.61 back
• 1:30.29 breast
• 1:03.20 free
• 4:51.13

Compare this to another 13-year-old, Leah Hayes of Fox Valley Park District Riptide, who had the quickest time at Junior Nationals in Palo Alto last night at 4:46.48. Hayes was 1:06.07 on fly, 1:13.05 on back, 1:22.13 on breast, and 1:05.23 on free.

Grimes was quicker than Hayes on all of the legs but breaststroke, where she was much slower than Hayes, although Grimes’ final two 50s were 31.84 and 31.36, which are remarkable at the end of a 400 IM. To put her final 100 into context: she would’ve out-split 2019 Worlds bronze medalist Yui Ohashi and three other finalists, and her free leg was just four tenths slower than World champion Katinka Hosszu.

Meanwhile, in the race tonight, Grimes’ teammates Arabella Sims (4:52.98) and Paige Kuwata (4:53.31), both 14 years old, touched in second and third, respectively. Funnily enough, these three swimmers teamed up with Audrey Yu to break the 13-14 200 free relay NAG record earlier this week, showing incredible range.

Sims, Kuwata, Yu, and Grimes teamed up in the 400 free relay to clock a 3:52.43 to erase Nashville Aquatic Club’s 400 free relay 13-14 NAG record, which had Alex and Gretchen Walsh on that. Sims, Yu, and Grimes were all 57-mid and Kuwata was 59.7.

OTHER WINNERS/NOTABLE SWIMS

• 16-year-old Matthew Tannenberger of Swim Streamline clocked a 1:51.23 to win the men’s 200 free by over a second.
• In the women’s 50 breast, 16-year-old Letitia Sim of TNT was 32.11 for the win. On the men’s side, HEAT’s Brett Champlin was 28.69 for the win.
• Justine Murdock, 16, of Atlantis Swimming followed up her 200 back win with another victory in the 100 back, going 1:02.35. Another 16-year-old, Academy Bullets’ Jessica Geriane, was 1:02.92 to tie with Suburban Seahawks’ Caroline Famous, 17, for second place.
• Wheaton Swim Club 17-year-old Andrew Dai dropped almost three seconds from prelims, and over half a second from his best time, to win the men’s 200 fly (2:01.72).
• Despite a 56.15 anchor leg from NCAP’s Camille Spink, it was the Fox Valley Swim Team with the women’s 4×100 free relay win at 3:48.63, getting a 56.31 lead-off from Mckenna Stone and a 56.64 split from Rachel Stege.
• Max Saunders was 50.47 leading off Santa Clara Swim Club’s men’s 4×100 free relay, but the Suburban Seahawks reeled SCSC back in to win at 3:27.26.

Team Scores After Night Three:

Top 5 Combined

1. Nation’s Capital- 1316.5
2. Academy Bullets- 710.5
3. Fox Valley Swim Team- 707.5
4. Suburban Seahawks- 660
5. Katy Aquatics Team for Youth- 644.5

Top 5 Men

1. Nation’s Capital- 559
2. Fox Valley Swim Team- 423.5
3. Katy Aquatics Team for Youth- 400.5
4. Chicago Wolfpack- 376
5. Santa Clara Swim Club- 320

Top 5 Women

1. Nation’s Capital- 757.5
2. Academy Bullets- 413.5
3. Sandpipers of Nevada- 386
4. Suburban Seahawks- 350.5
5. Santa Clara Swim Club- 306.5