14-Year-Old Spink Gets 100 FR Trials Cut, Wilburn 2-for-2 on NCSA JNats Night 1

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)
  • Psych Sheets
  • Live results available on Meet Mobile under “2019 NCSA Summer Swimming Championships”

Night one of the NCSA Summer Junior Nationals at the IUPUI Natatorium featured the finals of the men’s and women’s 100 free, 200 back, and 50 fly. Among the highlights, 14-year-old Camille Spink of Nation’s Capital stormed away with the 100 free title, earning an Olympic trials cut.

Spink won the 100 free final with a 56.01, taking down her morning lifetime best of 56.48. That time is the 6th-fastest swim in 13-14 age group history and ranks 15th among all 18&U swimmers this season. Spink was followed by Fox Valley’s Mckenna Stone (56.58) and Cardinal’s Ella Welch (56.65). Out of the B-final, 14-year-old winner Arabella Sims of Sandpipers of Nevada stopped the clock at 56.76, which would have tied her for 4th overall next to Dads Club’s Ellie McLeod. Sims now ranks 27th all-time in the 13-14 age group as well.

18-year-old East Coast swimmer Cason Wilburn earned two titles during the first evening session. His first win was in the 100 free, where he dipped under the Olympic Trials cut with a 50.05. Wilburn now ranks 9th among all 18&U swimmers and 35th in 17-18 age group history.

His second victory was in the 50 fly, where he won with a 24.64. Wilburn’s season best of 24.36 ranks 8th among 18&U swimmers. Top 3 event finishers Fort Wayne’s Tristan Dewitt (24.75) and Parker Nolan (Chicago Wolfpack) rank 13th and 16th respectively among all 18&U swimmers this season as well.

The women’s 50 fly final also featured new 18&U national rankings. Winner Athena Ye of Academy Bullets took the event in a 27.24, ranking 8th in the 18&U age group. Earning more top 3 medals were Cardinal’s Ella Welch (27.44) and Fox Valley’s Mckenna Stone (27.48), who also rank 14th and 17th in the age group as well. 5th-place finisher Caroline Bricker of Cheyenne Mountain stopped the clock at 27.86, which is the 14th-fastest swim by a 14-year-old female in the last decade.

In the day’s distance event, the timed final 800 free, there were 4 new Olympic Trials cuts broken. Rachel Stege from the Fox Valley Swim Team won the girls’ 800 in 8:39.78, Katie Grimes from Sandpipers of Nevada (only 13) took 2nd in 8:41.52, and Arabella Sims from Sandpiper (only 14) swam 8:47.67. All 3 were better than the 8:48.09 required to race in Omaha next summer.

In the boys’ race, Dylan Becker of Sandpiper swam an 8:07.48 to easily hurdle the Trials cut of 8:12.99 in the newest men’s Olympic event. His best time coming into the meet was 8:18.60, from last summer. This drop echoes his huge short course drops in the yards versions of the distance events this season, where, for example, he dropped 22 seconds in the 1000 yard free and 11 seconds in the 500 yard free.

More event winners include Atlantis’ Justine Murdock, who followed up on her morning Olympic Trials qualifying swim with the 200 back title in a 2:12.94. B-final winner Kathryn Grimes of Sandpipers of Nevada won with a 2:16.93, which is the 11th-fastest time swam by a 13-year-old female in the last decade.

On the men’s side, NCAP’s Noah Rutberg won the event in a 2:03.31, holding off Munster’s Holden Raffin (2:03.84) and Eagle’s Colin Bitz (2:03.96).

Relay Winners:

  • The Fox Valley Swim Team won the girls’ 200 free relay in 1:44.84, with the team of Megan Ciezczak (26.78), Rachel Stege (26.04), Tiffanie Ruan (26.62), and Mckenna Stone (25.40) combining for victory. Stone, the anchor and fastest split, was previously the runner-up in the 100 free. That’s the 5th-best 200 free relay in the country so far.
  • Also in that girls’ 200 free relay, the Sandpipers of Nevada broke the girls’ 13-14 National Age Group Record. Read more here.
  • Fox Valley Swim team completed a sweep of the free relays thanks to a 1:33.76 in the boys’ race. That included Brian Daugherty (24.08), Aayush Deshpande (23.19), James Senese(23.98), and Connor Boyle (22.51).
  • NCAP won the girls’ 200 medley relay by more than a second ahead of the Academy Bullets (who showed depth with a 2-3 finish). NCAP’s winning relay included Aris Runnels (29.06), Georgia Johnson (32.50), Carly Sebring (27.89), and a big anchor leg of 25.52 by Camille Spink (mentioned above). NCAP’s 1:54.97 is the fastest time in the country this season.
  • The Fox Valley boys earned their team another relay gold when they won a nail-biter of a 200 medley relay in 1:43.88. The team of Brian Daughetrty, Brian Knothe, Aayush Deshpande, and Connor Boyle combined for a 3:54.18, with another 22.5 anchor split from Boyle being enough to run down more than a full-second gap on the Fort Wayne Swim Team for the win. Fort Wayne took 2nd in 1:44.04.

Team Scores After Night One:

Top 5 Combined

  1. Nation’s Capital- 662 points
  2. Academy Bullets- 413 points
  3. Fox Valley- 393.50 points
  4. Suburban Seahawks- 344.50 points
  5. Chicago Wolfpack- 336 points

Top 5 Men

  1. Nation’s Capital- 286 points
  2. Chicago Wolfpack- 231 points
  3. Fox Valley- 230.50 points
  4. Katy Aquatic Team- 156.50 points
  5. Suburban Seahawks- 149.50 points

Top 5 Women

  1. Nation’s Capital- 376 points
  2. Academy Bullets- 267 points
  3. Suburban Seahawks- 195 points
  4. Sandpipers of Nevada- 166 points
  5. Fox Valley- 163 points

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KEVINM
4 years ago
Sharkbait
4 years ago

Not even a mention for the 800 free? 4 swimmers made Olympic Trial cuts (3 girls, 1 boy)!!

Billy
4 years ago

Why are some swimmers from the west swimming in Indiana and some swimmers from the east are swimming in California? A swimmer from Connecticut won the 1500 in Palo Alto. Last time I checked, Connecticut borders on the Atlantic Ocean (Long Island Sound).

Just curious.

SwimParent
Reply to  Billy
4 years ago

Two totally different and non-connected meets. In Winter USA Swimming splits the winter junior nationals into two events, east and west. In summer there is only one USA Swimming Junior Nationals and it is in Palo Alto this year. The NCSA meet in Indy is out on by the national club swimming association, a private entity not connected to the national governing body. So clubs just pick which one they go to.

About Nick Pecoraro

Nick Pecoraro

Nick has had the passion for swimming since his first dive in the water in middle school, immediately falling for breaststroke. Nick had expanded to IM events in his late teens, helping foster a short, but memorable NCAA Div III swim experience at Calvin University. While working on his B.A. …

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