15-Year-Old Avery Karl of Empire KC Swim Club Hits OT Cut in 50 Free – 25.98

TYR WINTER LONG COURSE INVITE

• February 19-21, 2021
• Fayetteville, AR
• Long course meters (LCM)
• Results on Meet Mobile

Several local clubs, along with visiting teams from Fullerton Aquatics Sports Team in California, Scarlet Aquatics in New Jersey and Bluefish Swim Club in New England, raced a long course meters meet this weekend in Fayetteville, Ark.

15-year-old Avery Karl of Empire KC Swim Club snagged her first-ever OT cut, going a 25.98 in the 50 free for a Wave I cut. Karl entered the meet at just 27.09, dropping to 26.72 in prelims and finally a sub-26 outing in finals. Just before turning 15, Karl clocked a lifetime best in the 50-yard freestyle at the end of January: 22.64.

In the 100 free, Karl won the event with a 57.66. Remarkably, going into the meet, she had never been under 1:02 before.

Bluefish Swim Club’s Summer Smith had a huge weekend, kicking off with a win in the 1500 free (16:34.54). In that race, where her old best of 16:44.16 was already a Wave II Trials cut, the Tennessee commit lopped nine seconds off. She is now ranked 24th among qualifiers for the Trials.

On Saturday, Smith won the 200 IM in 2:16.03, improving her old best by almost a full second (she already had the Wave I cut), while she added a lifetime best in the 100 free (57.94). In the 200 IM, she finished just ahead of Springfield Aquatics’ Kate McCarville, another Tennessee commit, who went a lifetime best 2:16.48. Smith also won the 400 free (4:20.04), 400 IM (4:46.96) and 200 back (2:13.26), though she was off of bests in those events.

Polish sprinter and Drury University standout Karol Ostrowski cracked the 50-second barrier in the men’s 100 free, going 49.92 and coming less than a half-second off his seed time.

FAST distance specialist Matthew Chai took three victories, all in distance free. The 17-year-old took the 800 free on Friday night (8:14.28), then took the 1500 free on Saturday (15:51.58). Finally, he went 4:01.86 to lead the way in the 400 free.

Indiana commit Luke Barr, training with Omaha-based club iNspire Swim Team, came just off a best to win the 100 breast. Barr was 1:03.76, off of his 1:03.04 lifetime best, which is an OT Wave I cut.