15-Year Old Gianluca Urlando Swims 1:43 in 200y Back and 200y Fly

2018 COLLEGE STATION SECTIONALS

  • March 1st-4th, 2018
  • Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
  • 25y (SCY) Course
  • Results – Meet Mobile “2018 Speedo Sectionals Championship Series”

After a fast relay swim on day 1 of the meet, Metroplex Aquatics’ Jason Park won his first individual event of the race on Friday in the 200 back, swimming a 1:43.17. That swim is a lifetime best for Park by 2 seconds.

In the process, he beat out 15-year old Gianluca Urlando from the Davis Aquadarts, who finished 2nd in 1:43.37. That’s the best time by a 15-year old in the country this season, and ranks 3rd all-time for 15-year olds, just ahead of the 2016 Olympic champion Ryan Murphy.

That wasn’t Urlando’s only big swim of the day. He also won the 200 fly by over 3 seconds in 1:43.55. He already had the best time by a 15-year old in the country this season, but now is 3 seconds better than any other swimmer his age nationally. As far back as USA Swimming’s SWIMS database goes, it’s also the fastest 200 fly time by a 15-and-under by 2 seconds – Michael Phelps swam a 1:45.50 in 2001 shortly before breaking the World Record in the 200 LCM fly to rank 4th on that list.

Urlando is now just 1.45 seconds from Phelps’ 15-16 National Age Group Record in the event, and has more than a year to get there.

Katy Aquatics 15-year old Emma Sticklen had an equally-significant 200 fly at the same age, winning the women’s race in 1:54.88. That’s a new lifetime best by 3.01 seconds for her. Like Urlando’s swim, that’s the fastest time this season, and ranks 3rd all-time among 15-year olds.

Other Day 2 Winners:

  • Alex Zettle became the meet’s first male double winner when he took the 500 free title in 4:19.01, winning by 4 seconds. He won the 1000 free on Thursday.
  • Gabrielle Kopenski, who won the women’s 1000 on Thursday, joined him not long after with a 4:43.20 in the 500 free.
  • Julia Cook of the Aggie Swim Club won the women’s 200 back in 1:53.19, almost 3 seconds clear of the field. She doubled her win total on the very next event, when she swam 47.82 in the 100 free, beating out a field that included French Olympian Beryl Gastaldello (48.21) and Mexican Olympian Lili Ibanez(48.22).
  • Another Mexican swimmer, Daniel Ramirez, won the men’s 100 free in 43.24.
  • Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics went 1-2 in the the women’s 400 free relay with times of 3:20.40 and 3:23.68 for their “A” and “B” relays, respectively. Sarah Snyder led the way with a 48.07 split on the 3rd leg of the “A”.
  • The Lakeside Aquatic Club won the men’s 400 free relay in 3:01.13. KATY Aquatics took 2nd in 3:01.94, including a 43.93 leadoff from Kaloyan Bratanov. Like Kopenski, he too is swimming in his future home pool: he’s a class of 2018 Texas A&M commit.

 

 

 

 

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bobo gigi
6 years ago

Big swims for Urlando and Sticklen.
Urlando was in 1.46.31 at short course juniors West last December. 1.43.55 now. And after a 200 back if I’ve well understood. 1.43/1.43 double 200 back/200 fly in the same session, that’s pretty impressive. He has already shown great things in long course last summer in 1.58.93 in the 200 fly.
Sticklen was in 1.57.89 last December at juniors. 1.54.88 now.
USA desperately needs new talents in the 200 fly. Good signs for the future.

swimmerTX
Reply to  bobo gigi
6 years ago

A year ago, Sticklen was struggling to reach the 2:00 barrier for that 2fly. Big improvement curve she’s riding.

SwimFan
Reply to  swimmerTX
6 years ago

she is an amazing worker and has amazing coaches that spend working with her.

SwimFan
Reply to  SwimFan
6 years ago

*spend time

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