2018 JR. PAN PACIFIC SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- August 23rd-26th, 2018
- Suva, Fiji
- Live Results/Psychs
- USA Swimming Meet Landing Page (with daily heat sheets)
- Full Meet Information and Schedule Document
- Live Stream (free, open)
16-year old American swimmer Isabel Stadden swam a 2:08.81 to break the Jr. Pan Pacs Meet Record in the 200m backstroke on Saturday during the 3rd day of prelims in Fiji.
Besides taking the top seed by over 2 seconds, ahead of Katharine Berkoff‘s 2:11.01, Stadden dipped under the old Meet Record of 2:09.59 set by current American team captain Lucie Nordmann in 2016. Nordmann was the 3rd-fastest qualifier in prelims, but because she was also the 3rd-fastest American, that bumps her down to the B final. The same happened to Alex Walsh, who finished in 2:11.34: the 4th-best time in prelims. The American had the 4 fastest times in the heats.
Behind Stadden in Berkoff in the A final, then, is Canada’s Madison Broad, who clocked a 2:14.31, and her countrymate Rosie Zavaros, who finished in 2:15.86.
Hers was the only Meet Record in prelims, though American swimmer Gianluca Urlando put a scare into one in the 100 fly. He swam 52.56, which is the 2nd-fastest swim ever done by an American 15-16 in the event (behind only his 52.48 from US Nationals, the age group record). The Meet Record in that event is a 52.37, standing since 2009 when New Zealand’s Daniel Bell swam to Jr. Pan Pacs gold.
Other Day 3 Prelims Highlights:
- American Carson Foster cooled off a little after a white-hot start to the meet that included breaking 15-16 National Age Group Records belonging to both Caeleb Dressel (200 free) and Michael Phelps (400 IM, twice). The 16-year old swam 1:59.35, which tied 17-year old teammate Peter Larson for the top spot in finals of the 200 back. For Larson, that is his first career swim under 2 minutes in the event and a lifetime best by almost a second. Foster, on the other hand, was 1.65 seconds.
- Australian Lani Pallister qualified first in the girls’ 400 free, with Miyu Namba of Japan (4:12.99), Mariah Denigan of the USA (4:13.49), and Claire Tuggle also of the USA (4:13.55) less than a second back. Of that group at the top, the swim was only a personal best for Namba, with both Pallister and Tuggle having been 4:10s.
- American Ross Dant swam a 3:54.87 to qualify 1st in the men’s 400 free, followed by countrymate Ethan Hasley in 3:55.14. Dant’s best time is a 3:51, but for Heasley that was more than a 2-second improvement. New Zealand’s Zac Reid qualified for the final 8th in 4:01.00. The triple New Zealand Champion this summer is his country’s fastest-ever junior middle distance freestyler, and was the top seed in the event coming into t he meet in a 3:51-low. He’s raced fairly-well at the meet so far, so finals will demonstrate whether something has happened (illness?) or if he was just cruising to a soft landing in prelims.
- Chiharu Iitsuka of Japan qualified 1st in the women’s 100 fly in 59.92 – the only swimmer sub-one minute in prelims. Isabel Ivey was 2nd in 1:00.00, and Canada’s Maggie MacNeil, who skipped the senior version of Pan Pacs to race at this meet, qualified 3rd in 1:00.12. 6 of the 8 swimmers in the final have been under 1 minute in their career, including MacNeil and Michaela Ryan of Australia, who have both been 58s; and nobody in the A-Final swam a best time.
Good day for Minnesota swimmers: Isabelle Stadden and Peter Larson, top seeds in 2BK.
Ummmm. I changed my mind about swimming a backstroke event this fall, cause there’s no way in hell I can face Peter Larson. I wanted to work on off strokes, but this guy scares me. I’d be lucky if I broke 2:00 scy. Massive respects to him. He’s making not only the Edina Club proud, but also Minnesota.
The 400 final is promising to be interesting. Preliminary results of first four finalists are within 1 sec.
You picked it. Zac Reid out with illness. Hopefully he can be healthy for the youth Olympics