16-Year-Old Levenia Sim Clocks 1:00.54 100 Back, 12th All-Time For Age Group

SE NAC Southeastern Long Course Championship

• July 14-17
• Huntsville Aquatic Center
  • Huntsville, AL
• LCM
• Results
• Team standings

More than 800 athletes from Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida descended upon the Huntsville Aquatic Center last weekend for the Southeastern Long Course Championship in Huntsville, Alabama. 

TNT Swimming’s Levenia Sim showed why she’s the No. 4 recruit on our way-too-early Class of 2024 rankings, totaling two nation-leading times, four personal bests, and six first-place finishes at the meet. In the 100-meter backstroke, she lowered her personal best to 1:00.54, which ranks first among 16-year-old girls this season. Sim sprinted her way to a 27.32 in the 50 fly, another top time this season for her age. 

In the 100 fly, Sim dropped more than a second off her previous best from last month, sneaking under the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials cut with a 59.97. The time makes her the third-fastest performer this season among 16-year-old girls. Heading into the meet, Sim had already held a U.S. Olympic Team Trials cut in the 100 back. She also posted a personal best in the 200 fly, a 2:18.43 that shaved nearly two seconds off her previous best from last August. Sim is now the 17th-fastest 200 flier this season for her age. 

City of Mobile Swim Association member Peyton Williams put up three nation-leading times this season among 12-year-old girls in the 50 free (27.31), 100 free (58.95), and 200 free (2:08.47), where she improved by more than three seconds. In the 100 free, she broke Gretchen Walsh’s Southeastern LSC record of 59.30. Williams also registered a personal best in the 100 fly prelims with a 1:05.67 that ranks her as the fifth-fastest this season for her age. 

Ian Call of Memphis Thunder won his boys 13-14 age group 100 breaststroke final in 1:07.34, which ranks as the top time this season among 13-year-old boys. He shaved more than a second off his previous-best 1:08.63 from last month. Call also triumphed in the 200 breast with a 2:28.34, becoming the third-fastest performer for his age this season. His third personal best of the meet came in the 200 free, a 2:05.23 that dropped nearly a second off his previous best from last month. 

Memphis Thunder teammate Roos Rottink tallied six personal bests and five first-place finishes, including her first two Junior Nationals cuts in the 100 backstroke and 200 back. She went 1:03.60 in the 100 back to become the fourth-fastest 14-year-old girl this season. In the 200 back, Rottink clocked a 2:17.33, taking more than a second off her previous best from last July and making her the eighth-fastest performer this season for her age. She also picked up victories in the 100 freestyle (58.42) and 200 free (2:06.93), both of which rank 15th among 14-year-old girls this season. 

Another nation-leading time this season came courtesy of 11-year-old Kauan DeSantana-Guidry. The Coast Aquatics swimmer earned the distinction with a 1:00.36 in the 100 free. In the 50 free, he went 28.29 to become the seventh-fastest performer this season for his age. DeSantana-Guidry also had a personal best in the 200 IM with a 2:39.93. 

Spencer Nicholas of Nashville Aquatic Club blazed a personal-best 24.96 to win the 50 fly final. Although it was just off his personal best from last year, it ranks as the third-fastest time this season among 16-year-old boys. Nicholas became the sixth-fastest swimmer this season for his age in the 50 back with a personal-best 27.14. He also posted an impressive time drop in the breast, shaving more than two seconds off his previous best from just a few months prior. 

Other Highlights 

• 14-year-old Ian Malone of Greater Pensacola Aquatic Club won all six of his individual events as well as the meet’s high-point award for his age group. In the 50 free, he earned a Futures cut with a 24.83 that ranks him as the 19th-fastest performer for his age this season. Malone also broke team records in the 50, 100, and 200 free, as well as the 200 IM and 400 free, where he smashed a 37-year-old record by six seconds. 
• Lewis Treggiden of Auburn Aquatics won the 50 free sprint with a 23.37, one of three Junior Nationals marks for the mid-year Auburn enrollee from Australia. He also met the standards in the 100 free (51.34) and 100 back (57.35).
• Memphis Thunder swimmer Zion James hit his first two Junior Nationals cuts in the 50 free (23.54) and 100 free (51.87), the latter marking a personal best by nearly a second for the 18-year-old Columbia University commit.