2022 SPEEDO WINTER JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS – WEST
- December 7-10, 2022
- Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center, Austin, Texas
- Short Course Yards (25 yards), Prelims/Finals
- Prelims @10:00AM ET, Finals at 6:00 PM ET (except for day 1 timed finals)
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Less than 40 minutes after breaking the meet and pool record in the 500 free, Bella Sims dominated the 200 IM in a time of 1:52.73 for a new meet record and the #3-ranked time on the all-time 17-18 age group list.
Sims entered the meet with a best time of 1:54.90, which she swam as a 16-year-old at this meet last year as the runner-up to Leah Hayes. Hayes’ winning time of 1:54.09 is the previous meet record that Sims broke tonight. Sims’ previous best ranks 8th on the 15-16 all-time list.
Splits:
| Fly | 24.41 |
| Back | 27.25 |
| Breast | 34.19 |
| Free | 26.88 |
Top-5 Girls 17-18 All-Time:
- Kate Douglass – 1:51.36 (2020)
- Ella Eastin – 1:51.65 (2016)
- Bella Sims – 1:52.73 (2022)
- Kathleen Baker – 1:52.80 (2016)
- Torri Huske – 1:52.82 (2021)
Sims is the only athlete in the top five who swam her time at a non-collegiate meet, as the others’ times come from collegiate conference meets, invites, or even the NCAA Championships.
Relative to the others on this list, Sims has the fastest 50 free split of the group, with Ella Eastin being the only sub-27.0 anchor. Everyone with the (exception of Baker on backstroke) splits similar in fly and back. Sims’ weakness is breaststroke–she is over a second slower on that split than everyone else in the top five.
Sims turns 18 in May, so she has over a year and a half before she ages out of the 17-18 age group. With such a late birthday, she will also get shots at the 17-18 NAG as a college freshman at Florida.
