2016 U.S. Winter Jr Champs – West: Day One Finals Recap

2016 U.S. WINTER JUNIOR CHAMPS – WEST

• Wednesday, December 7th – Saturday, December 10th
• College Station, TX (Texas A&M University)
• Psych sheets
• Meet information
• Live results
• Wednesday night results

GIRLS 200 MEDLEY RELAY TIMED FINAL

1. Fort Collins Area Swim Team – 1:38.85
2. Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics – 1:40.39
3. Santa Clara Swim Club – 1:41.06

Fort Collins destroyed the field, breaking SwimMAC’s 2013 meet record (1:39.24). It looks as though they’re considering the meet record to be the overall fastest relay, regardless of which meet a relay is at, since the old record was SwimMAC (which competes on the east coast). Nevertheless, Fort Collins put together a very quick relay. Bayley Stewart (25.49, Zoe Bartel (27.47), Coleen Gillilan (24.05) and Kylee Alons (21.84) put together a 1:38.85, which was ahead of 2nd place by almost two seconds.

Bartel and Alons put up the fastest breaststroke and free splits of the field, respectively. Some of us may not be familiar with Alons, which is fair, considering the 17-year-old’s lifetime best flat start is a 23.39 from March. A 21.84 split, however, should get her name on people’s radars. Alons has moved around clubs a lot in her young career, and was most recently training with the Rocky Mountain Rapids this spring.

2nd place PASA got a boost from Grace Zhao, who threw down a 27.55 breast split, while 16-year-old Isabelle Henig anchored with a quick 22.17. Julia Cook (24.93) of Aggie Swim Club and Grace Ariola (25.06) of Waves Bloomington/Normal YMCA put up the fastest backstroke lead-offs. Meanwhile, Eva Merrell of Aquazots slammed down a 23.25 butterfly split for the quickest in the field.

BOYS 200 MEDLEY RELAY TIMED FINAL

1. Scottsdale Aquatic Club – 1:27.11
2. Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics – 1:30.01
3. Nitro Swimming – 1:30.59

Like the Fort Collins girls, the Scottsdale Aquatic Club boys were far-and-away the cream of the crop in this relay. Ryan Hoffer (21.04), Sean Gage (24.96), Ray Van Deusen (21.59), and Jack Blake (19.52) combined for a 1:27.11 to take down a big record– Bolles’ 2011 mark of 1:27.77 set by Murpy, D’Alessandro, Schooling, and Dressel. While all four legs put in great splits, it was the bookends that made the difference here. Putting down the fastest splits by far in their respective strokes, Hoffer (21.04) in back and Blake (19.52) in free were the stars of the relay. That marks a new PB for Hoffer by six hundredths.

PASA got in at 2nd, like their girls’ relay, and Maximilian Pokutta put up the fastest breaststroke split of the field (24.42). Three boys neared the 21.0 barrier on the fly split– Alvin Jiang of Lakeside Aquatic Club (21.15), Bryce Mefford of the Sierra Marlins (21.10), and field-best Clayton Bobo of Dads Club (21.07). The closest anchor leg to Blake was Alexander Zettle of Lakeside at 20.24.

GIRLS 800 FREE RELAY TIMED FINAL

1. Aquazot Swim Club – 7:12.12
2. Austin Swim Club – 7:14.43
3. Waves Bloomington/Normal Y – 7:15.13

Eva Merrell, who had the fastest fly split in the medley relay, led-off Aquazot’s 800 relay with a 1:45.89. To say that’s a significant best time would be an understatement– her best time before this was a 1:52.69. Typically a sprint butterflier and rangy backstroker, Merrell’s sprint free is the third thing one thinks about when assessing her time, and the 200 is a stretch for many young sprinters. She split it impeccably, too, going out in 52.09 and coming back in 53.80. Samantha Pearson (1:49.44), Katie Glavinovich (1:48.85), and Kate Krolikowski (1:47.94) made up the rest of the relay.

2nd place Austin Swim Club got a 1:47.63 from 2nd leg Diana Dunn, but it was 3rd place Waves Bloomington/Normal YMCA that had the best duo in the field. 2nd leg Grace Ariola, primarily a backstroker, swam a 1:45.73, while Melissa Pish followed in 1:46.18. While she didn’t have much of a supporting cast, like in the 200 medley, Julia Cook of Aggie Swim Club blasted a 1:45.77 2nd leg for them, while Samantha Shelton of Mission Viejo anchored her relay in a 1:46.00. 14-year-old Ella Ristic led off MVN’s relay in 1:48.65, while Zoe Gawronska of The Woodlands had the field’s 2nd-best lead off in 1:46.93.

BOYS 800 FREE RELAY TIMED FINAL

1. Scottsdale Aquatic Club – 6:31.93
2. Nitro Swimming – 6:32.79
3. Irvine Novaquatics – 6:33.49

Scottsdale got the job done again, thanks in part to a 1:35.27 lead-off leg from Ryan Hoffer. Jack Blake (1:38.89), Terry Yang (1:40.12) and Aaron Apel (1:37.65) combined for a time of 6:31.93, which broke Nitro’s 2015 meet record of 6:32.88. Nitro, meanwhile, touched 2nd in 6:32.79, also under the old record. Sean Grieshop propelled that relay to 2nd with a 1:37.19 on the third leg.

Bryce Mefford had the fastest split ever, leading off Sierra Marlins’ 7th place relay with a 1:35.08. Meanwhile, Lakeside’s Alexander Zettle split a 1:35.89 with a flying start. The North Texas Nadadores, who placed 4th, got a 1:36.11 lead-off from 17-year-old Jack LeVant.