To see all of our 2017 Swammy Awards presented by TYR, click here.
2017 Honorees: Erika Pelaez and Kaii Winkler
10 & Under Girls
Erika Pelaez – Miami Swimming, Miami, Florida
Pelaez, who swam for Miami Swimming as a 10-and-under (and through the summer of 2017 before moving to Eagle Aquatics after she’d already turned 11), left the age group with 18 top-ten swims. Even though she only swam as a 10-year-old through the end of June, she still finished 2017 with four #1 LCM swims: 100/200/400m free and 100m back and the #1 IMX score for 10-year-old girls in the long course season, with 4720 points. Her other top-ten LCM swims were in the 50 back (#2), 200 IM (#2), 100 fly (#3), 50 free (#4), and 50 fly (#8).
More impressive than the fact that she remained at the top of the LCM charts with nearly 2 months left in the season, Pelaez also finished the SCY season with the #2 IMX score, even though she only competed in 5 meets during the first four months of the year. She aged out of the 10-and-unders with the #2 time in the 100y back, #3 in the 100/200/500y free, 50y back, and 200y IM, #4 in the 50y fly, #5 in the 50y free, and #6 in the 100y fly.
Runners-Up
Lia Wiyanto – Irvine Novaquatics (Irvine, California)
Wiyanto had an outstanding 2017, finishing the year with 13 appearances on the top-ten lists. She was the top 9-year-old in IMX rankings for the 2016-17 short course season, and she leads the field for 10-year-olds so far in the 2017-18 SCY season. She finished the 2017 LCM season with the #2 IMX score for 10-year-olds.
As one might expect from her top IMX performances, Wiyanto was one of the fastest swimmers in every event. She led the nation in the 100m fly, was second in the 100y fly, and finished third in the 50y fly, 100y IM and 200m IM. She was also fourth in the 100y breast and 100m breast, 5th in the 50/100m back and 200y IM, and 7th in the 100/200m free and 50y breast.
Jada Duncan – Rocklin Mavericks (Rocklin, California)
Duncan was consistently one of the top 10-year-olds in the country this year, gracing the top-ten lists a total of 13 times. In IMX scores, she ranked 17th for 9-year-olds in the 2016-17 SCY season and 18th for 10-year-olds in the 2017 LCM season; she is the #2 10-year-old so far in the 2017-18 SCY season.
Duncan finished the year with the #1 time in the 50m fly and the #2 time in both the 50y free and 50y fly. She was 4th in the 100y fly and 100m fly, 5th in the 100m free, 6th in the 100y free, 7th in the 100y IM, 8th in the 50m free, 200/500y free, and 100y back, and 9th in the 200y IM.
Honorable Mention
In alphabetical order:
- Amelia Chen – NOVA of Virginia (VA): Chen was 10 through the first 8 months of 2017, and garnered 11 top-10 performances, mainly in free and back. She finished the year with the #2 swims in the 100m free and 100m back, #5 in 200/400m free and 100y IM, #6 in 50m free, 200y free, 100y back, and 200m IM, #7 in the 100y free, and #9 in the 50y back. Chen was ranked 4th in the 2017 IMX long course season and 7th in the 2016-17 short course season.
- Kyra Cui – Quicksilver Swimming (CA): Cui was the age group’s top breaststroker and one of its strongest IMers, notching the fastest swims in the 50/100y breast and 100y IM, and the second-fastest 50/100m breast and 200y IM. She also had top-ten swims in the 200m IM, 50y fly, and 100y back. Cui finished LCM season with the #13 IMX score. She was 32nd in the 2016-17 SCY season.
- Emma Redman – The Fish (VA): Redman spent only the first half of the year in the 10-and-under age category, but it was enough to earn the #3 spot on the SCY IMX rankings for the 2016-17 season and the #11 spot for the LCM season. She wrapped up 2017 with the second-fastest 100y IM time, the third 100y breast, and the fourth 500y free, 50/100y back and 50y breast. Redman also finished in the top-10 in the 200y IM, 50m breast, and 50y free.
10 & Under Boys
Kaii Winkler – Miami Swimming, Miami, Florida
Winkler, while 10 for only the first three months of the year, was a major National Age Group record-breaker in the 10-and-under age group during 2017. He first took down the 200 yard freestyle record in February, going 1:57.75 and taking a 0.19 chunk out of the 1:57.94 mark that had belonged to Mitch Stoehr since 2003. A couple of weeks later at the FGC Area 3 Developmental Championships in Pembroke Pines, Winkler etched his name on the 500 free record with 5:08.77, improving on Ivan Puskovitch’s 2012 NAG of 5:14.14. Two weeks later at FG Junior Olympics he lowered his 200 free record to 1:56.41 and dropped a 59.37 in the 100 fly, improving his own personal best by nearly 2 seconds.
Short Course NAGs:
200y free – 1:57.75 – 2/17/2017
200y free – 1:56.41 – 3/17/2017
500y free – 5:08.77 – 3/3/2017
100y fly – 59.37 – 3/16/2017
Winkler aged out of the 10-and-unders on March 27th with the #1 times in the 200/500y free, and 100y fly, the #2 50y fly and 200y IM, #3 100y free, and #6 50y free. He also had the top-ranked IMX score for the 2016-17 short course season.
Runners-Up:
Trevan Valena – Texas Ford Aquatics (Frisco, Texas)
Valena broke the oldest National Age Group record on the boys’ side of the record books in December. Swimming at the TXLA Jingle Bell Splash in Austin, he took a big half-second bite out of Chas Morton’s 1982 mark of 2:12.29 in the 200 IM, going 2:11.79 to win both the 10-and-unders and the 11-12s at the meet.
Short Course NAGs:
200y IM – 2:11.79 – 12/20/2017
Valena ruled long course season this summer, turning in the #1 IMX score for 10-year-old boys, and notching the nation’s top times in the 100/200m free. He had 14 top-ten swims in all, including #2 in the 100/200/500y free, 400m free, 100/200y IM, and 200m IM; #3 in the 100m back and 100y fly, #4 in the 100y back, #5 in the 50m back, and #7 in the 50y fly.
Richard Poplawski – Seahawks Swim Team (Clifton, New Jersey)
Poplawski was only 10 for 1/3 of the year but he remained unsurpassed in six events through to the end: 50/100y breast, 50/100m back, 50m fly, and 200m IM. All in all, he made the top-ten list 17 times in 2017. He was second-fastest in the 50/100y back and 100m fly, third in the 50y free and 100/200y IM, fourth in the 50m breast, fifth in the 50m free, 100m breast, and 50y fly, and sixth in the 100y fly.
Poplawski set 7 New Jersey state records between two meets in March 2017. At “The Other Meet” held at Rutgers, he set new marks in the 100 back, 100 breast, and 100 fly; at NJ State JOs he downed the 100 back, 50/100 fly, and 100 IM records.
Honorable Mention
- Thomas Heilman – Piedmont Family YMCA/CYAC (VA): Heilman proved to be one of the top free/flyers in the age group. He closed out 2017 as #1 in the 50/100y free, #2 in the 50m free and 100y fly, #3 in the 100m free and 50y fly, #4 in the 200y free and 100m fly, #5 in the 200y IM, #7 in the 50y back, and #9 in the 200m free and 50m fly. He is currently ranked #2 in IMX scores for the 2017-18 SCY season and was 9th this summer in LCM season.
I guess my personal opinion is that balance in all things should be applied. Sure 10 and unders know who is fast. Some even know national records and rankings (usually pointed out by parents as they monitor internet access). Most clubs have age progressions for groups, work load and meet participation determined by developmental and social factors. But I have personally observed parents shopping meets so that their swimmer can have another chance to break a record, often traveling quite a distance by car and even plane, only to be devastated when it doesn’t happen. When a club disagrees with the intent or refuses to add volume/doubles or whatever, parents hop to another team. How many team changes is healthy… Read more »
I agree with the posters questioning if this award is necessary. Swimswam can be very accessible, reporting on high school commitments to mid-majors, results of Division-III meets and allowing many readers to contribute. Those aspects are fantastic. However, Swimswam also covers extensively and thoroughly the fastest collegiate and professional swimmers in the world, and is red by a worldwide audience of tens of thousands.
In that light, I personally don’t think it’s exactly the best idea to expose 10-year olds to the same spotlight as professional swimmers. Remember that one of the next Swammy Awards, the same award given to children, was given to 5-time world champion Adam Peaty.
Those are big shoes to fill, and I can… Read more »
Two response:
1) Should 10 year olds be trawling the internet on their own? Probably not.
2) Coaches of 10 year olds in these comment sections and on social media seem to think it’s perfectly appropriate for them to receive tons of recognitions themselves for the accomplishments of their athletes. Why should the coaches receive recognition, but not the athletes?
And also, what level then do you think is appropriate for recognition? I imagine then that we should get rid of state competitions for young swimmers, because if you live in a big state like California or Texas, that’s a pretty wide-ranging area. Are city competitions ok? Are meets acceptable at all? What about the swimmer who gets last at their summer league meet? How will they cope?
Always the same conversation each year…. 😆
It’s just a recognition from swimswam. I don’t see what is dangerous here.
These awards are for fun. The kids, the parents and the coaches must be happy. I don’t see what is so serious to launch such a debate. Maybe these kids will be champions, maybe not. But I don’t see why giving them an award to honor their great year is a threat to the rest of their careers. Swimming must remain a game at this age. In my opinion it should be all about technique and at the same time all about fun. If parents and coaches are smart there’s no problem here.
Congrats to Erika Pelaez… Read more »
Bobo, it should be all fun and games at this age for the swimmer. Unfortunately, swimming takes on a more serious tone from the parents’ side when the swimmer is on his / her 4th team in three years. There are only so many teams in the south florida area that a swimmer can switch to before a team will refuse to take a swimmer.
What’s team hopping got to do with AG awards? Am I missing something? Balance is the key for AGers. I bet the discussion would be completely reversed if we over-award young athletes (such as everyone gets a medal, even just for showing up).
So many comments about “Reasearch” are all hersey. This 10 and under conversation been going on since the sixties. Finally a minority thru a know everything committee got the elimination of publishing results of rankings.
What influences a10 yr old till 17 or 18 yrs old is 2500 days of life and all the things that effect them
Every day. The 1000’s. Of things that happen The effect their physical growth has is huge.
But instead so many say that publishing numbers are the reason for what happens 7 or 8 years later.
Most can’t remember their times back then.
Denying the 10 yr olds the recognition is fabricated nonsense.
The thing is that way too many kids get the awards because they are older and more developed (by genes) than their opponents. And vice versa.
Count me as a borderline “WTF” (What the Fudge; this a “G” rated site.) on this one!
I think it’s a mistake to emphasize times and absolute performances in children this young. It’s been my experience that, with a few notable exceptions, age group excellence – especially at 10&under – is all about who grows first.
Neither of those kids is taller or more developed than many of the kids they swam against as 10 & unders. Erika is the same height as or smaller than her competition.
Sorry for the poor grammar in the first sentence. The first sentence should be: neither / nor, not neither / or. Ugh.
Count me skeptical still. For every Alex Bauman, (At one time, he had almost every Canadian age group record – across almost every stroke & every distance – from 10&Under to 15-17.) I’ve seen, there’s been a whole lot more that burned out from overwrought expectations and the like.
This is a bad idea to do Nationally for a 10 and under swimmer, not only for their development but for parents that read SwimSwam. This age group should not be thinking of this at this age, even if they are ahead of the game. Young kids should not be serious about one sport at a young age.
Then why are NAGs counted for 10 and unders?
We need to abolish that too.
Thank you SWIM SWAM for the 10 & Under Honorees SWAMMY Awards recognition.
The 10 & Under honorees recognition is an excellent stimulant to our young swimming generation. Recognizing hard work, commitment, sacrifice and dedication, send a strong and positive signal to our future generation that hard work pays off.
Thank you Mrs. Lepesant for your research and effort to recognize a young group of athletes.
Abolish SOTY award for 10&Unders!