5 In The West: Storylines, All Links for 2015 Speedo West Winter Jr Nationals

2015 Speedo Winter Junior Championships – West

  • University of Texas’s Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center -Austin, TX
  • Wednesday, December 9 – Saturday, December 11
  • (Bonus long course meter time trials on Sunday, December 12)
  • Prelims 9AM / Finals 5PM (Th-Sat), Wed. Timed Finals 6PM (U.S. Central Time)
  • Live Stream
  • Psych Sheets
  • Live Results

Our preview of the East Winter Junior National Championship meet is here.

Order of Events

Wednesday

  • 200 Medley Relay
  • 800 Free Relay

Thursday

  • 500 Free
  • 200 IM
  • 50 Free
  • 400 Medley Relay

Friday

  • 400 IM
  • 100 Fly
  • 200 Free
  • 100 Breast
  • 100 Back
  • 200 Free Relay

Saturday

  • 1650 Free
  • 200 Back
  • 100 Free
  • 200 Breast
  • 200 Fly
  • 400 Free Relay

5 Storylines To Watch In The West

  1. Ruck & Drabot in an international battle of versatility: Two outstanding young swimmers with international experience for two different nations appear primed for a “high point” battle in Austin. U.S. Short Course World Champs team member Katie Drabot (a Stanford commit) and Canadian Junior World Champ Taylor Ruck (who trains in Scottsdale, Arizona) are each entered in 7 events apiece. They’ll meet head-to-head in the 100, 200 and 500 frees and the 200 IM.
  2. Grieshop Careens Towards Multiple Wins: With Ruck and Drabot perhaps stealing titles from each other, Nitro’s Sean Grieshop might have an inside track at the meet’s most individual titles. Grieshop is the top seed in the 200 free, 500 free, 400 IM and 1650 free, and could have outside shots to win the 200 IM and 200 breast. The 15-16 NAG record-breaker also gets a shot at the 17-18 age group for the first time this year. PJ Ransford’s 1650 free record looks like an outside possibility, and while Grieshop may be a year away from approaching Micheal Phelps’ 500 free mark, he could certainly chomp away some of the 4.2 second-margin this week.
  3. Boys 100 Fly: Maybe the swim of the meet on the boys side pits three of the biggest names in attendance against one another. Age group record-smasher Michael Andrew is the top seed, but sprint sensation Ryan Hoffer and Cal commit (and #5 recruit nationally) Jack Xie have both been 46s as well.
  4. Girls 100 Fly: Not to be outdone, the girls of the 100 fly appear set to put on a show as well. The entire top 8 seeds coming into the meet have been sub-54 in their careers, and 1st through 8th are separated by just nine tenths of a second. Leading the way are a pair of seniors coming off in-state commitments: California state champ Maddie Murphy (a future Cal Bear) and Wisconsin star Megan Doty (a Badger commit). Sandwiched in between is junior Victoria Edwards of Longhorn Aquatics, who will be one of the better recruits in next year’s class.
  5. Boys 100 Back: Another Andrew-Hoffer showdown looms on day 3, this time in the 100 back. The two are tied for the top seed at 47.19 – but with both coming off of the 100 fly, the favorite might actually be KING’s Thomas Anderson, just .05 behind at 47.24. Anderson, a high school senior, is the nation’s 7th-ranked recruit and heading to Arizona next year.

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Johan
8 years ago

Watch out for Owen Kao from Irvine NOVA at this meet! He will surprise a lot of people. Only 15 years old, he is not tall and has a small built, but has an incredibly fast kick and turnover. He is now much faster in all the freestyle events than the previous age group phenom Hunter Hitchen, also from NOVA.

swim daddy
8 years ago

where do we find a link to see the webcasts? thanks

bobo gigi
8 years ago

And why not a little 13/14 100 back NAG record by 13-year-old Regan Smith?

bobo gigi
8 years ago

On the girls’ side, if Taylor Ruck is well rested, she will dominate that meet with very fast times.
But she will have a big rival in the 200 free with Katie Drabot.
Both have the potential to swim 1.43 right now.

On the boys’ side, the battle Andrew vs Hoffer looks explosive.
Sean Grieshop will win many events.

bobo gigi
8 years ago

I forgot “Duel in the pool”!
So next Friday, there will be 4 meets broadcasted at about the same time!
HELP! 😆

TA
Reply to  bobo gigi
8 years ago

4 screens? I have two at work was thinking about getting a 3rd one.

bobo gigi
Reply to  TA
8 years ago

Haha. I have only one.
But it’s possible even with one screen.
The hardest thing is the sound. 4 differents sounds at the same time…. 🙄

emg1986
Reply to  bobo gigi
8 years ago

This sucks! I have an interview for a PhD on Tuesday, so I am spending the next 5 days cramming as much information in my head as is possible, all the while missing the duel in the pool and junior nationals :'(

bobo gigi
8 years ago

At least both US junior meets are broadcasted live.
But that meet divided into 2 regions is really a fiasco for the simple fan. I understand it’s maybe better for some swimmers who have less travel but for the fans…. I liked watching that meet each year! 😥
The best US juniors don’t swim against each other. In theory it must be the goal of national championships.
And with the NCAP invitational, I will have 3 webcasts to watch at the same time! 😆
In the past years I used to watch 2 meets at the same time and it was tough. 3 …. ❓

About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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