CA SAND John Sullivan Firecracker Invitational
- June 26-28, 2026
- Pavilion Center Pool, Las Vegas, NV
- LCM (50 meters)
- “2026 SAND John Sullivan Firecracker Inv” on Meet Mobile
Several top talents gathered in Las Vegas for the John Sullivan Firecracker Invitational; among those in attendance was Michigan standout and Olympic medalist Bella Sims, who turned in some of the meet’s top performances.
Sims raced in just three events, two freestyle events and an irregular breaststroke swim. Sims clocked a 100 free time of 56.69, significantly off her best of 53.73 from 2023. She also raced the 1500 free, touching in 16:36.19. Just over 20 seconds off of the best time of her career of 16:15.87, which came in April of 2022.
In addition to her two freestyle swims, Sims swam a pair of career-best breaststroke times. She touched in 1:15.88 in the 100 breast, marking a career-best time. Within that 100, she also notched a best time in the 50 breast in 34.68.
Another top performer in Las Vegas was Boulder City Henderson Heatwave’s Major Monroe, 13, who, on the boys’ side of the meet, secured several lifetime bests and a pair of wins. Monroe outpaced the field in the 50 fly (28.35) and the 100 fly (1:03.99), both of which were his fastest times ever. He also swam his best times in the 200 fly (2:26.53) and the 200 IM (2:23.49).
Sims’ fellow Sandpipers teammate Joshua Brown also had a solid outing, notching a best time in the 100 fly (58.31), and adding strong performances in the 400 free (4:01.13), 1500 free (15:43.11), and 400 IM (4:36.67).
Another Sandpiper, Allen Gyang, who is a Michigan commit for the class of 2027, added five wins to his meet total, along with three best times. Gyang notched wins in the 50 free (23.68), 50 back (27.81), 100 back (59.81), 50 fly (25.19), and 200 IM (2:12.93).
Overtrained
I know we’ve beaten the horse past the point of reincarnation, but surely there’s something a little wrong with high yardage clubs squeezing all that they can out of a swimmer, then said swimmer only progressing by switching up event selection, and returning home when the well runs dry only to find that the high yardage is no longer a silver bullet.
Feels almost irresponsible to manage Bella’s incredible talent this way, when such a result was predictable
i think you need to wait for her taper meet to freak out, Sandpiper girls were always worryingly slow in season
Didn’t Grimes go 4:32 in the 400 IM at the Mission Viejo meet leading into the Olympics, slower than she did at the Olympics? That was in April 2024 before trials. I mention this only since when Grimes actually tapered, she went slower at both trials and Olympic games.
we’ve been waiting for years
I don’t know if high yardage is the issue, I think training kids like professionals is the issue. Like Weinstein saying going to Cal freshman year was the first time in a while she’s been to in-person classes. Ilya’s been improving as a sprinter but the stimulus is completely different there. Versus the other schools just getting outclassed because no one is beating a group of homeschooled kids training for far more than 20 hours I bet
Sims might be seriously cooked
Why was my first reaction/thought when I saw the picture was that Bella was transferring colleges again.
the University of Ron Aitken