2026 Walnut Speedo Sectionals
- July 16-19, 2026
- Walnut — CA
- LCM (50 Meters)
- Live Results Available on Meet Mobile: “2026 CA/NV Summer Speedo Sectionals @ BREA -“
The Speedo Sectionals meet in Walnut, California opened up Thursday, and there were a number of notable athletes and fast swims during the first session.
One of the top swims of the day came from San Ramon Valley 16-year-old Mikayla Tan, who won the women’s 200 breaststroke in 2:28.94. This swim was more than six seconds ahead of the 2nd place finisher Ellie Fukami‘s 2:35.19, but was a slight add from her season and lifetime best of 2:26.35, which she set at the Pro Swim Series stop in Sacramento.
Also on the women’s side, Rancho San Dieguito’s Aya Ferguson won the 100 freestyle in 56.52, a full second drop from her previous best of 57.67, which she set in July of 2024. She came in about two tenths ahead of Charlotte Milkie‘s 56.73 in 2nd for Circle City Aquatics.
Ferguson is committed to Northwestern for 2026 and Milkie is headed to USC for the class of ’27.
Riverside Aquatics Club’s Ava Otteson dropped a second in her 200 fly, stopping the clock in 2:16.32, a full second ahead of 2nd place finisher Alexia Duncan‘s 2:17.23.
Otteson also took a second off her lifetime best of 2:17.34, which she set in May. She came into the season at 2:19.17 from July of 2024.
On the men’s side, the University of Denver’s Ian O’Neil set a monster personal best time to win the men’s 200 fly. He stopped the clock in 2:01.90, taking more than two seconds off his previous best of 2:04.28, which he set in July of 2023.
Just behind O’Neil was his twin brother Max O’Neil, who swam a personal best 2:02.65. This was almost two seconds faster than his previous best of 2:04.53 from July of 2025.
Both brothers just wrapped up their sophomore year at the University of Denver.
Stanford athletes earned two individual event wins on night 1. Daniel Li won the men’s 200 breaststroke in 2:13.60, a one hundredth add from his lifetime best of 2:13.59, which he set in June of 2025.
Finn Harland won the 50 backstroke in 25.04, a three tenth add from his best of 24.76, which he set in August 2025. He finished more than a second ahead of 2nd place Hayden Kwan, also from Stanford, who stopped the clock in 26.65.
Ayden Tan, who made numerous headlines last summer after breaking a host of National Age Group Records before turning 13, set two new personal best times and continued to work his way up the all-time 13-14 rankings.
In the 100 free, Tan finished 44th, stopping the clock in 53.90. This was a full second drop from his previous best 54.91 from last July. In the 50 backstroke, he finished 10th in 27.54, a second drop from the 28.86 he set in August.
Other Event Winners
- Women’s 1500 free: Cassie Espinoza (RMDA) — 17:17.32
- Men’s 800 free: Charlie Clark (TSM) — 8:04.87
- Men’s 100 free: Nate Rasmussen (TIGR) — 50.08
- Women’s 50 back: Lindsay Barnes (TROJ) — 29.54
