The 9-10 girls from the Rockville-Montgomery Swim Club have broken a pair of 10 & under National Age Group Records swimming at the National Age Group Team Challenge Meet at the Germantown Indoor Swim Center.
Racing in a Saturday afternoon relay session, the team of Nina Allen, Joyce Wu, Elena Harrison, and Amy Lamb combined for a 2:02.44 in the 200 yard medley relay, which beat the old record of 2:02.70 done by the Westchester Aquatic Club in 2014.
| Back | Breast | Fly | Free | Total Time | |
| RMSC (New Record) | Allen – 31.26 | Wu – 33.09 | Harrison – 31.23 | Lamb – 26.86 | 2:02.40 |
| Westchester (Old Record) | Jiang – 29.48 | Lee – 36.01 | Chen – 30.80 | Collmar – 26.41 | 2:02.70 |
The comparative splits show that it’s Wu’s breaststroke split of 33.09 that really put the Rockville swimmers ahead of record-setting pace.
Later in that session, the squad swapped in Sydney Allen for Elena Harrison in a different order swam a 1:49.59, which broke a 1:49.87 done in 2010 by the First Colony Swim Team.
The RMSC splits:
- Wu – 28.18
- Sydney Allen – 28.47
- Nina Allen – 26.07
- Amy Lamb – 26.87
The 5 participating swimmers come specifically from RMSC’s MLK Jr. Swim Center in Silver Spring, Maryland (head coached by Brian Cheng); the Rockville Swim & Fitness Center in Rockville, Maryland head coached by Dave Greene; and the Kennedy Shriver Aquatic Center in Bethesda, Maryland with Kent Williams as the advanced juniors coach.
The team has a little ace-in-the-hole to build the depth needed to break National Age Group Records in relays. Sydney and Nina Allen are twin sisters
“It was a rewarding day for these girls as teammates, but more importantly as friends,” Cheng said. “These girls have developed unbreakable bonds over the years doing amazing things together. Today’s record breaking performances was just additional icing on the cake.”
“(We are) so proud of these girls and equally excited to see what the future holds for them.”
I think we are all overlooking the fact that the girl in the middle swam in a record-setting relay fully clothed. Imagine if her parents could afford a swim suit for her. That’s some future Olympic material right there.
Are you trying to be funny…?
Congrats to these girls! I don’t want to take any pride away from them, but why is a 10/u wearing a kneeskin? It’s absurd that you see more and more very young kids wearing suits. It teaches them that they need a tech suit to swim fast and un-levels the playing field (many parents are not going to buy their 10 year old a $400 suit). USA Swimming needs to put some age limits on tech suits.
I don’t think a fast suit unlevels the playing field at this level. And that ban would be silly
Dear WHY,
Wow…you start with a comment about not wanting to detract from the girls then launch into just that. That being said, I am the mom of the swimmer in the kneeskin. It is not a $400 suit; it was $170. Still a hefty amount to pay for a swimsuit but not much more than the fastskin that is pretty typical at these meets. Since you inquired, she earned that suit as a reward for making it to Zones this summer, a goal she set for herself and then worked hard to achieve both in and out of the pool; she used some of her own money that she earned over the year to put towards the suit. Certainly… Read more »
I didn’t mean for my comment to be a dig at any individual kid, and sorry it came across that way. I’m just disappointed in what the suit culture has become as a whole. So many young kids feel the pressure to wear a suit, which I feel shouldn’t be the case. I understand why kids and parents want to be wearing a suit– because everyone else is doing it. I just miss when tech suits weren’t expected
FINA and USA Swimming have very clear rules for swimmers at all ages and levels. If a swim suit is legal then the discussion is over. Instituting age limits on equipment would be counter-productive. These children performed an amazing feat and to even imply that their suits played any role in that accomplishment is insulting.