Women’s Mile Comes Down to Final Touch at Ithaca Sectionals

2017 Speedo Sectionals – Ithaca

• March 30 – April 2, 2017
• Ithaca, NY
• Live results: Meet Mobile
• Course: SCY

Close races always elicit a lot of excitement at swim meets, and close races in longer events can be even more intense (ahem: the greatest mile in history). At the Ithaca Speedo Sectionals, the women’s mile came down to the touch. The players in this race were 14-year-old Emily Ecker of the Portland Porpoise Swim Club in Maine and 17-year-old Emma Whall of Seacoast Swimming Association.

Whall was out in 4:57.50, just ahead of Ecker’s 4:57.98. Ecker edged ahead at the 1000, 10:02.22 to Whall’s 10:02.66. At the 1500, Ecker had built a lead at 15:08.67 to Whall’s 15:09.70, and Ecker was just able to hold off Whall’s 27.81 final 50. Ecker finished in 16:38.03, just .06 ahead of Whall. 3rd place went to 17-year-old Emily Weissman of AGUA with a 17:01.26.

The intense race paid off for both women– Ecker dropped over a second, while Whall shaved over 15 seconds from her seed time.

For the men’s 1000, Andrew Babyak of Badger posted the top time. His 9:13.09 was a four second drop from his previous best, and it was enough for a win over Upper Valley’s Kristian Hansen (9:16.00). Finishing up in third was Kai Wisner (9:23.14), a 17-year-old from Victor Swim Club.