MP Weekly Wonders of Age Group Swimming – 11/22/2017

Here are the Weekly Wonders for the weekend of November 17-19, 2017:

Jarrett Payne, 11, Springfield Family YMCA: 100y free (52.63) – Payne went 9-for-9 in his races at the Mark J. Braun Fall Classic hosted by Lake Erie Silver Dolphins, winning the 50/100/500 free, 50/100 back, 50/100 fly, and 100/200 IM. He earned the High Point award with the maximum number of points possible. He also dropped a ton of time throughout the weekend, and vaulted to the top of the season rankings for 11-year-olds in all but the 500 free.

Isabelle Stadden, 15, FASTjets: 100y back (52.78) – Stadden sliced a full second off her best time in the 100 back, swimming unattached for Blaine High School at the Minnesota Girls’ Class AA Championships. Only a sophomore, she won both the 100 back and 200 IM, and set the AA state record in the latter. Stadden is now 2 seconds faster than she was a year ago in the 100 back.

Casey Chung, 15, Club Wolverine: 100y back (53.92) – Chung pulled off a stunning upset to win the 100 back at the Michigan Division I Girls’ Championship. Swimming unattached for Ann Arbor Skyline, she took 1.7 seconds off her best time, breaking 55 seconds for the first time and earning her first U.S. Open cut, and beat the defending champion by a half-second. Chung also swam her fastest 50 free (23.59) and came in sixth.

Charles Korndorffer, 17, Nu Wave Swim Club: 100y back (49.72) – Swimming unattached for Jesuit High School of New Orleans at the Louisiana Division 1 State Meet, Korndorffer won all four of his events to help Jesuit capture the state title. He dropped 1.1 seconds to dip under 50 seconds for the first time and claim victory in the 100 back, and he took 4/10 off his 100 fly time en route to victory in that event. Korndorffer also split 21.88 on the fly leg of the first-place 200 medley relay and 46.87 to anchor the winning 400 free relay.

Colin Mackellar, 16, Panther Aquatic Club: 200y back (1:51.44) – Mackellar, who has had a terrific fall season so far, went best times in four of his five events (100/200 back, 100 breast, and 200 IM) at the Centennial Center Invite hosted by Charter Oak Aquatic Club. He won all those events plus the 100 fly. His 200 back time was a personal best by 4.3 seconds, and 7.5 seconds faster than in the spring of 2016.

Laura Goettler, 15, Lake Erie Silver Dolphins: 100y breast (1:02.41) – Swimming at the Mark J. Braun Fall Classic, Goettler came in third in the women’s open 100 breast, dropping 1.3 seconds from her previous PB to pick up her first Summer Juniors cut in the event. She was 2.7 seconds faster than she’d been at the same meet last year. Goettler also notched a new PB in the 100 fly (59.24).

Taylor Steele, 17, Coastal Aquatic Club: 100y breast (1:03.18) – Steele took 6/10 off a month-old personal best to win the 100 breast at the Thanksgiving Invite hosted Palmetto Aquatics at the University of South Carolina. She is now 4.5 seconds ahead of where she was last year in the 100 breast. Steele also won the 200 breast and 200 IM, and finished the weekend with new PBs in the 50 free, 100 free, 100 breast, 200 breast, and 100 fly.

Cameron Luarde, 14, SWAC Swim Team: 200y breast (2:08.93) – Luarde improved his seed time by 3.4 seconds and won the boys’ 200 breast at SWAC Fall in the Pool Invite. He also won the 100 breast, 100/200 fly, and 400 IM, and was runner-up in the 50/500 free. He earned new PBs in the 50/100 free, 100/200 breast, and 100/200 fly, and his 200 breast time was 7.7 seconds ahead of his pace from the same meet last year.

Jordan Aurnou-Rhees, 15, Ohio State Swim Club: 200y IM (2:01.96) – Aurnou-Rhees won gold in the women’s 200 IM at the Tim Myers Memorial Senior Championship Meet hosted by Miami University Aquatic Club. It was her best time by 3.6 seconds, and 4.8 seconds ahead of her performance at the same meet a year ago. With that swim, Aurnou-Rhees has the nation’s top time for 15-year-olds in that event. She also improved her PBs in the 50/100/200 free, 50 breast, and 100/200 fly.

Reminder: The Weekly Wonders column is a celebration of age-group swimming, where new champions are made every day. Anyone can look up the top swims of the week. That’s not what we’re doing here. If we were only reporting on the week’s top swims we would feature the same handful of athletes every Wednesday. Instead, this is an opportunity to introduce the swimming community to athletes who have made great strides in the context of their own particular swimming worlds. By association, it also celebrates their coaches and their teams. The Weekly Wonders column, therefore, amounts to a pat on the back for a job well done, and hopefully encourages swimmers of all levels to continue to reach from within to get to that next level.

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