Walshes, Fosters Highlight 2018 Winter Jr Champs – East Psych Sheets

2018 WINTER JUNIOR CHAMPS – EAST

• December 5-8, 2018
• Greensboro, NC
• Live results

The Winter Junior Championships – East will run this week from Wednesday to Saturday in Greensboro, NC, highlighting some of the top junior talent in the country.

PSYCH SHEETS

Regular stars at juniors meets, and potential senior international roster swimmers in the near future, are Alex and Gretchen Walsh of the Nashville Aquatic Club as well as Jake and Carson Foster of the Mason Manta Rays. The set of siblings have many a junior champ title to their names, and will look to add more and put NAG records on notice this weekend.

Gretchen will swim the 50/100/200 free, the 100 back, and the 100 fly, as she holds top seeds in the 50 and 100 free. Alex, meanwhile, is entered in a whopping nine events: 50/100/200 free, 100/200 back, 100/200 breast, and the 200/400 IM. She’s the top seed in both breaststrokes, backstrokes, and the 200 IM. Her 400 IM best is a 4:16.15, but expect a big swim in that event in terms of PR improvement as she doesn’t race that event as often as her other events.

Carson is the top seed in all five of his individual events: the IMs, the backstrokes, and the 200 fly. Jake is seeded 2nd behind his brother in the IMs and the 200 fly, while he’s the top seed in both breaststrokes.

There are far too many stellar juniors to name who are entered to race this weekend, but some big names on the boys’ side include SwimAtlanta’s Jake Magahey, Sarasota Y’s Arik Katz, and Allegheny North’s Jack Wright, while TAC Titans Charlotte Hook and Claire Curzan (both just 14), Cardinal Aquatics’ Gabi Albiero, Dynamo’s Tristen Ulett, and Laker’s Isabel Ivey are more headliners on the girls’ side. Notably, this is one of (if not the) last big meet for Ivey before she ships out to Berkeley, as she’s joining up as a freshman at Cal mid-year in January.

Last year, the SwimMAC girls won the team title with NAC close behind, while the Mason Manta Rays boys took the boys title with SwimMAC taking runner-up.