2021 Shark Open
- June 17-20, 2021
- Sarasota, Florida
- Long Course Meters
- Results on Meet Mobile “2021 Shark Open”
While Emma Weyant was qualifying for the 2021 Olympic Games in the 400 IM, her teammates back in Sarasota, Florida were putting up strong performances at the 2021 Shark Open, which saw several competitors climb the all-time rankings.
13-year-old Baylor Stanton dominated the competition, winning 7 out of the 8 events he entered, setting best times every time he entered the water.
Stanton began the weekend by winning the 13-14 800 freestyle with a time of 8:49.43, knocking 7 seconds off of his best time in the process. Throughout the race, Stanton was incredibly consistent with his splits, holding 1:06-1:07 for a majority of the event.
Stanton backed up his 800 freestyle victory by claiming titles in the 50, 100, and 200 freestyle distances as well. In the 50 freestyle, Stanton touched in a time of 25.69 to cut over .2 off of his best time. Meanwhile, in the 100 freestyle, Stanton sliced over a second off of his best time to finish in 54.64, breaking 56 seconds for the first time. Stanton followed the same trend in his 200 freestyle, breaking the 2:00 barrier for the first time to post a final time of 1:59.59, cutting over 4 seconds off of his personal best.
Over the course of the meet, Stanton also won the 400 IM (4:49.21), 200 IM (2:12.64), and 100 backstroke (1:01.50), dropping time in all three events. In prelims, Stanton also claimed the top seed in the 200 backstroke with a best time of 2:14.68, before scratching out of the final.
Like Stanton, 14-year-old Lilly Nesty also swept her events, cutting time in 5 out of her 6 races. Nesty started the weekend by winning the girls 13-14 200 IM in a time of 2:27.46. With her performance, Nesty sliced 7 seconds off of her best time. Later, Nesty won the 13-14 200 freestyle by over 5 seconds, touching in 2:08.67, dropping 6 seconds in the process.
Nesty also won the 100 freestyle (58.76), 100 backstroke (1:07.45), 100 butterfly (1:04.34), and 50 freestyle (27.38), cutting time in every event but the 50 freestyle. In the 50 freestyle, Nesty only missed her best time by .1 though.
Other Highlights:
- 17-year-old Katie Forrester swam to a personal best of 2:15.56 in the 200 butterfly, winning the event and dropping over a second off of her previous best.
- 11-year-old Ayelet Nishikawa-Geitheim dominated the field in the girl’s 11-12 800 freestyle, winning by almost 30 seconds. Nishikawa-Geitheim’s time of 9:46.81 dropped over a minute off of her entry time, moving her up to #100 all-time in 11-12 age group history.
- 18-year-old Ben Cote cut 11 seconds off of his best time to win the men’s 800 freestyle in a time of 8:10.42.
He’s zooming!