JSC Fall Invite
- November 11-13, 2022
- Martin Pear Aquatics Center, Scottsdale, Arizona
- Short Course Yards (25 yards), timed finals
- Full Meet Results (PDF)
Many of Arizona’s top junior swimmers are coming off the Arizona High School State Championship meet a week ago, but it’s a swimmer who is not yet in high school who turned heads this week.
13-year old Delaney Barbee of the Arizona Dolphins split 21.59 on a 200 medley relay anchor. That relay, which also featured 13-year olds Katelynn Kastanes (32.09), Natalia Salazar (36.40), and Samantha Fausto (30.82) finished in 3rd place behind two relays made up mostly of swimmers 16-years-old-and-older.
Barbee’s flat-start best time in the event is a 23.75, done in January of this year, but her coach Paul Root says the split is legitimate – he clocked 21.4 on his watch.
“She hasn’t swum the 50 yet this season,” Root told SwimSwam on Sunday. “She’s been focused on goals in other races.
“We made a deal after long course season that she had to reach some other goals before swimming the 50, most of which she’s accomplished. Today, she wanted to swim the relay with her friends, so I said if she split 22.5 we would add the 50 free for the next meet.”
Barbee beat that by a full second, meaning we should see that flat-start best time come down in the near future.
Barbee’s 23.75 ranked 10th among 13-year olds on flat starts last season. This year, Bluefish’s Jacqueline Zipagan leads all 13-year-olds in the event with a best of 24.00.
Barbee’s other results from the meet:
- 25 fly – 13.18
- 25 back – 14.47
- 25 breast – 15.15
- 25 free – 11.05
- 50 back – 28.39
- 100 free – 51.87
- 100 back – 1:01.64
- 100 IM – 1:01.97
- 200 breast – 2:50.20
- 200 IM – 2:15.05
Note: there is a 27.83 split on a 200 free relay credited to Barbee, but she didn’t actually swim that race.
The 21.59 relay split came in her last event of the three day meet.
Barbee turns 14 at the end of December, and the team has a big mid-season Candy Cane Classic before then. She set the 11-12 state record in the 50 free at that meet last year.
Does this kid give lessons?! I could use some tips!
Yess Delaney
Did she negative split the 50 back 28.39 as her 25 back was 14.47?
She’s a great little (or big) age group swimmer with plenty of talent. Its a stop watch time with a relay start. Just appreciate it was fast and say wow. That’s always fun to watch. I’m sure her official PRs will all keep dropping. Discussing this back and forth isn’t fair to this young athlete.
Thank you Fred. -Dad
No offense but its wise to keep things like practice times/ relay starts/hand times unsuited swims etc on the down low and even her weight lifting. Its really not fair or wise to expose the young swimmer to this kind of scrutiny even if you have good intentions. People will jump to conclusion and judge it just normal on the internet. Look forward to seeing her progression. Also don’t let your swimmer read the comments its brutal sometimes.
Event #23 tells the whole story.
She wasn’t in Saturdays relay. The assistant coach pulled her because he thought she wasn’t allowed to swim the 50 free. That was another swimmer. Look at her 100 splits.
As reported above, she wasn’t actually in that relay.
If you can be cynical about a flat-start 23.75 going 21.5, you should be equally cynical about a flat-start 23.75 splitting a 27.
She was not in that race. The article explains that.
I have to say as a parent of another child on her team Delany is amazing! I dont think there are many people who work as hard in a day then this girl. I think it is awesome how she shows up to compete in all of her races no matter what she swims and is constantly trying to improve in all areas of her sport not just in the event that she excels in. This shows fierce determination to be the best she can. We have all watched her drop race after race and often comment man she just keeps dropping because that’s just what she does!! I know we were all excited to see her swim the 50… Read more »
Congrats Delaney! You are amazing to watch! We’re so lucky to have you on our team to look up to!
Braden with the Monday morning clickbait. I say the fly split is too slow so it’s not right.