2023 Fran Crippen SMOC: Weinstein Moves to #8 All-Time in 15-16 Girls 1500 FR (16:09.85)

2023 CA FRAN CRIPPEN SWIM MEET OF CHAMPIONS

• April 13-16, 2023
• Marguerite Aquatic Center, Mission Viejo, CA
• Hosted by Mission Viejo Nadadores
• LCM (50 meters)
• Psych Sheet

The 2023 Fran Crippen Swim Meet of Champions (SMOC) kicked off tonight at the Marguerite Aquatic Center in Mission Viejo, California. This year’s meet features a ton of the top swimmers and teams from the Western United States. The first night of the meet was a short one, including only the 1500 free in terms of individual events. The 200 medley relay and 200 free relay were also swum tonight.

The Sandpipers of Nevada are out in full force in Mission Viejo this week, and, boy, did they make their presence known in the 1500 freestyles tonight. Sandpipers, which has long been considered one of the premier distance teams in the country, dominated the event. They went 1-2-3-4-5 in the women’s 1500 and 1-2-3-4 in the men’s 1500.

17-year-old Katie Grimes, who won silver in the women’s 1500 free at the World Championships last summer in Budapest, led the way tonight, swimming a 16:04.92. The swim was actually quite a ways off her season best of 15:56.27, which she swam at the Pro Swim Series in Fort Lauderdale last month. Grimes has a career best of 15:44.89, which she swam for silver in the event last summer at the World Championships.

16-year-old teammate Claire Weinstein came in second tonight, roaring to a new lifetime best of 16:09.85. Weinstein blew away her previous personal best of 16:22.78, which she swam at the International Team Trials last April. She swam a well-split race tonight, going 5:22.21 on the first 500m, then splitting 5:22.75 on the second 500, and coming home in 5:24.89 on the final 500.

Not only did Weinstein break 16:20 and 16:10 for the first time in her career, she’s also now broken into the all-time top ten rankings for 15-16 girls in the event. Her swim tonight lands her eighth all-time in the age group, joining fellow Sandpipers Grimes (#2) and Erica Sullivan (#5), who is now a member of the University of Texas’ swim team. Here is a look at the new all-time top ten in the girls 15-16 LCM 1500 free:

After swimming a lifetime best of 16:57.69 at the Pro Swim Series in Fort Lauderdale last month, Sandpipers 18-year-old Macky Hodges came in third tonight with another huge personal best of 16:42.00. Hodges, who has typically been a bit more of a sprint-oriented freestyler, hadn’t swum the LCM 1500 free prior to her joining the Sandpipers at the beginning of this season. Notably, Hodges split 8:51.74 on her first 800m in the race tonight, which comes in under her personal best in the 800, which sits at 8:55.78.

Another Sandpipers 16-year-old, Applejean Gwinn, clocked an enormous personal best tonight, finishing fourth in 17:12.54. Gwinn came into the meet with a personal best of 18:08.85, which she swam last July at the 2022 CA John Sullivan Firecracker Invite. Like Hodges, Gwinn was also under her personal best in the 800 tonight, splitting 9:14.20, which comes in nearly 30 seconds under her personal best of 9:43.01 in the 800.

Rounding out the Sandpipers’ performances tonight in the women’s 1500 free is 16-year-old Sianna Savarda, who touched fifth with a 17:13.06. Her swim also marked a massive improvement over her personal best of 17:48.78, which she swam last summer as well. Once again, Savarda was under her personal best in the 800 tonight as well, splitting 9:14.11, which comes in six seconds under her PB of 9:20.82.

In the men’s 1500 free, Sandpipers 16-year-old Luke Ellis had a huge swim, winning the event with a new personal best of 15:29.67. Ellis had clocked his previous best of 15:40.50 at the Pro Swim Series in Knoxville in January. With his swim tonight, Ellis took another ten, almost 11, seconds off that mark. Notably, Ellis also picked up the Olympic Trials cut in the event, which sits at 15:39.89.

17-year-old teammate Dillon Wright came in second tonight with a 15:37.92, also picking up the Trials cut in the event. Wright demolished his previous best with his swim tonight, taking 31.02 seconds off his previous top mark of 16:08.94, which he swam earlier this year. Wright was actually leading Ellis for much of the race, but Ellis really took the race over in the final 500m.

Sandpipers 15-year-old Gabriel Manteufel came in third tonight, touching in 15:50.91. Manteufel took nearly 20 seconds off his previous best of 16:10.25 with the performance.

Finishing right behind Manteufel was Riley Clinton (17), who came in fourth with a 15:51.99. The performance marks Clinton’s first time under 16:00 in the event, beating his previous best by 11.35 seconds.

RELAY WINNERS

• Women’s 200 medley relay: San Jose State University (Megan Legarth, Cali Rowland, Ela Freiman, Lais e Sliva) – 2:01.80
• Men’s 200 medley relay: Mission Viejo Nadadores (Kevin Gillooly, Trenton Julian, Jarod Hatch, Jerome Heidrich) – 1:40.99
• Women’s 200 free relay: San Jose State University (Reagan Mathieson, Lais e Silva, Amelia Snyder, Emma Myburgh) – 1:51.11
• Men’s 200 free relay: Mission Viejo Nadadores (Kyle Verstandig, Kevin Gillooly, Jerome Heidrich, Trenton Julian) – 1:32.80