Weekly Wonders of Age Group Swimming – 6/9/2023

Our Weekly Wonders of Age Group Swimming series celebrates swimmers of every age and experience level with age group profiles of some recent results.

Note: All results are in long course meters in this edition.

Audrey Derivaux, 13, Jersey Wahoos (MA): After a phenomenal short course season, Derivaux picked up right where she left off in the 2023 long course campaign, following up a strong showing at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim in March with some exceptional swims in late May at the SCAR Memorial Weekend meet in Piscataway, N.J. Derivaux reset her best times in all four events she contested, highlighted by the 200 back, where she got down to 2:13.70 to rank 24th all-time in the girls’ 13-14 age group as a 13-year-old. Among 13-year-olds it ranks seventh all-time in the U.S. The Jersey Wahoos product also put up a time of 1:00.74 in the 100 fly, ranking 27th in the 13-14 age group, and added PBs in the 200 free (2:07.33) and 200 IM (2:19.87).

Shareef Elaydi, 13, Santa Clara Swim Club (PC): Elaydi swam to personal best times in four events at the Mike Snyder Memorial Meet, led by his Winter Juniors cut of 2:09.24 in the 200 IM. Racing the event for the first time this season, Elaydi dropped seven seconds to rank first all-time among 13-year-old Americans and 30th in the 13-14 age group. The Santa Clara Swim Club swimmer also clocked 4:37.67 in the 400 IM, ranking 78th among 13-14s, and added bests of 1:07.26 and 2:30.72 in the 100 and 200 breast.

Vilius Kersys, 12, Kauno PM (Lithuania): Competing at a meet in the city of Alytus, Lithuania in late May, Kersys set a new National Age Group Record in the boys’ 200 IM, clocking 2:24.98 to mark the fastest ever for a swimmer 12 and under in the country. He also went 2:09.05 in the 200 free to rank fourth all-time among 12-year-olds in Lithuania, and his swims of 26.41 in the 50 free and 28.25 in the 50 fly both rank fifth.

Gabi Brito, 12, Beach Cities Swimming (CA): Brito fired off six lifetime bests at the TORR Last Chance meet in Torrance, Calif., highlighted by her performance in the 200 IM. The Beach Cities Swimming product took off two seconds from the PB she set in April at the Fran Crippen Swim Meet of Champions (2:27.67) in 2:25.50, moving her into a tie for 60th all-time in the girls’ 11-12 age group. Brito also swam to bests in the 100 free (1:00.01), 200 free (2:11.36), 100 back (1:09.03), 100 breast (1:18.36) and 100 fly (1:06.71).

Langston Lindsey, 13, Gold Medal Swim Club (AZ): Lindsey has seen a rapid progression over the last few weeks in the 100 fly, first clocking 1:00.03 at the Phoenix May Cray meet on May 21, improving his previous best of 1:01.49 set last summer. The Gold Medal Swim Club member then cracked the 1:00 barrier for the first time at the Sun Devil Open in early June, getting all the way down to 58.65 to rank 24th all-time among American 13-year-old boys and first this season. He added PBs of 25.48 in the 50 free, 55.92 in the 100 free, 1:05.76 in the 100 back and 2:17.46 in the 200 fly last weekend in Tempe.

Chloe Teger, 14, Orange Regional Competitive Aquatics (CA): Teger produced a trio of best times at the NOVA Speedo Grand Challenge two weeks ago in Irvine, headlined by a 14-second drop in the 800 free. After clocking 9:08.42 at the Fran Crippen SMOC in mid-April, Teger got down to 8:56.38 six weeks later to rank third this season in the girls’ 13-14 age group. The Orange Regional Competitive Aquatics product also swam to PBs in the 200 free (2:11.87) and 400 free (4:27.61).