There weren’t a lot of meets this past weekend, but the ones that did take place produced some big swims, especially the CeraVe Invitational in Piscataway, NJ. Presenting the Daring Dozen for January 15, 2014:
Mary Pelton, 16, North Baltimore Aquatic Club: 50m free (26.37) – Just a tad off her best time, Pelton nonetheless won the 50 sprint at the Berkeley Aquatic Club and Rutgers University’s CeraVe Invitational.
Will Barao, 12 South Shore YMCA Strypers: 200y free (1:47.69) – Barao won the boys’ 12&U 200 free at SPY’s Winterfest Invitational at the Eppley Recreation Center at the University of Maryland by ten seconds. Going into the meet his best time was 1:51; a year ago he was 1:56.
Leah Braswell, 13, York And York County YMCA: 500y free (4:53.72) – Braswell won the girls’ 13-14 500 free at the SPY Winterfest by twelve seconds. She dropped 11 seconds from her seed time and 25 seconds from the 5:18 she swam last January.
Cierra Runge, 17, North Baltimore Aquatic Club: 800m free (8:35.95) – Swimming at the CeraVe Invitational, Runge went best times in both the 800m and 400m free to start the year off with a pair of WC Trials cuts.
Vinny Marciano, 12, Morris County Swim Club: 100m back (1:01.60) – At the CeraVe Invitational, Marciano won the B final of men’s open 100m back. He was the only finalist under 15 years old. Last spring his fastest time was a 1:06.59.
Emma Seiberlich, 15, Phoenixville YMCA: 200y back (1:58.05) – Seiberlich won the 100 back, 100 fly, 200 back and 200 fly at the SPY Winterfest at University of Maryland. At the same meet last her her 200 back was 2:03.53.
Andrew Karpenko, 11, FASTjets: 100y breast (1:09.10) – Karpenko won the 100 breast at the Foxjet Winter Classic, at the University of St. Thomas. Last spring his best time was 1:19.63.
Matthew Otto, 14, Delaware Swim Team: 200m breast (2:27.16) – Otto got his first Winter Juniors cut finishing third in the A final of the men’s 200 breast at CeraVe Invitational. Last spring he went 2:39.
Quinn Carrozza, 17, Longhorn Aquatics: 100y fly (55.96) –Carrozza won the 50 free, 100 back and 100 fly at the TXLA January Splash #2. The 55.96 in the 100 flywas a best time and her first Winter Juniors cut in the event.
Max Miranda, 14, Bluefish Swim Club: 200m fly (2:04.25) – Miranda finished second by just a tick in the men’s open 200 fly at CeraVe. It was his personal best by 3 seconds, and an eight-second improvement from his time in March 2013.
Danning Hu, 11, Scarlet Aquatics: 200m IM (2:29.48) – Hu won the women’s 11-12 100 back and 200 IM at CeraVe. At year ago at this same meet she went 2:42 in the 200 IM.
Ivan Puskovitch, 12, Shockwaves Aquatic Club: 400m IM (4:59.31) – Just a hair off his best time from last summer’s long course championship meet, Puskovitch went a 4:59;31 in the men’s open 400 IM at CeraVe and finished 41st.
Special thanks to Lyle Campbell for his assistance in putting this list together.
Overall it was a really good meet and I’m proud of wills performances even if he was pummeling me by 10 secs, it was a great race and I know he’s going to get the NAG record soon!
Winterfest was a really fast meet this year. There were a lot of great swims in a lot of age groups. The two mentioned were the big standouts, but there were some others as well. Will Barao’s 4:49 500 Free and 50.40 I believe in the 100. Remington Oland’s 1:44 200 Free and 1:58 200 IM. Maddie Cook’s 1:04 100 Breast. Also, a little under the radar because she swam open instead of 13-14, but Courtney Harnish’s 4:46 500 Free, which was not a best time. There were a lot more than that too, but I guess it is really impossible to list them all.
Yeah that was a really good meet this year… Will won by ten secs and I got second and Remington is on my team and I’m proud of him and will for the amazing meet they had
Hey! What about the 10 and unders at SPY Winterfest!?!?!
Adam – what about them?
Vinny Marciano’s performance in the 100 back was close to the 11/12 NAG record of 1.01.35. Impressive time for a meet in January. I don’t know when he will age up but if he still has a few months ahead of him, why not a sub minute record? It would be great to see him swim against Destin Lasco. Both are 12-year-old backstroke young phenoms.
Impressive new PB for Max Miranda in the 200 fly as well. Still a little more than 5 seconds to win in the next months if he wants to break the 13/14 NAG record of 1.59.02 held by a very famous swimmer.