Five Storylines To Watch At The 2024 Winter Junior Championships – West

2024 Winter Junior Championships – West

• December 11-14, 2024
• Austin, Texas
• SCY (25 yards)
• West Psych Sheets

The Winter Junior Championships always bring plenty of excitement, and this year is no different with a stacked group of age group stars heading to the dual-site meets in Greensboro (East) and Austin (West).

Below, find five key storylines to follow at the West competition, hosted at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.

KAYLA HAN CONTINUES TO BUILD FOLLOWING RETURN TO LA MIRADA

After spending one year training with the Carmel Swim Club in Indiana, age group phenom Kayla Han returned to her home club, La Mirada Armada, at the beginning of the summer.

Although Han found continued success at Carmel, highlighted by a fourth-place finish at the U.S. Olympic Trials in the women’s 400 free, she struggled to improve in some of the longer races, particularly the 800 free, 1500 free and 400 IM (1000/1650 free in yards), which had been her bread and butter on her way up the age group ranks at La Mirada Armada.

Since her return to California, the 16-year-old has been on good form, including setting numerous best times at the Kevin Perry Senior Invitational in November.

Han comes into the meet as the top seed in the girls’ 500 free, 1650 free and 400 IM, and she’ll be the big favorite to win all three with a chance to climb the all-time rankings in the girls’ 15-16 age group.

She currently ranks 15th in the 500 free (4:38.12) and 18th in the 1650 free (16:00.74), both times she produced at this meet last year, while her 4:05.51 clocking last month in the 400 IM ranks her 10th.

Han is also entered in the 200 fly (2nd seed), 200 IM (4th) and 200 free (9th).

MAXIMUS WILLIAMSON BACK ON RECORD WATCH

Twelve months ago, Maximus Williamson set a pair of National Age Group Records for 17-18 boys at Winter Juniors – West, and he’ll have a chance to reset more this week in Austin.

Williamson, 18, set new records in the boys’ 200 free (1:31.37) and 200 IM (1:41.18) last year, and he also won the 100 free and was the runner-up in the 50 free and 200 breast during a busy four days of racing.

He has since lowered his NAG record in the 200 IM down to 1:40.81, and having shown impressive form so far this season, Williamson will surely be hunting down more records this week.

His 200 free and 200 IM records are the most obvious ones in his crosshairs, but Williamson will also have a legitimate shot at the 100 free mark, which stands at 41.23 from Ryan Hoffer in 2015. Williamson owns a best time of 41.84, set in February, and he split 41.90 on a relay two weeks ago at the TISCA Lone Star Classic.

Williamson holds eight entries for the competition, seeded 1st in the 50, 100 and 200 free, 100 back and 200 IM, while he sits 2nd in the 200 fly and 3rd in both the 200 back and 400 IM.

The 400 IM is another race to watch, with Williamson holding the 15-16 NAG record at 3:39.83, a time he produced at Winter Juniors in 2022. The 17-18 NAG might be too tall of an order, with Carson Foster holding the record at 3:35.27, but Williamson could become just the fourth swimmer to break 3:40 in the age group, with Andrew Seliskar (3:37.52) and Chase Kalisz (3:39.82) the only two besides Foster to do so.

Since aging up, Williamson has only raced the 400 IM a handful of times, with his fastest coming in at 3:48.83 in November 2023.

PIPER ENGE REJOINS JUNIOR RANKS FROM NCAA

Coming off the first semester of her collegiate career at the University of Texas, Piper Enge will race at her home pool in Austin against some of the top juniors in the country where she headlines the girls’ breaststroke events.

Enge, 18, has found plenty of success during her first four months with the Longhorns, including winning the 100 breaststroke at the Texas Hall of Fame Invite three weeks ago in a lifetime best time of 58.86.

That swim ranks her 18th all-time in the girls’ 17-18 age group, and she has a chance to climb up the rankings in a big way with any type of drop this week, with a spot in the top five just over half a second away (58.31).

Two years ago, Lydia Jacoby competed at Winter Juniors – West during her freshman year at Texas and won both the 100 and 200 breast, nearly breaking her week-old NAG record in the 100 in a time of 57.76.

Enge is the top seed in both, but is far from a lock to sweep the girls’ breaststroke events with Raya Mellott and Cecilia Howard also seeded sub-1:00 in the 100 breast with nine more swimmers in the 1:00 range.

In the 200, Enge and Mellott are the only swimmers seeded under 2:10, both sitting at 2:09s, while Kaitlyn Nguyen and 14-year-olds Mikayla Tan and Grace Koenig-Song are close behind with 2:10s.

TEAGAN O’DELL IN THE THICK OF CLOSE BATTLES

Mission Viejo Nadadore and Cal commit Teagan O’Dell is one of the most recognizable names on the psych sheets as a World Junior and Junior Pan Pac champion, but the 18-year-old figures to have plenty of tough races on her hands in Austin.

O’Dell, who like Han, was impressive last month at the Kevin Perry Senior Invitational, is the defending champion in the 200 back, but figures to have an intriguing battle with Longhorn Aquatics’ Grace Rabb, with both swimmers having set best times at this meet last year—O’Dell at 1:51.00 and Rabb at 1:52.13.

O’Dell is the slam-dunk favorite in the 200 IM, but has Alana Berlin and Rabb to deal with in the 100 back, Madi Mintenko to take on in the 200 free, and the 50 and 100 free events are both loaded with contenders who could win.

O’Dell is the top seed in the 100 free at 48.20, but there are five other girls seeded sub-49, and in the 50 free, O’Dell is seeded 16th but is just 44 one-hundredths behind top seed and fellow Cal commit Ava De Anda. De Anda is also seeded 2nd to O’Dell in the 100 free, with the two of them separated by just seven one-hundredths, 48.20 to 48.27.

O’Dell currently ranks 25th all-time in the girls’ 17-18 age group in the 100 back (51.38), 24th in the 200 back (1:51.28) and 8th in the 200 IM (1:53.63).

WATCH OUT FOR THE 14-YEAR-OLDS

Although this meet is typically dominated by 17 and 18-year-olds, we occasionally see some of the younger competitors make some serious noise despite racing against swimmers several years older than them.

In Austin, one name to keep an eye on is Beach Cities Swimming’s Gabi Brito, a 14-year-old who climbed the all-time rankings in the girls’ 13-14 age group last month and figures to do some damage this week.

At the Kevin Perry Senior Invitational in November, Brito moved up to 4th all-time for 13-14 girls in the 100 fly (52.24), 6th in the 100 free (48.78) and tied for 9th in the 50 free (22.49), and she has a great opportunity to continue to climb the ladder this week. She comes in seeded 3rd overall in the 50 free and 100 fly, and 4th in the 100 free.

Other 14-year-olds to watch out for include breaststrokers Mikayla Tan and Grace Koenig-Song, who we mentioned above, and for the boys, the youngster everyone needs to keep an eye on is Shareef Elaydi.

Elaydi, 15, holds the top seed in the 200 fly, more than six-tenths ahead of Williamson, and he’s also 3rd in the 100 fly and 4th in the 200 IM.