Max Goettsch from FMC Aquatic in Illinois Drops a Big 200 Free at Madison Futures Meet

2025 USA Swimming Futures Series – Madison

• Soderholm Family Aquatic Center, Madison, WI
• LCM (50 meters)
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheet
• Live Stream
• Live Results expected to be on Meet Mobile
• Post-session results files linked here.

While the Wisconsin Badgers, owners of the host pool for the USA Swimming Futures stop in Madison, grabbed a handful of wins on Wednesday evening, it was really the teenagers who haven’t yet started their college careers that stole the show on day 1: especially ones from across the border in Illinois.

That includes a big win from Max Goettsch of the FMC Aquatic Club in suburban Chicago.

Goettsch, 18, won the 200 free in 1:48.70, which knocked a full second off his lifetime best from Sectionals two weeks ago. In total, he’s improved his best in the 200 free by four-and-a-half second this summer as he prepares to head to Cal.

Goettsch wasn’t qualified to swim at US Trials in early June, but if he had swum this time at that meet in Indy, it would have qualified him for the C-Final. He is the 3rd-best American junior in the event this season:

1. Luka Mijatovic – 1:45.92 (on the Worlds team)
2. Ryan Erisman – 1:47.52
3. Tim Wu – 1:49.18 (16)
4. Max Goettsch – 1:48.70
5. Norvy Clontz – 1:49.32

Four of the five names on that list, Erisman, Goettsch and Clontz, are all committed to Cal.

Also of note in the 200 free final: 15-year-old Kai Joyner from the Rochester Swim Club in Minnesota finished 3rd in 1:51.16, which ranks him as the #3 15-year-old nationally this season.

Meanwhile, 15-year-old Grace Koenig-Song, a National Age Group Record setter, won the girls’ 100 breaststroke in 1:09.14. That’s a lifetime best for her, beating out the 1:09.80 she swam at last summer’s Speedo Summer Championship. Even in the younger end of the age group, she now ranks 49th all-time in the 100 breaststroke all-time for 15-16s. Among the notable names just ahead of her: World Record holder Lilly King, who was 1:09.59 when she was 16.

As for the host team, several lifetime bests fell for University of Wisconsin swimmers on Wednesday. Abby Carlson won the 200 free in 2:00.05, which wasn’t a lifetime best, but her teammate Abby Wanezek was 2nd in 2:01.09, which took more than a second off her best in that event. She hadn’t been a best time in that event since 2023. Her younger sister Maggie Wanezek was 3rd in 2:01.34, having dropped a big best time of 2:00.49 in prelims.

16-year-old Ellie Patla, another Illinoisian, swam a huge drop in heats of 2:02.18, improving almost a second-and-a-half on her best time from Sectionals two weeks ago. She has now dropped more than two seconds in total this summer. She added to finish 4th in finals in 2:03.05 and was the top-ranking junior in the event.

The other Wisconsin winner was Charlie Jones in the men’s 200 fly. The rising Badger sophomore swam a best time of 2:00.43, knocking 1.2 seconds off his previous best from US Nationals in June. One of the top high school 200 butterfliers in the country before his commitment, his long course times stalled out a bit as a high school senior before reigniting after his freshman year of college –

Other Day 1 Highlights & Winners:

• Rohan D’Souza Larson from the Aquajets Swim Team in Minnesota won the boys’ 100 breast in 1:01.91. That’s a best time by nine-tenths of a second and would have put him 19th in prelims at US Nationals in June. Larson, 20, was a 2024 high school graduate who took a gap year and plans to start studying (and competing) at Penn in fall 2024 alongside U.S. breaststroke Olympian Matt Fallon.
• Kathryn McCarthy from Minnesota’s distance program, which is building a strong reputation, won the girls’ 800 free in 8:41.26. That was 18 seconds ahead of the field.
• Miami (OH) commit Eli Rolfsen from Michigan won the boys’ 1500 free in 15:37.60, which was nearly a 10 second drop from his previous best time. That ranks him 14th among American juniors so far this season, which becomes a huge pickup for the Redhawks.
  • 14-year-old Joey Eaddy, who has had a breakout summer, finished 2nd in 15:49.23. That ranks him 14th all-time in the event in the U.S. in the 13-14 age group. He dropped time in several events already at his two earlier championship meets this month, the New England Swimming Senior LSC Championships and Age Group Championships, and in total has improved his best time by more than 45 seconds in 2025.
• Victoria Novinskiy, a New Hampshire native who swims at the University of Delaware, won the girls’ 200 fly in 2:15.25. She has a best of 2:14.18 from the Pro Swim Series in Ft. Lauderdale in May. She was the CAA conference champion in the 200 yard fly in February for the Blue Hens.
  • Riley Anderson from WHAT in Connecticut finished 2nd in 2:16.07 as the top-ranking junior-aged swimmer in the event.
• The Verona Area Swim Team in Wisconsin won the girls 200 free relay in 1:45.10 with a team of Payton Flowers (26.14), Alyse Block (26.03), Cheyenne Borroughs (27.00), and Mazie Paradis (25.93). That’s a new 17-18 Wisconsin LSC Record, knocking .45 seconds off their own record (which didn’t include Borroughs) set last year.
• A relay from the University of Minnesota just out-touched a tight field in the boys’ 200 free relay final, winning in 1:32.53. They were led by a 22.32 split from Ryan Slonac on the second leg. That McFarland Spartan Sharks were 2nd in 1:35.73, with the first three legs coming from brothers Blake, Shane, and Cale Teebest.