Rylee Erisman Scares 200 Free Personal Best With 1:57.44 At Ocala Futures (Day 1 Recap)

2025 USA Swimming Futures Series – Ocala

• Florida Aquatics Swimming and Training, Ocala, FL
• LCM (50 meters)
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheet
• Livestream
• Live Results on Meet Mobile “2025 TYR Futures Ocala”

The USA Swimming Futures Series is in full swing across the country with the nation’s top youth swimmers gathering at five locations for some fast swims; Ocala, Florida is playing host to one of the deepest fields

The clear headliner from night one of action was none other than 16-year-old phenom Rylee Erisman, who took on one of her several specialty events, the girls’ 200 freestyle.

Erisman dominated the race from start to finish. She used her easy speed to hit the 50 turn in 27.55 before turning through the 100 in 57.20, logging 29.69 on the second 50. The penultimate 50 saw Erisman split her only lap above 30 in 30.31, but she amped the tempo over the final 50 a bit to get back under 30 seconds, closing in 29.93. She hit the wall in 1:57.44, her second-fastest time ever in the event and only her third time dipping under 1:58. This was second only to the 1:57.29 she produced at U.S. Nationals last month to win the ‘B’ final.

She wasn’t done there, as she returned to the pool about two hours later to help her team, Laker Swim, win the girls’ 200 free relay. She led off the squad in 25.15, a bit shy of the 24.62 career best she produced at Olympic Trials last summer, before Carolina Daher (26.39), Elizabeth Johnson (26.27), and Aidyn Reese (26.76) sealed the deal on the final three legs, winning by just shy of half a second.

Daher, who will head to Harvard in a few weeks, split way under her flat start best of 26.89. Johnson did the same as she was way under her 26.95 best, while Reese dipped under her 26.92 by a few tenths as well.

Erisman, widely considered one of the U.S.’s best age group sprint free talents ever, will swim at the World Junior Championships in Otopeni, Romania next month. She was one of three U.S. swimmers to qualify in five individual events. She is set to tackle the 50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 50 back, and 100 back, making for a busy schedule, even before factoring in relays.

Other Day 1 Highlights & Winners:

• 16-year-old Connor Christopherson had a breakthrough swim in the boys’ 200 free, torching his best time of 1:51.35 to qualify 1st for the final in 1:50.31. He followed up with the exact same time to win at night. Christopherson showcased different race strategies between sessions. In prelims, he took it out faster at 52.82 but came home in 57.49. In the final, he opted for a more controlled approach, splitting 53.24 on the front half before rocking home in 57.07.
  • Bolles School Sharks 16-year-old Andrew Kravchenko (1:50.36) and Nittany Lions’ Samuel Huggins (1:50.55) notched career bests to round out the podium. Huggins is committed to North Carolina, where he will begin representing the Tar Heels this fall.
• The Sarasota Sharks’ Madyson Hartway (1:09.76) made her presence known in the girls’ 100 breast. The Alabama commit, heading to Tuscaloosa in a couple of months, split 32.48/37.28 en route to the win, just missing her 1:09.28 lifetime best in the process. She posted that best time at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Series in April, splitting 32.22/37.02 in that race. She then clocked 1:09.54 (prelims)/1:09.99 (final) at the Canadian World Championship Trials last month, which earned her the win in the girls’ 13-18 category.
  • Behind Hartway in last night’s final were Club Seminole’s Madeline Huggins (1:10.59) and Swim Tyde’s Skylar Zuleger (1:10.94) in 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
• Swim Atlanta’s Colin Holgerson (1:02.02) won the boys’ 100 breast by nearly a full second over Hurricane Aquatics’ Guilian Martin (1:02.84), with Swim Atlanta teammate Camden Cook (1:03.28) touching 3rd. Holgerson, 17 years old and a member of the high school class of 2027, entered the meet with a best time of 1:03.07 from the Richard Quick Invitational last June, meaning he dropped over a full second from his personal best.
• A thrilling race unfolded in the girls’ 200 fly, as the top three finishers touched within a second of one another. Jordan Agliano seized the early lead with a 29.53 opening 50, ahead of Casey Cullen (30.52) and Lucy Trailov (31.41). At the 100 mark, Agliano led at 1:03.01 with Cullen closing ground at 1:04.24 and Trailov third at 1:06.12. The race turned during the third 50 as Cullen unleashed the field’s fastest split (34.55) to take her first lead at 1:38.79. Agliano dropped to second at 1:38.14 while Trailov moved to 1:40.72. Cullen pulled away over the final 50, touching in 2:14.86 for the victory. Agliano’s 37.18 closing split wasn’t enough to reclaim the lead as she hit the wall 2nd in 2:15.32. Trailov held 3rd with yet another 34-second split (34.99) for a time of 2:15.71.
• Logan Robinson, who is heading into his sophomore season with Florida State, stopped the clock in 1:58.33 to represent the only swimmer to break 2 minutes in the 200 fly. Gage Hulbert (2:00.00) and Hayden Bicknair (2:00.17) rounded out the podium and cleared the rest of the field by over two seconds. Robinson won this event for Team USA at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships last summer, which is where his lifetime best of 1:57.23 stems from. On the collegiate scene this past year, the 200 fly specialist took 4th in this event at ACCs before touching the wall 11th at NCAAs.
• In distance action, the Sarasota Sharks impressed on the girls’ side. 14-year-old Sydney Hardy (8:46.03) led a 1-2 punch in the 800, with 17-year-old Clare Custer (8:47.21) taking 2nd and 15-year-old Madalyn Petty (8:47.26) of Tyler Rose Aquatic Club taking 3rd. Hardy and Petty dropped over 10 seconds from their fastest-ever times, while Custer chopped a little over three seconds off.
• In the boys’ 1500 free, 18-year-old Alexander Parent (15:39.76) outbattled Jacob Hamlin (15:41.94) for the only sub-15:40 effort. Parent, heading into his senior year in high school, shattered his best by 16 seconds, while Hamlin, the NCAA Division 2 Champion in the 1650-yard free, missed his PB by 1.5 seconds. Sarasota Tsunami’s Henry Schoemaker, a Davidson College commit (15:47.56) took 3rd, about six seconds shy of his personal record.
• Baylor Swim Club’s foursome of Hayden Vicknair (23.10), Lucas Waldrep (22.79), Jedidah Holliman (23.99), and Ethan Gover (23.05) touched the wall in 1:32.93 to clear the boys’ 200 free relay field by just shy of half a second. Southwest Stars’ team nabbed 2nd with a time of 1:33.34, while Bolles School Sharks logged 1:33.61 for bronze. Both the Stars and Sharks had particularly notable anchor legs, with the Stars’ Walter Kueffer (22.59) and the Sharks’ Andrew Kravchenko (22.43) posting strong closing splits.
• The 200 medley relays were contested as timed finals in the morning, and Bolles School won the girls’ race in 1:55.95, 0.05 ahead of their own ‘B’ squad. Sarasota Sharks logged 1:56.51 for 3rd overall. Swim Atlanta (1:42.20) won the boys’ race by 1.5 seconds over their own ‘B’ squad, with Laker Swim about a second back from silver in 1:44.67.