The Indiana Long Course Championships kicked off today in Indianapolis, and one swim in particular is worth drawing attention to. 13-year-old Emily Weiss went 1:11.19 to win the 100 breaststroke, putting up the fastest time for a 13-year-old girl that we could find in USA Swimming’s database.
Weiss swims for Cardinal Community Swim Club out of Muncie, Indiana under head coach Tony Santino.
We were able to track USA Swimming’s database back as far as 1998, and the fastest 100 breaststroke time for a 13-year-old girl in that time frame was Carly Geehr‘s 1:11.49 from the 1998 National Championships. Weiss’s time is almost a half-second faster than that.
At 13, Weiss is about 3 seconds off the 13-14 National Age Group record in the event, which is an extremely-fast 1:08.09 set by Amanda Beard back in 1996. With that time, Beard won Olympic silver in Atlanta in the individual 100 breast.
Beard isn’t in USA Swimming’s records as a 13-year-old, so there’s no way to compare Weiss’s standing to where Beard was. The other USA Swimming-registered swimmers on record going 1:11 as a 13-year-old are Geehr, Britain’s Emma Cain (1:11.77 in 2013), Allie Szekely (1:11.85 in 2011) and Olivia Ross (1:11.96 in 2008). And, as our readers have pointed out, SwimSwam contributor Carly Geehr swam a 1:09.87 at Nationals when she was just 12.
Weiss went out in 33.4, a great 50 time on its own. Her back-half was 37.7 en route to the 1:11.1 that ranks #17 on USA Swimming’s list of all-time top performers in the 13-14 age bracket.
You can find full results of the Indiana meet on Meet Mobile. The meet continues through Saturday night.
Great to see where my small swim club has come over the years! Tony Santino is a fantastic coach both in and out of the water and he’ll make sure Emily is taken as far as she can go. He’s produced a multitude of great swimmers throughout the years.
CARD is also a great testament that small clubs can compete with the likes of bigger clubs! Less than 40 kids swim year round.
http://swimswam.com/allie-szekely-shines-with-109-breaststroke-at-mid-atlantic-champs/
Szekely’s fastest as a 13-14 was a 1:09
Correct, Szekely went 1:09 as a 14-year-old. Our article is focused specifically on times done as a 13-year-old, though, where Szekely’s fastest was the 1:11.85 listed.
Thank you for the great article. The club she swims for is Cardinal Community Swim Club, in Muncie, Indiana. She has an awesome coaching staff, with Tony Santino as head coach. This is as much their accomplishment as it is hers.
No mention of her club or coach?
If you are looking at best times done by a certain age, 13 here, Carly Geehr was 1:09.87 at the 1987 Nationals as a 12 year old, certainly meeting the criterion.
Impressive time.
USA needs new young breaststroke talents on the women’s side. Compared with other strokes, the level of performances in age group is weak for a few years now.
Perhaps Emily Weiss represents the future of American breaststroke. We’ll see.
I’ve never heard of her before today.
Great job!
Great time! And itt’s still hard to believe that Carly Geehr went 1:09.8 at age 12.
Beard actually won silver in 1996