Presenting the AgonSwim Weekly Wonders for the weekend of December 16-18, 2016.
Joseph Ahia, 16, Splash Aquatics: 50y free (20.98) – Ahia won the boys’ 15-16 50 free at the Hawaiian Swimming Age Group SCY Championships hosted by Maui Dolphins Swim Club, going his first sub-21 time. It was a PB by 7/10 and fully 1.1 seconds faster than his time at the same meet last year. Ahia also won the 100/200 breast and 100 fly. He left the meet with his first three Winter Juniors cuts ever: 50 free and 100/200 breast.
Belinda Donohoe, 18, Shawmut Aquatic Club: 100y free (50.48) – Donohoe dropped a whole second and won the women’s 100 free at the New England Swimming Senior Championships. She also earned a new PB in the 50 free, in which she placed third, and scored her first two Winter Juniors invitations in those events in short-course format (she had made the cuts in LCM this past summer).
River Wright, 15, Bluefish Swim Club: 200y free (1:39.73) – Wright led off Bluefish Swim Club’s 800 free relay with a big 1:39.73, his first sub-1:40 and a PB by a half-second. It was the fifth-fastest 200 free for 18-and-unders of the weekend, and 1.4 seconds better than his time from the same weekend last year. Wright also went best times in the 100 free, 100 back, 100 breast, 100/200 fly, and 200 IM.
Cole Westendorf, 17, Tri-city Channel Cats: 500y free (4:34.67) – Westendorf dropped 4.8 seconds to finish second in the men’s 500 free at the Washington State Senior SC Championships. His time was 12.5 seconds faster than it had been last year at this time. Westendorf left Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center with new PBs in the 100/200/500/1650 free as well as the 100 fly.
Sarah Dimeco, 15, Issaquah Swim Team: 1000y free (9:53.59) – Also swimming at the Washington State Senior Champs, Dimeco notched her first U.S. Open-worthy 1000 free, winning the event with the #1 time in the country for the weekend for 18-and-unders. She was 31.5 seconds faster than she’d been a year ago. Dimeco finished the meet with best times in the 100 free, 200 fly, and 400 IM in addition to the 1000 free.
David Walton, 12, Glens Falls Family YMCA: 1650y free (17:01.78) – Swimming at the 2016 Northeastern YMCA Winter Championships hosted by YMCA Southcoast, Walton dropped an entire minute in the 1650 free. But that wasn’t all; he went best times in a total of 11 events: 50/100/200/500/1000/1650 free, 100/200 back, 100 fly, and 100/400 IM.
Jordan Claypoole, 11, Parkersburg/PKBY: 100y back (1:02.04) – Claypoole improved her best 100 back time by2.4 seconds at the 55th Annual Christmas Meet sponsored by Team Pittsburgh Aquatics and held at the University of Pittsburgh. She was 4.6 seconds faster than she’d been at this time last year. Claypoole also went PBs in the 50/500 free, 50/200 back, and 100 fly during the weekend.
Evan McCormick, 14, Life Time Northern California: 200y breast (2:09.50) – McCormick put up his first sub-2:10 200 breast at the 6th Annual San Diego-Imperial Winter Age Group Championships at the Brian Bent Memorial Aquatics Complex in Coronado. He won the boys’ 13-14 event with a new LSC and meet record, and improved 6 seconds from last year at this time. McCormick also won the 100 breast with an LSC and meet record, the 100 free and 100 back, each with a meet record, and the 200 IM.
Emma Muzzy, 16, Virginia Gators: 200y IM (1:58.04) – Muzzy led the nation for the weekend with the #1 200 IM time for 18-and-under girls, dropping 1.9 seconds and winning the event at the TPIT 55th Annual Christmas Meet. Muzzy has now improved 3.9 seconds in a year in that event. She also took home new times in the 100 back and 100 breast, dropping 1.8 and .7 seconds respectively and earning her first Winter Juniors cut in the latter.
Reminder: The Weekly Wonders column is a celebration of age-group swimming, where new champions are made every day. Anyone can look up the top swims of the week. That’s not what we’re doing here. If we were only reporting on the week’s top swims we would feature the same handful of athletes every Wednesday. Instead, this is an opportunity to introduce the swimming community to athletes who have made great strides in the context of their own particular swimming worlds. By association, it also celebrates their coaches and their teams. The Weekly Wonders column, therefore, amounts to a pat on the back for a job well done, and hopefully encourages swimmers of all levels to continue to reach from within to get to that next level.
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I got your back zzz. Whether or not one of your kid’s was involved in your post, why not report on more hot age group swims and highlight more age group meets? Swimswam gives swimmer of the year awards to 10 and unders, and they post thousands of college commitment articles, so they could highlight age group meets like Junior Olympics.
Your support of more coverage on AG swimming, which I totally agree, has little to do with ZZZ’s comment on agonswim’s weekly wonders. It’s obvious that ZZZ felt his/her precious child was overlooked by this weekly honor. It’s also apparent that ZZZ wanted to brag his/her child and added a few other swimmers to hide his/her identity. I don’t believe you as a coach would support this kind of behavior exhibited by parents like ZZZ. As for those college commitment articles, I think they are great for those who are interested in college swimming, but must say most of them (except top 20 recruits perhaps) should be put in a designated section under “college” menu.
I was mainly just supporting the possibility of having more of a variety of articles that cover more age group meets. Like if a meet has several age group swimmers cracking the top 16 NAG rankings, I’d like to read about it. I am in no way supporting parents posting their kid’s times
I also dont mind the college articles, I just think swimswam could have a better variety of articles, especially in the fall when it is pretty much just college commitments and early season college meet articles.
Thank you, Coach, for your clarification. Glad we are in agreement. Posting fast swim times in the comment section is Bobo’s job :)!!
Big meet in NJ this weekend that had a lot of fast swims that you skipped over. Example being Emily Wang swimming at the 30th Annual Holiday Classic in New Jersey. Her 400 IM (4.39.7) is the fastest 400 IM for an 11 year old girl in the nation this year. She also had best times in every event she swam and had many other good times including a 2.00 in the 200 free. Also, 10 year old swimmer Richard Poplawski from Clifton Seahawks swam at Holiday Classic as well. 1.12 100 breastroke, 27.08 50 freestyle, 33.9 50 breastroke and an eye-popping 1.02.88 in the 100 fly lowering his best time by almost 4.5 seconds and setting an NJS LSC… Read more »
It will be interesting to see how Dare Rose develops in the next few years as USA is desperately looking for a new young great male talent on butterfly now that MP has retired. The men’s 200 fly is now the weakest event in USA on the men’s side. His times on butterfly are very impressive in each age category. He owns the 200 fly 11/12 NAG record in 2.11.85 in long course. I add that he turned 14 only a few weeks ago.
Relax ZZZ, Agonswim did not overlook your child’s accomplishments. I’m assuming you are parent of one of the swimmers mentioned in your comment. Please read the Agonswim’s “reminder” carefully – it’s NOT about the top 10 times, it’s the celebration of swimmers making progress in their own world of swimming. Also how many 11-yr-olds swim 400IM anyway? In some LSCs, it’s not even an “official event” or an event offered to 11-12 age group in most meets so many kids don’t get to swim it. Top time in 400IM (at age 11) is not the same as top times in standard events like 100FR. Another reason is that meet results are not yet loaded in SWIM database, so Agonswim wouldn’t… Read more »
Everyone can’t be recognized. Sorry your kid was overlooked.