arena Swim of the Week: 12-Year-Old Luka Mijatovic Drops 4:44 500 Free

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Disclaimer: Swim of the Week is not meant to be a conclusive selection of the best overall swim of the week, but rather one Featured Swim to be explored in deeper detail. The Swim of the Week is an opportunity to take a closer look at the context of one of the many fast swims this week, perhaps a swim that slipped through the cracks as others grabbed the headlines, or a race we didn’t get to examine as closely in the flood of weekly meets.

12-year-old Luka Mijatovic had an unbelievable swim in the 500 freestyle last weekend, launching his way up the historical rankings in the boys’ 11-12 age group.

Competing at the Ruby Hills Aquatics C/B/BB+ meet in Livermore, Calif., Mijatovic clocked a time of 4:44.51, dropping nearly six seconds from his previous best time to move into fourth all-time in the 11-12 age group.

The Pleasanton Sea Hawks swimmer held a previous best time of 4:50.25 that ranked him 36th all-time in the age group.

Mijatovic is now just over three seconds outside of the 11-12 National Age Group Record.

Boys’ 11-12 500 Freestyle, All-Time Rankings

1. Mason Turner (EISF), 4:41.26 – 2019
2. Nick Silverthorn (PLS), 4:41.54 – 2008
3. Daniel Arnold (ACAC), 4:44.02 – 2015
4. Luka Mijatovic (PLS), 4:44.51 – 2022
5. Nicholas Caldwell (GCST), 4:44.87 – 2006

Mijatovic notably put up a time of 9:54.13 one week prior in what was his first-ever swim in the 1000 free, ranking him eighth all-time in age group history.

At the meet last weekend, he also hit best times in the 50 breast (30.46) and 400 IM (4:22.29), moving into 60th all-time in the 11-12 age group in the latter.

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