Auburn Commit Rathle puts up 3:45 400 IM at Louisiana SC State Meet

2021 Louisiana Short Course State Championships

The 2021 Louisiana LSC Short Course State Championship meets were split among three locations due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, with results combined for final standings.

The Baton Rouge location was highlighted by Jacques Rathle of Crawfish Aquatics winning all 12 events he swam including 6 individual events. 

Rathle, who leads Auburn’s recruiting class for the fall, continues to drop time. Rathle set six new personal best times this past weekend. This comes just three weeks after setting five new personal best swims at the Tupelo TYR Invite.

Rathle’s top swim came in the 400 IM as swam 3:45.90, dropping over three seconds from his time in Tupelo. That time would have placed 5th at this year’s SEC meet, well ahead of Auburn’s top finisher, Evan McInerny who placed 20th. 

The 200 freestyle will be an event to keep an eye on for Rathle as he develops in college. He led off the 800 free relay on Thursday in 1:35.65, which was over a second faster than the 1:36.86 he swam in Tupelo. Rathle will be challenging for a spot on the 800 free relay as his time was faster than Auburn’s slowest split this year. 

His other best times this weekend came in the 50 free, 500 free, 100 butterfly, and 200 breaststroke. Rathle led-off the mixed 200 free relay in 20.80, which was his first time under 21 seconds. He dropped almost four seconds in his 500 as he swam 4:23.32 compared to 4:27.19 in Tupelo. His 100 butterfly time of 49.33 was a best time by over 1.5 seconds. In the 200 breaststroke, his time of 1:58.68 was just a hair faster than his 1:58.74 in Tupelo.

Auburn will have multiple incoming freshmen under 4:24 in the 500 as Grant Davis swam a 4:23.73 just over a week ago at the Georgia Senior State Meet. At the same meet, fellow Auburn commit Andrew Simmons swam a 1:45.12 in the 200 backstroke and a 3:53.88 in the 400 IM. Auburn’s recruiting class will be looking to help the Tigers move up from their 8th place finish at this year’s SEC meet.

TCU commit Rylee Moore of Crawfish set five new best times this weekend. She broke 54 for the first time in the 100 back as she swam a 53.71. Her 100 fly time of 55.53 was her first best time in the event since 2018. Her time of 2:01.15 in the 200 fly was over two seconds faster than the 2:03.46 she swam in Tupelo. Moore led-off the 200 free relay in 24.32, which was almost a half-second drop from her previous best of 24.79. Her 51.61 lead-off in the 400 free relay was Moore’s first time under 52.

Other notable swims from Baton Rouge:

  • Ema Lavigne of Crawfish won the girls 100 breaststroke in 1:03.90, over a second drop from her previous best of 1:04.93.
  • Collin Klingman of Crawfish won the boys 200 butterfly in 1:50.31, about a second off his best of 1:49.35. He also won the 1650 in a best time of 15:50.87. Klingman will be heading to Auburn in the fall of 2022. 
  • Christopher Richardson of Crawfish won the boys 100 backstroke with a best time of 49.49.
  • West Virginia commit Riley Brown of Crawfish won the 200 back in 1:47.86, just off his best of 1:47.49. 

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SwimFani
3 years ago

Hey DUDE put out the popcorn gallery and naysayers who live to chide and defame others under the dark blanket of anonymity. You have chosen a great institution with amazing coaches, professors and facilities. Best wishes to you in your collegiate career!!!!

Swimmer
3 years ago

Gary will ruin him

GA Boy
Reply to  Swimmer
3 years ago

It’s like people forget all the success that he had at NC State. He has been in charge of a program for two years now. When you look at the athletes that are there, a majority of them have improved! It takes more than two years to rebuild a program. Give it 1 more year and things will look a lot different.

Sarcastic
Reply to  GA Boy
3 years ago

Auburn scored 0 points at NCAAs for the first time since 1988 this year lmao.

Hswimmer
Reply to  Sarcastic
3 years ago

They still got best times throughout the season, yeah it’s bad. A lot of people added at Ncs though.

Former Auburn fan
Reply to  Hswimmer
3 years ago

Go look at there too times from this season and almost all of them are slower than last season except for 500, breaststroke’s and ims

Former Auburn fan
Reply to  Hswimmer
3 years ago

Also auburn had like 2 people get invited to ncs so how did “a lot of people” add

War Damn
Reply to  GA Boy
3 years ago

** he’s been in charge of the program for 3 years. And you said “if you look at the athletes that are there” do you know how many have quit this year alone? You obviously have zero idea what the athletes have gone through with the coaching staff if you are making comments like these. The athletes are fleeing the team.

Coach
Reply to  War Damn
3 years ago

Why are people hijacking an article about a kid’s success to trash an adult? Come on people. Let the kid have his moment!

Dola Mite
Reply to  Swimmer
3 years ago

It’d be great if Swimswam focused on positivity and support and isn’t overrun by negativity from people who apparently are confident enough to think they are masters and perfect at everything so they can critique what they do not understand.

The men’s team has their strongest class coming in next year under Gary. Hopefully Gary can can be free of the outside detractors that has impacted his team, learn from things that have and have not worked in his career thus far, and start an upswing for both teams. I am certain he will do everything within his powers to do so.

Huh
Reply to  Dola Mite
3 years ago

Anonymity on the internet truly brings out the best in people! /s

Ron Moore
3 years ago

Rylee also achieved a time of 52.94 in the 400 medley relay backstroke portion lowering her record even further.

Oldtimer
Reply to  Ron Moore
3 years ago

This….. isn’t getting enough attention. 52 100 backs make NCAAs right?

Ron Moore
Reply to  Oldtimer
3 years ago

Yes 53.11 is NCAA cutoff

GA Fan
3 years ago

Well when he gets to train with the legendary Grady Wheeler, he will only continue to get faster!