Bella Sims Obliterates 17-18 National Age Group Record in 400 Yard IM at Sectionals

2022 CALIFORNIA/NEVADA SECTIONALS

• December 16-19, 2022
• La Mirada Splash Center, La Mirada, California
• Short Course Yards (25 yards) pool, prelims/finals
• Results on Meet Mobile: “2022  December  CA NV Speedo Sect @ RMDA  v1”

Bella Sims won two individual races, including a new National Age Group Record, and led a Sandpipers sweep of the girls’ races on day 2 of the 2022 California/Nevada Sectionals in Southern California.

Sims, coming off an eight-win performance at the Winter Junior Championships – West meet last week, picked up where she left off in Austin.

Sims won two events on Saturday that she didn’t swim at Winter Juniors. First she won the 100 fly in 51.52, beating out teammates Katie Grimes (52.63) and Macky Hodges (53.84).

That swim for Sims makes her the 21st-fastest swimmer in 17-18 age group history. Incidentally, that would have won the Winter Juniors – West meet.

The same is true of her 3:56.59 in the 400 IM from Saturday, which is faster than Grimes’ 3:57.02 to win Winter Juniors West. That swim by Sims crushes the 17-18 National Age Group Record held by Ella Eastin from 2016 (3:58.40). Grimes, who is 16, previously had the best time by an American junior in the event.

Splits Comparison:

That time by Sims also makes her the 4th-best performer, and is the 4th-best performance, in the history of the event:

Top 5 Performers All-Time, All Ages, Women’s 400 SCY IM

1. Ella Eastin, Stanford, 2018 NCAA Championships – 3:54.60
2. Katie Ledecky, Stanford, 2018 Pac-12 Championships – 3:56.53
3. Katinka Hosszu, USC, 2012 NCAA Championships – 3:56.54
4. Bella Sims, Sandpipers of Nevada, 2022 CA/NV Sectionals – 3:56.59
5. Katie Grimes, Sandpipers of Nevada, 2022 Winter Juniors – West – 3:57.02

Sims, an Olympic silver medalist and World Champion on American 800 free relays, has shown off an incredible run of versatility in the last 10 days-or-so that is perhaps unlike anything we’ve seen at the age group level aside from maybe Michael Andrew.

Her individual wins and “best times” across two big meets now include the 200 free, 500 free, 1000 free, 100 back, 200 back, 100 fly, 200 fly, 200 IM, and 400 IM.

While Sims’ record-setting 400 IM was the talk of the session on Saturday, the Sandpipers also flexed their depth thanks to individual wins from two lesser-known members of that girls’ squad.

16-year old Applejean Gwinn, who swam a leg of the team’s winning 800 free relay on Friday, grabbed a win in the 200 free in 1:48.69. That crushes her previous best time of 1:52.23 from November 2021, which was foreshadowed by his 1:50.56 relay split a night earlier.

In the next girls’ race, another 16-year-old Lucy Warnick won the 100 breaststroke in 1:02.82, just out-touching Stephanie Iannaccone (1:02.84). Warnick’s swim is faster than her previous best time that was set at last week’s Winter Juniors – West meet. She finished 38th at that meet in 1:03.11.

Iannaccone, a Harvard commit for fall 2023, also swam a best time for 2nd place. So too did Aquazot’s 3rd-place finisher Sofia Szymanowski, who finished in 1:03.59. She is only 14-years-old.

The Sandpipers finished the day with a win in the 400 medley relay in 3:41.46, with their second relay finishing 2nd in 3:42.35.

The winning relay was Katie Grimes (53.53), Warnick (1:03.37), Gwinn (55.19), and Claire Weinstein (49.37) combined for a 3:41.46. That breaks the Southern California Swimming LSC Record of 3:46.38 which was set by Canyons Aquatics in 2015.

Note: the Southern California Swimming LSC includes the southern half of Nevada and the Sandpipers of Nevada.

The B relay included a 51.56 fly leg from Sims.

The boys’ side of the pool was not lacking for exciting results either. Alexander Cole of Alpha Aquatics won the boys’ 200 free in 1:36.85, crushing his own Team Record of 1:37.55 from November. Cole, a senior, is committed to swim at Purdue next season, and that time would rank him 2nd on the Boilermakers’ roster this season, behind only Nick Sherman’s mid-season 1:33.

The winner of the B Final in that race was Luka Mijatovic. The 13-year-old finished in 1:39.78. That already ranks him 27th all-time in the age group, even in the younger half, and makes him the fastest 13-year-old in US history. That honor previously belonged to Thomas Heilman, who at 15 put on a show at last week’s Winter Junior – East Championships.

Mijatovic, a rising age group star with the Pleasanton Seahawks, also swam 3:56.84 in the 400 IM. That ranks him even higher in the age group, 19th all-time among 13-14s, and just .04 seconds behind what Michael Phelps swam at that age.

It’s also .02 seconds better than Josh Zuchowski’s all-time best in the 400 IM at age 13.

Mijatovic’s previous personal best was a 3:58.12 that was set less than three weeks ago. The biggest improvements came on the opening butterfly leg (53.77 vs. 54.60) and the closing freestyle leg (53.26 vs. 54.49).

Other Day 2 (Saturday) Winners:

• Alekos Binder, a 16-year-old from the Burbank Los Angeles Swim Team, won the boys’ 100 breaststroke in 55.66 beating out 23-year-old Ben Cable (55.78).
• 24-year old Mission Viejo post-grad Jarod Hatch won the boys’ 100 fly in 46.35. That’s a new lifetime best for the former Cal Golden Bear who hasn’t officially raced since the Speedo Summer Championships in August 2021. Hatch is a part of the small new-look pro group at Mission Viejo under new coach Jeff Julian. That group also includes Julian’s son Trenton, who was Hatch’s teammate at Cal.
• Mission Viejo got another win from 20-year-old Nick Williams. He was the only swimmer who beat Mijatovic in the boys’ 400 IM, finishing in 3:56.75 (.09 seconds ahead of the 13-year-old phenom). Williams was raised in Mission Viejo and spent his freshman year at Arizona State last season, but is back home training in Mission Viejo this winter. He represents Ecuador internationally.
• Evolution Racing Club won the boys’ 400 medley relay in 3:20.36 with a team of Daniel Verdolaga (50.35), Nathan Wu (56.02), David Schmitt (48.61), and Keller Morgan (45.38). Morgan actually swam the breaststroke leg of the team’s 6th-place 3:16.09 at Winter Juniors – West last weekend, showing off his versatility with a 55.78.