“Best of the Rest” Zach Larrick Posts Three Best Times at One Day Meet

2021 Race Series Championship Meet

• November 21st, 2021
• La Mirada Splash! Regional Aquatics Complex, La Mirada, California
• Short Course Yards (SCY)
• Results on MeetMobile: “2021 SCS Race Series Championships-cs”

Over the weekend, the La Mirada Armada played host to a one-day meet at the La Mirada Splash! Regional Aquatics Complex. The short course yards meet was highlighted by fast swims, including three best times from UVA commit Zach Larrick.

Larrick, who was ranked as a “best of the rest” in SwimSwam’s Way too Early Recruit Ranks: Boys High School Class of 2023, finished with the fastest time of the meet in all three of his races. he kicked off the meet by swimming to a new best time in the 500 free while racing against 2022 Arizona State commit Parker Reynolds of the Santa Maria Swim Club. The big difference in the race was Larrick’s front-end speed, with the high school junior flipping at 1:43.16 at the 200 on his way to a final time of 4:25.04. That time is over three seconds faster than his previous best in the event.

In his other two individual races of the day, Larrick led the field by a wide margin. In the 200 free, he stopped the clock at 1:35.78, well ahead of teammate Rex Maurer’s time of 1:38.27. That time is over a second faster than Larrick has ever been in the race. He closed out his meet by dipping below 45.0 in the 100 free for the first time, finishing in 44.74.

Larrick wasn’t the only swimmer to post an impressive time in the 500 free. 13-year old Avrum Xagorarakis of Irvine Novaquatics posted a huge lifetime best time in the 500 free. Entering the meet, Xagorarakis had only contested the event on four occasions, with his fastest time being 5:10.31. In La Mirada, he blew that time away, racing to a 10th place finish in the open age group with a time of 4:41.24. That time now ranks him as the fastest 13-year old in the event this season, just ahead of Anthony Ramirez’s time of 4:41.89. Ramirez, who is now 14, was also in the event, although he finished in 4:49.20.

After the huge lifetime best in the 500, Xagorarakis went on to post another pair of best times, both of which are ranked among the best for his age this season. In the 1000 free, he again became the best 13-year old in the race this year, stopping the clock at 9:45.10. He also added a 1:58.35 in the 200 fly that makes him the 4th fastest for his age in 2021.

Joining Xagorarakis in becoming the fastest 13-year old in an event this season was Kayla Han of the La Mirada Armada. Han won the 200 IM while racing against athletes as old 17, finishing in 2:02.35. She now leads all 13-year olds this season by almost two and a half seconds and is the second-fastest in the 13-14 age group.

Other Notable Performances

• Riley Botton finished just off of her lifetime best in the 50 free, winning the event with a  time of 23.51 while representing Canyons Aquatic Club.
• After finishing second in both the 200 and 400 IM, Hojung Yoon was able to grab the top spot in the 200 back. While she was a bit off of her lifetime best, she stopped the clock in 2:00.80.
• 17-year old Ronald Dalmacio came way with the win in the 100 fly. In a tight race with Daniel Verdolaga, he finished with a time of 49.13.