Disclaimer: BlueSeventy 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 BlueSeventy Swim 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.
At USA Swimming’s Winter Junior Championships – East, the opening night saw two of the best age group 800 free relays in history, punctuated by two of the best leadoff splits in age group history.
The teams from Carmel Swim Club in Indiana and Mason Manta Rays in Ohio both rattled the 15-18 National Age Group (NAG) record while battling for the event win. Carmel ultimately took the title and the record in 6:28.25, with Mason going 6:28.95 for second. The old record was a 6:28.90 set by SwimMAC in 2013 with a lineup that included future NCAA All-Americans and U.S. National Teamers Matthew Josa, Michael Chadwick and Kyle Darmody along with Ivy League champ and All-America honorable mention Jack Manchester.
In addition, 17-year-old Drew Kibler led off in 1:33.78 for Carmel, passing the legendary Michael Phelps for #7 all-time in the 17-18 age group. 16-year-old Carson Foster led off in 1:33.76 for Mason, moving up to #3 all-time for the 15-16s.
Here’s a look at the splits of both relays compared to the NAG record, plus the top all-time lists for both age group 200 frees:
| SWIMMAC ’13 | CARMEL ’17 | MASON ’17 |
| Matthew Josa – 1:38.49 | Drew Kibler – 1:33.78 |
Carson Foster – 1:33.76
|
| Jack Manchester – 1:37.49 | Brett Sherman – 1:39.62 |
Adam Chaney – 1:40.75
|
| Michael Chadwick – 1:38.12 | Jacob Mitchell – 1:38.87 |
David McDonald – 1:39.30
|
| Kyle Darmody – 1:34.80 | Wyatt Davis – 1:35.98 |
Jake Foster – 1:35.14
|
| 6:28.90 | 6:28.25 | 6:28.95 |
Top 17-18 200y Frees All-Time
- Maxime Rooney, 1:32.18, 2017
- Tom Kremer, 1:33.07, 2013
- Grant Shoults, 1:33.26, 2016
- Troy Dalbey, 1:33.28, 1987
- Townley Haas, 1:33.38, 2015
- Michael Jensen, 1:33.76, 2016
- Drew Kibler, 1:33.78, 2017
- Michael Phelps, 1:33.82, 2003
- Tom Shields, 1:33.83, 2009
- Caeleb Dressel, 1:33.95, 2015
Top 15-16 200y Frees All-Time
- Drew Kibler, 1:33.30, 2017
- Jack Walker, 1:33.73, 2016
- Carson Foster, 1:33.76, 2017
- Maxime Rooney, 1:34.57, 2014
- Jack Dolan, 1:34.78, 2017
You can watch video of the race below:
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Unfortunately the video posted doesn’t even show the recird being broken because the whole race only shows Mason Manta Rays.
The 800 free relay was filled with fast swims from these two teams and several others! It really set the tone for an exciting weekend of fast swimming. Congratulations to Carmel for getting the record!