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.
Get used to the name Claire Tuggle.
The 12-year-old freestyler from the Clovis Swim Club in California is quickly rewriting the National Age Group record books by taking down one of swimming’s most storied names. This past weekend, Tuggle broke a 40-year-old NAG record in the 500 freestyle set by Olympic medalist, world champ and former world record-holder Sippy Woodhead.
Tuggle went 4:49.32 on Friday night, becoming just the second 11-12 to ever break 4:50 in the event. She took two tenths off of Woodhead’s record, which was the third-oldest record left on the USA Swimming NAG record books. Woodhead set the record back in 1977.
Tuggle also broke the 200 freestyle NAG record twice on Thursday, showing historic age group speed in the mid-distance freestyle events.
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The oldest TWO records were swum in the same heat: the 1976 OT men’s 1500. 15-16 record, Bobby Hackett, 15:03. 13-14 record, Jesse Vassallo, 15:32. I can say with absolute certainty that the 13-14 record will never be broken. Never. I am not being hyperbolic. This record will never be broken. Think about how good a time that is for senior men: it’s like an in-season race for the top American distance freestylers of any age. This was done by a 14yo kid in an outdoor pool with a lycra brief, 41 years ago.
So what are the two oldest NAG records? Are these all listed somewhere…USA Swimming?
Records are here: http://www.usaswimming.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabId=1480&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en-US
Mary Meagher’s 15-16 200 yard fly record from 1981 looks oldest for SCY.
We need to see how she swims in the BIG POOL. Can’t wait to see her long course swims!
She swims really fast in the “Bog Pool”
We already know that. She’s brilliant in long course too.
At the end of her 11 years and at the start of her 12 years last summer she swam 58.60/2.06.44/4.27.34/9.38.33/17.50.10 on freestyle. Add 2.47.90 in the 200 breast, 2.26.94 in the 200 IM and 5.11.04 in the 400 IM.
And when you know how much she has improved since then, next summer I think we can expect LCM times around 55 high/56 low in the 100 free, 2.01/2.02 in the 200 free and 4.18/4.20 in the 400 free. And maybe sub 9 minutes in the 800 free, sub 17 minutes in the 1500 free and sub 5 minutes in the 400 IM too.
I think Woodhead swam a 4:22 400 free when she was 12. I’m looking forward to following this young lady’s progress. She has a promising future!
Sippy Woodhead was a beast