Cal-Bound Max Goettsch Routs IL State Record with 1:49.70 200 Free at Minneapolis Sectionals

2025 Summer Sectionals – Minneapolis

• July 10-13, 2025
• Jean K Freeman Aquatic Center, Minneapolis, MN
• LCM (50m)
• Results available on MeetMobile, search “2025 USA Swimming CZ North Speedo Sectionals”
• Day 1 Recap

Day 2 of the 2025 Summer Sectionals meet in Minneapolis saw more great swimming. Towards the beginning of Friday night’s finals session, FMC Aquatic Club 18-year-old Max Goettsch routed at Illinois state record, winning the men’s 200 free in 1:49.75. Goettsch entered the meet with a career best of 1:51.39, which he swam just two weeks ago at the CW Eric Namesnik Memorial Invite in Ann Arbor Michigan. With his performance last night, Goettsch not only took 1.64 seconds off his career best, he also became the first 18&U boy from Illinois to break 1:50 in the LCM 200 free. The previous Illinois 17-18 state record was held by Reed Malone at 1:51.20 from 2012.

Goettsch, a rising freshman at Cal, swam a great race last night, getting out to a 25.67 on the opening 50, then splitting 27.65, 28.46, and 27.97 respectively by 50 the rest of the way. He was also big on the FMC men’s 400 free relay at the end of the session, helping his team to a 2nd place finish with a very speedy 49.70 on the anchor.

Here is a video of Goettsch’s 200 free last night:

Minnesota’s Katie McCarthy was strong in the women’s 200 free as well, winning the race in 2:01.19. That time comes in just a hair off McCarthy’s career best of 2:01.16, which she swam just two weeks ago at the MN AQJT Aquajets Summer Spectacular. Of note, Edina Swim Club 16-year-old Adalynn Biegler had a great swim as well, taking 2nd in 2:01.82. That performance marks a huge new career best for the rising high school junior, taking well over a second off her previous PB of 2:03.17, which she set back in May.

Biegler would go on to help the Edina Swim Club w0men’s 400 free relay to victory as well, leading her team off in 56.39. Lydia Cameron (58.39), Faith Lamah (58.03), and Libbi McCarthy (56.40), the younger sister of Katie McCarthy, made up the rest of that relay, which finished in 3:49.21.

Aquajets Swim Team won the men’s 400 free relay, seeing Jiarui Xue (52.12), Patrick Curran (52.73), Drew Ploof (51.18), and Micah Davis (52.32) combine for a 3:28.35.

Xue, 18, also picked up an individual win on the night, taking the men’s 400 IM by a decisive margin with a 4:27.44. A rising freshman at Princeton, Xue clipped his previous career best of 4:28.01, also winning the race by 9 seconds. He swam a well-rounded race last night, splitting 1:00.39 on fly, 1:09.04 on back, 1:18.23 on breast, and 59.78 on free.

Minneosta’s Grace Drabot won the women’s 400 IM in a tight race with Edina Swim Club 17-year-old Cate Pawlaski. The duo was neck-and-neck at the end of the fly leg, where Pawlaski split 1:07.54 to Drabot’s 1:07.62. Drabot would then take the lead over on backstroke, splitting 1:18.14 compared to Pawlaski’s 1:19.52, which put Drabot into the 200 in 2:25.76, over a second ahead of Pawlaski (2:27.06). There was another lead change on breast, where Pawlaski split 1:23.46 to Drabot’s 1:24.96, which put Pawlaski into the 300m turn 0.20 seconds ahead of Drabot. The race came down to a photo finish, as Drabot split 1:06.14 on free, while Pawalski was 1:06.45. At the finish, Drabot stopped the clock in 4:56.86, just 0.11 seconds ahead of Pawlaski’s 4:56.97.

Schroeder YMCA Swim Team’s 15-year-old Maggie Dickinson won the women’s 100 back in 1:01.72 last night. With the performance, Dickinson clipped her previous PB of 1:01.93, which she swam back in May. She was out pretty fast, splitting 29.96 on the opening 50, then came home in 31.76.

Wisconsin’s Sam Lorenz, who is competing for Schroeder Y, won the men’s 100 back in 55.11 last night. His swim comes in just off his career best of 54.91, which he established last summer. Swimming in the ‘B’ final, Barrington Swim Club 15-year-old Robert Rosenbaum had a big swim, clocking a 57.84. That time took exactly 1 second off his previous best, putting him under 58 seconds for the first time in his young career.

YMCA of Dane County Swim Team’s Chiara Bauer swam a pair of para events on the night. Bauer first raced the women’s para 200 free, where she clocked a 3:03.49. She then went on to race the 100 back, where she swam a 1:47.34.