Campbell McKean from Bend Swim Club Hits Olympic Trials Cut at Winter Juniors Time Trials

2023 Speedo Winter Junior Championships – West (LONG COURSE TIME TRIAL)

• December 10, 2023
• FMC Aquatic Center, Westmont, Illinois
• Long Course Meters (50m)
• Results

After the conclusion of racing at last week’s Winter Junior Championships, both the East and West meet hosted long course time trials for swimmers who were still chasing Olympic Trials cuts, which must be achieved in a long course pool, or other standards (Summer Juniors, or Junior National Team selection, for example).

One new Olympic Trials cut emerged from the two-session, all-morning time trials. 17-year-old Campbell McKean from the Bend Swim Club in Oregon swam 2:03.07 in the 200 IM. His previous best time, done at the Summer Junior Nationals, was a 2:04.44. Most of that drop came from being way more aggressive on the opening butterfly leg, going from 27.32 to 26.05, though he showed good improvements in breaststroke too.

That drop came after a big performance in the yards portion of the meet that saw him swim best times in the 100 breast (53.87), 200 fly (1:46.75), 200 IM (1:44.23), and 400 IM (3:46.55). He was the runner-up in both IM races.

McKean is a high school junior who is verbally committed to attend USC in fall 2025. There he will join his Bend Swim Club teammate Diggory Dillignham, who graduated high school in the spring but is taking a gap year to train at home for the Olympic Trials.

The fastest 50 freestyler in the high school class of 2023, Dillingham time-trialed a 22.82 in the 50 free on Sunday. That’s off his best of 22.48, but he only swam one best time on the week – the 200 yard free in a modest 1:42.59.

Other Highlights of the Weekend

• 13-year-old Mikayla Tan of DART Swimming in California swam 2:33.77 in the 200 breaststroke, shaving a few tenths off her prior best time of 2:34.40. While USA Swimming doesn’t keep single-age records, but that appears to be the 8th-best 200 breaststroke by an American 13-year-old in history. Among those faster than her is NASA Wildcats’ Grace Koenig-Song, who swam 1:11.82 in the 100 breast on Sunday (not a best time). The Olympic Trials cut in the 200 is 2:31.69.
• Also in that 100 breast, Hayley Gregory from the Crow Canyon Sharks swam 1:11.02, a best time by 1.25 seconds. Other good results included a 1:12.44 from 13-year-old Madi King of the Lake Forest Swim Club in Illinois, which is a new personal best for her.
• JD Thumann, a 15-year-old from the Sooner Swim Club in Oklahoma posted a 53.80 in the 100 fly, which is the fastest time in the US so far this season in the long course version of the race. That’s a new best time by half-a-second, and would’ve been the second-best 15 & under in the US last season. Shareef Elaydi, a 14-year-old from the Santa Clara Swim Club, was 2nd on Sunday in 55.10, which is a best time and nation-leader for him as well.
• 17-year-old Marre Gattnar from North Bay Aquatics in California won the 100 free in 50.80. That knocked more than a second off his best time. He also went a personal best in the 50 free (23.18) in long course, and in six different events in yards – including 19.53 in the 50 free, 43.06 in the 100 free, and 1:35.60 in the 200 free. He’s a high school senior headed to Harvard in the fall.