2022 YMCA Long Course National Championship
- July 19 to 23, 2022
- LCM (50m)
- Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, North Carolina
- Session Timeline
- Psych Sheets
- Meet Central
The 2022 YMCA Long Course Nationals begin next week, and many of the nation’s top junior swimmers competing.
One of the meet’s headliners is 16-year-old Daniel Diehl of the Cumberland YMCA in Cumberland, Maryland. He is entered in the 100/200 free and the 50/100/200 back, being the top seed in all of those events. In March this year, Diehl put up a time of 53.59 to take down Ryan Murphy‘s 15-16 national age group record in the 100 back, and will have another shot at breaking that record this week. He also has a shot of breaking other NAGs, as his best time of 49.71 is just 0.43 off Caeleb Dressel’s 15-16 NAG in the 100 free. In addition, he is also #13 in the 200 free and #8 in the 200 back for the 15-16 age group, and could potentially move up in those rankings as well.
The girls’ side of the meet is also stacked with talent, with a lot of the top New Jersey swimmers set to make their mark.
At the short couse YMCA nationals this year, Anna Moesch made headlines swimming times of 21.96/47.76/1:44.10 in the 50/100/200-yard freestyle to become the top-ranked sprinter in the class of 2024. But she’s a great long course swimmer, having qualified for the Junior Pan Pacs team in the 50 and 100 free. She’s entered in those two events at YNats, in addition to the 200 free, 400 free, 400 IM, 100 back, and 200 IM. She doesn’t usually swim the longer distance events at major meets, so we could be seeing her experiment with some “off” events that we aren’t used to seeing her swim. However, she’s going to have to drop two events, as there is a maximum of five individual events that a swimmer can enter.
This meet gives Moesch an opportunity to climb up the 15-16 age group rankings, especially in the 100 free when she’s ranked #7 with her best time of 54.84.
Emily Thompson, Moesch’s club teammate at the Great Somerset County YMCA in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, is the top seed in the 200 IM, 200 fly, and 100 back and the second seed in the 100 fly and 200 back. She’s also going to be on the Junior Pan Pacs this year, and is set to swim the 200 IM.
Two other names to watch (who also happen to be from New Jersey) include Clare Logan and Sarah Rodrigues. Logan is the second seed in the 50/100 free behind Moesch, and her entry time of 25.79 is just a few tenths slower than Moesch’s 25.29. She will also be swimming in the 100 back, 50 fly, and 50 back. Rodrigues, at just 15 years old, ripped a 2:13.89 200 back just two weeks ago and is the top seed in the event. She’s the top seed in the 50 back and the second seed in the 100 back as well, and is also entered in the 100 fly and 200 IM.
Overall, this meet is extremely New Jersey-dominated, with 20 out of the 44 top seeds in each event being from the Garden State.
