Déjà vu: 7 of the First 8 Events on Saturday Also Won on Friday in Christiansburg

2024 SPEEDO SPRING SECTIONALS – CHRISTIANSBURG, VIRGINIA

• March 21-14, 2024
• Christiansburg Aquatic Center, Christiansburg, Virginia
• Psych Sheet
• Meet Central (with results)
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• Day 1 Recap | Day 2 Recap
• Day 1 Results | Day 2 Results | Day 3 Results

It was déjà vu on day 3 of the 2024 Speedo Spring Sectionals, as 7 of the day’s first 8 individual events on Friday were repeat winners from day 2 on Thursday.

That includes both 200 fly and both 200 breast winners climbing the ladder from their 100 yard wins in the same strokes a day earlier.

In the girls’ 200 fly, 16-year-old Alaina Sheets from the Hampton Dolphins won in 2:01.32, three-seconds ahead of Wilmington Aquatic Club’s Caitlin Horning (2:04.64). That swim by Sheets is an almost-three second improvement on her lifetime best following a 1.3 second drop in the 100 fly on Thursday.

She has been more of a backstroker to this point of her career, but this weekend might convince her to invest her future more in the butterfly races going into her junior season of high school.

One event later, Adriano Arioti of the Rockville Montgomery Swim Club ripped a 1:42.94 in the 200 fly to win my over six seconds. A Harvard commit, that knocks almost four-tenths off his best time from last March’s NCSA Championships.

That time would have ranked 3rd on Harvard’s team this season, where the program’s top butterflier was freshman David Schmitt swam 1:42.17.

Arioti swam a best time to win the 100 fly in 46.6 on Thursday.

Showing off his versatility on Saturday, Arioti also won the 100 back in 47.47. This was the most-competitive race he has had in three swims this week. 17-year-old Kade Snyder of Arena Club Aquatics in Maryland was 2nd in 47.62. Snyder had a .46 second lead at the halfway mark, but Arioti closed like a rocket with a final-50 split of 24.28 to take the win.

Snyder’s opening speed was no surprise: he won the 50 free earlier in the session in 20.55.

In the girls’ 100 back, Rachel Bockrath from the Wilmington Aquatic Club won in 55.14 (personal best), beating out Sheets’ runner-up swim of 55.89. Bockrath won the 200 free on Thursday.

Sheets’ runner-up performance was about eight-tenths off her personal best from last week’s Pennsylvania High School State Championship meet, which further contextualizes her butterfly potential.

Bockrath also won the 50 free on Saturday in 22.81, just-missing a personal best by .03 seconds.

Both the girls’ and boys’ 200 breaststrokes were also won by the same swimmers who won the 100s a day earlier. In the girls’ race, the winner was Sarah Shaffer of Pine Richland Aquatics in 2:17.88. She did most of her work in the first 150 yards, with 15-year-old Cailin Maley matching Shaffer’s final 50 split and finishing 2nd in 2:19.40.

Shaffer, a Kentucky commit, won both breaststroke races, but didn’t swim best times in either. She swam 2:15.92 in the 200 in December 2022.

In the boys’ race, it was 29-year-old engineer Andrew Brower who won in 2:01.52. The former Ohio State Buckeyes has done his lifetime bests in both the 100 and the 200 breaststrokes in the last year, including a 2:00.24 in this 200 breast three weeks ago.

The top junior swimmer in that race was 16-year-old high school sophomore Kyle Li from the Dragon Swim Team in 2:03.15. He too went a best time earlier this month (2:02.99).

Other Day 3 Winners & Notables

• The New Jersey Race Club won a nail-biter of a girls’ 200 medley relay in 1:46.98, with Molly Cullen swimming a 22.98 anchor  to run down three different teams. Wilmington Aquatic Club finished 2nd in 1:47.16.
• Rockville Montgomery Swim Club had a similar nail-biter relay, though it was their butterflier Arioti who made the difference for them. He split 21.21 to erase a 2.7 second deficit as RMSC won in 1:33.97. DC Department of Parks and Recreation finished 2nd in 1:34.19.
• The 500 freestyles both had first-time meet winners. 17-year-old Greta Mott from Alleghany North Swim Club won the girls’ race in 5:02.27, while Alexander Barone from Charles River Aquatics won the boys’ race in 4:38.27. Barone was 2nd in the mile earlier in the meet.

Team Standings After Day 3

Combined Top 5:

1. RMSC – 308
2. New Jersey Race Club – 291
3. Machine Aquatics – 274
4. Tide Swimming – 260
5. Delaware Swim Team – 195

Boys’ Top 5:

1. RMSC – 228
2. Delaware Swim Team – 1458
3. Machine Aquatics – 124
4. New Jersey Race Club – 89
5. Arlington Aquatic Club – 86

Girls’ Top 5:

1. New Jersey Race Club – 202
2. Wilmington Aquatic Club – 178
3. ‘Tide Swimming – 177
4. Machine Aquatics – 150
5. Loyola Blakefield Aquatics – 108