Swim Neptune Invitational
- September 25-27, 2020
- Centennial Pool, Kingman, Arizona
- LCM (50 meter pool)
- Results on Meet Mobile: “Swim Neptune Invitational”
A pair of pro swimmers from Team Elite in San Diego have made the trip to Arizona to line up in Western Arizona this weekend at the Swim Neptune Invitational.
With very few meets happening in California, most of the swimmers came from a handful of other teams in the Sunshine State, including the Mission Viejo Nadadores, Beach Cities Swimming, and La Mirada Armada, have also made the trip across the border to Arizona, where coronavirus restrictions are relatively-looser.
While Swim Neptune has sites all over the state of Arizona, this meet was held at their location close to the California border in Kingman, right off I-40 and a relatively-easy drive from Southern California.
Day 1 of the meet on Friday was light on starts, but there were a few noteworthy swims none-the-less. That includes Israeli National Record holder Andi Murez, who swam a 2:01.05 in the 200 long course meter freestyle.
This meet is her first official competition in over 6 months, since racing at the Des Moines Pro Swim Series meet in early March.
Murez’s 2020 Swims, 200 LCM Free:
- February 8, Nice, France – 2:00.80
- March 6, Des Moines, Iowa – 2:00.55
- September 25, Kingman, Arizona – 2:01.05
In spite of the challenges presented by COVID-19 this summer, her 2:01.05 on Friday was almost as fast as her 2019 best, which was a 2:00.80 done at August’s Israel Championships.
In the men’s 200 free, 17-year old Devin Esser, a UC San Diego commit, swam a new lifetime best of 1:55.93 in the 200 free in long course. That cuts almost a full second off his previous lifetime best of 1:56.90 in that event, which was swum in July of 2019.
His best time in yards is 1:41.50.
Among other pros at the meet is World Champion open water swimmer and 2016 US Olympian Jordan Wilimovsky. He swam the 800 free on Friday in 8:13.11 – which is about 28 seconds slower than his best time.
Willimovsky is already qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games in open water via his 5th-place finish in the 10km open water swim at the 2019 World Championships.
The more exciting swim in that 800 free was an 8:1627 from 15-year old Neptune swimmer Keaton Jones. Besides being a lifetime best for him by almost 14 seconds, that swims is the 5th-best by an American 15 & under in this Olympic cycle (since the Rio Olympics).
Other Day 1 Highlights
- Mission Viejo’s Katie Crom, a high school junior and the 14th-ranked swimmer in the class of 2022, led the girls’ 100 fly with a 1:01.75. That’s about a second slower than her personal best in the event.
- 15-year old Mission Viejo swimmer Macky Hodges dropped .57 seconds from her best to win the girls’ 100 back in 1:03.94.
We were INVITED to the meet last Saturday. I do not understand why this is Coaches fault. Arizona has done a great job social distancing and running the meet with a correct protocol. You are jealous and not real smart!
So glad Mark is here to set everybody straight. People who follow the rules = jealous and not real smart.
Of course, since there was an “invitation” then that should take precedent over any stated protocols with compliance or rules for all. Some people got invited to break the rules and some people agreed to break the rules.
I’m happy for the kids that got to race, but racing isn’t real until all kids get to race while following all the rules.
I always heard you were a bully, good to see it now in your own words.
Anybody else think that Mark Schubert sounds a lot like Donald Trump? “You are jealous and not real smart!”
Will swimmers quarantine upon return?
Looks like David Marsh, and many others, are just doing whatever they want to as usual. Hopefully this selfishness and blatant disregard of USA Swimming won’t lead to shut downs and delayed openings for others.
I’m curious how this was allowed. USA Swimming is not allowing teams from different LSCs until October 1st unless teams are geographically isolated (and teams in LA and OC are not geographically isolated, to say the least).
Rules don’t apply to Shady Joe.