Drew Kibler Puts Up Two 15-16 Age Group Top 8 Times in Indy

2016 ARENA PRO SWIM SERIES AT INDIANAPOLIS

Carmel Swim Club is well-known for excellence, especially with female swimmers like Amy BilquistClaire Adams, and Veronica Burchill of late. Now, 16-year-old Drew Kibler is starting to make a name for himself, too, as a member of CSC.

He’s had a great meet thus far at the Arena PSS at Indianapolis, kicking off the meet with a B final win in the 200 free. His time of 1:50.42 was a new best, and also moved him up to #8 all-time in the 15-16 age group. By looking at his times and ages in the USA Swimming database, it seems as though his birthday is sometime in late February or early March, so he’s still got a lot of time left in the 15-16 category.

200 free top times for the 15-16 age group 

  1. Caeleb Dressel 1:48.64
  2. Ian Crocker 1:49.48
  3. Maxime Rooney 1:49.54
  4. Michael Domagala 1:49.88
  5. Gunnar Bentz 1:50.00
  6. Nicholas Alexiou 1:50.34 (TIE)
  7. Townley Haas 1:50.35 (TIE)
  8. Drew Kibler 1:50.42
  9. Aidan Burns 1:50.48
  10. Reed Malone 1:50.74

Kibler also swam a 23.02 in prelims of the 50 free, tying with Joao De Lucca for 8th. He lost the swim-off to get into the A-final, but broke 23 for the first time with a 22.97, which places him 6th all-time in his age group.

50 free top times for the 15-16 age group 

  1. Michael Andrew 22.33
  2. Caeleb Dressel 22.39
  3. Shayne Fleming 22.72
  4. James Jones 22.81
  5. Daniel Krueger 22.89
  6. Drew Kibler 22.97
  7. Nathan Rickard 23.07
  8. Kyle Bubolz 23.15
  9. Ben Anderson 23.19
  10. Luke Hemmingsen 23.20

That puts Kibler in some pretty elite company. The sprinter is also ranked 12th in the 100 free rankings with a 50.70 from last month (he also swam 23.07 in the 50 and 1:51.00 in the 200 at the same meet last month), and he has yet to compete in the 100 in Indianapolis. He’s only a tenth away from Townley Haas’s 10th-ranked time (50.60), while Caeleb Dressel’s 49.28 NAG record is still the only sub-50 swim by a 15-16 year old.

It’s rarer to see this kind of elite development from boys in the age group ranks since boys usually mature later than girls, but Kibler is knocking on the doors of A finals at a Pro Swim Series meet with a ton of talent. In addition, his performances these last two meets is very impressive considering that he is probably focusing his full taper on the Olympic Trials in three weeks.

Kibler has the top seed in the B final of the 50 free tonight, and he’s entered in the 100 free as well at this meet.

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Hswimmer
8 years ago

Relay spot in his sights maybe??

bobo gigi
8 years ago

Carmel knows how to develop young talents. They have impressive results for several years.
Kibler is part of group of young promising US sprinters with guys like Jack Dolan or Daniel Krueger. All are 2 or 3 years younger than Rooney and Hoffer and will quickly break the 50-second barrier.

About Karl Ortegon

Karl Ortegon

Karl Ortegon studied sociology at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, graduating in May of 2018. He began swimming on a club team in first grade and swam four years for Wesleyan.

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