2021 YMCA Spring Festival – Voorhees
- April 8-11, 2021
- NL Aquatic Center, Voorhees, NJ
- Short Course Yards
- Results on Meet Mobile “YMCA Swimming Festival NJ”
On the final night of the YMCA Swimming Festival in New Jersey, 18-year-old GSCY teammates Jack Alexy and Matt Fallon threw down massive personal bests in the 100 freestyle and 200 breaststroke, respectively.
During prelims, Alexy cruised to a time of 43.80 to take the top seed going into finals. Then, Alexy unleashed a time of 42.63 during finals, slashing two tenths of a second off of his best time. Alexy’s time moves him to 14th all time in the 17-18 age group, right behind Olympic champion Nathan Adrian. In addition, the Cal commit’s time would have made him the 3rd fastest swimmer on the team’s roster this past season.
Matt Fallon posted a personal best in the 200 breaststroke. Fallon swam a time of 1:51.68 during prelims to knock almost 2 seconds off of his best time. Then, he cut even more time during finals, touching in a time of 1:51.39. Fallon’s swim makes him the 2nd fastest 17-18 year-old swimmer in age-group history, coming within .01 of Josh Matheny’s NAG record of 1:51.38 that he set in December. For the Penn commit, his time would have also won the 2020 Ivy League Championship title, and placed 4th at the 2021 NCAA Championship meet.
With their performances, both boys set new YMCA National Records in their respective events. Alexy crushed Olympian Ryan Held’s record of 43.31 in the 100 freestyle, while Fallon sliced over 2 seconds off of Max McHugh’s record in the 200 breaststroke.
Both boys also joined teammates Trent Russano and Rob Alexy on the 400 freestyle relay, winning in a time of 3:00.55. Notably, their time fell just outside of the YMCA National record, which currently stands at a 3:00.37.
17-year-old James Curreri won the 200 backstroke by over 3 seconds, touching in a time of 1:45.29 for the victory. Curreri dropped almost 2 seconds off of his best time with his performance, dipping under 1:46 for the first time.
In the longest event of the day, the 1650 freestyle, 17-year-old Theo Rennard claimed victory by over 10 seconds, finishing with a final time of 15:48.30. Behind him, Kevin McNamara sliced over 7 seconds off of his best time, coming into the wall with a time of 15:59.94.
17-year-old Bridget Thomas won the women’s 1650 with a time of 17:02.32, coming in slightly ahead of Aislinn Mooney’s time of 17:04.51. Both swimmers dropped significant amounts of time, with Thomas dropping almost 12 seconds and Mooney slicing 40 seconds off of her best time.
15-year-old Clare Logan got her second win of the weekend by taking the women’s 100 freestyle with a time of 48.91, dropping almost exactly a second off of her best time of 49.90. Logan won the race by a second and a half ahead of Catherine Meisner’s time of 50.48.
Another 15-year-old, Emily Thompson, won the women’s 200 backstroke, claiming the top spot with a time of 1:58.14. 17-year-old Lily Hughes swam a huge best time to take second, cutting 5 seconds off of her personal best to touch in 1:59.27.
Emily Constable completed the breaststroke sweep by winning the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:19.50, cutting just over a tenth of a second off of her best time en route to victory.
The Greater Somerset team of Meisner, Grace Zhou, Danielle D’Ambrosio, and Thompson claimed victory in the women’s 400 freestyle relay, touching with a time of 3:24.80. On the Westfield Y’s relay, the aforementioned Logan led off with a split of 48.81, making her the 28th fastest performer in 15-16 age-group history at only 15-years-old, tying world record holder Regan Smith and Stanford standout Janet Hu.
an age grouper is going to break 1:50 in the 2 breast in the next 5 years. I guarantee it.
I agree.
If it was not Olympic year (no trials) (and not Covid-19 loss of season last year), Josh Matheny (18) would likely do it already. Unfortunately, he did not (and will not) have a chance to swim 200br SCY fully tapered.
His 2:09 LCM at Junior Worlds as 16 year old (from 2 years ago) and his recent 2:11 from Speedo Sectionals means likely under 1:50 in 200br SCY.
That 200 breast is nuts. What was the record before Whitley plowed through?
Oh woah, nvm Cordes went 1:51 in 2012 but it took USA swimming a while to recognize it
Have Alexy and Fallon always been club teammates?
No, they used to be on SHY and SVY. But the two clubs merged this year I believe
That must be an insane training group
Yep, its true now the whole team is insanely fast and would easily be able to win Y States, NAGS, and JOS. I believe that Thompson would have also qualified for trials in the 200 IM if her time was converted
The Alexy and Fallon families had both been with SHY. All four Alexy swimmers have been with SHY throughout. Katie and Billy Fallon finished up with SHY while Matt moved to SVY a few years ago. The two clubs have since merged so Matt and Jack are teammates again.
David Curtiss also threw down a 42.80 on the leadoff leg of his relay, which is a big PB I believe. Fast swimming all around
Curtiss also scratched the A final of the 100 free against Alexy
That race went unnoticed
I think he’ll be in the final at trials.