Five Meet Records Fall On Day 1 Of Columbia Speedo Sectionals

2023 REGION VIII SUMMER SECTIONALS – COLUMBIA

• July 12-15, 2023
• Mizzou Aquatics Center, Columbia, MO
• LCM (50 meters)
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheet
• Live Results on MeetMobile
  • “2023 Region VIII Speedo Summer Sectionals”

The first of seven Speedo Sectional meets going on this week kicked off in Columbia, Missouri yesterday. The first day of action saw the 50 fly, 200 back, 50 free, 200 breaststroke, women’s 800, and men’s 1500. The relay of the day was the 800 freestyle relay for both men and women.

Rising Nebraska sophomore Gena Jorgenson opened up the session with a victory in the 800 freestyle. She dropped over twenty seconds from her personal best time to touch first at 8:44.58, which marks a new meet record. Her swim also secures a 2024 Olympic Trials cut, with this being her 2nd after getting under the standard in the 1500 at Nationals.

Jorgenson returned later in the session for the the A-final of the 200 backstroke, where she logged another best time of 2:15.05 to take 2nd. Winning the event with a time of 2:14.40 was was 15-year-old Sydney Schoeck from Rockwood Swim Club. Schoeck’s swim marked a new personal best by over a second, and moves her to 4th so far this year for 15-year-old girls.

A pair of teenagers went 1-2 in the 1500, led by 15-year-old Whitaker Steward from the Tsunami Swim Team. Steward stopped the clock at 15:43.78, which is a best time by over 46 seconds and a new meet record. Finished 2nd was Steward’s teammate,14-year-old Ellis Crisci. Crisci knocked over 25 seconds off his personal best to post a 15:53.46, which ranks him 16th all-time among 13-14 boys.

Mizzou’s group had a strong showing in the 50 fly, as Sarah Thompson and Daniel Wilson got their hands on the wall first. Thompson out-touched Francesca Smith by 0.02 to win in a meet record time 27.32, while Wilson beat out 15-year-old John Thumann by half a second with a 23.91, also marking a meet record.

Wilson went for two-for-two later in the session with another victory in the 50 freestyle. He logged a 23.28 to top the field by a tenth, with the next fastest finisher being Alireza Yavari Foroushani (23.38). Wilson’s best time in this event is 22.71, which he established at this same meet a year ago.

Thumann, who swims with the Sooner Swim Club, took 3rd in the 50 free with a best time of 23.45. His swim moves him inside the all-time top-100 for the event to rank 85th overall.

In the next sprint event, the 50 freestyle, 17-year-old Avery Karl managed to hold on to her top seed. Karl was the only swimmer to crack 26-seconds as she touched first at 25.93. Karl’s performance puts her within half a second of her personal best in the event, which stands at 25.54 from Summer Juniors last summer.

The session closed out with the 200 breaststroke. On the women’s side, Nebraska had a fantastic showing with JoJo Randby and Maia Hall taking 1st (2:34.72) and 3rd (2:36.16), respectively, with Randby’s marking a personal best by a tenth. In the men’s race, Mizzou’s Logan Ottke dominated the field with a new meet record time of 2:16.07. His swim is a massive improvement, with his previous best time standing at 2:21.29 from May.

Rounding out the individual winners from last night is Andrew Baklanov from Empire KC Swim Club, who won the 200 backstroke with a 2:03.48. The 16-year-old took off a total of four seconds from his entry time, moving him to 6th this season for 15-16 boys.

The final event of the session was the men’s and women’s 800 freestyle relays. Empire KC’s team of Karl (2:08.24), Elodie Cox (2:13.20), Emma Hagan (2:10.44), and Helena Tietjen (2:05.40) narrowly beat the Razorback Aquatic Club with a time of 8:37.28.

Tsunami Swim Team’s group of Crisci (1:59.86), Steward (1:56.90), Derek Long (1:58.69), and Leo Kurucz (1:52.67) decisively claimed the title on the men’s side with a final time of 7:48.12.