Florida Club Roundup: Highlights From Area Tallahassee, Planet Swim & Bolles

A trio of club meets in Florida produced some noteworthy results over the last few weeks, with swimmers competing in Tallahassee, Ponte Vedra and Jacksonville.

Find a brief rundown of some of the highlights from each meet below.

2022 FL ATAC LC Open

• June 24-26, 2022
• Tallahassee, Florida
• Trousdell Aquatic Center
• LCM (50m)
• Results (Swimcloud)
• Results on Meet Mobile: “ATAC LC Open”

Brothers Ethan Ekk and Owen Ekk had some of the top swims in their home pool at the Area Tallahassee LC Open, both putting up times that rank among the fastest in the U.S. this season for their respective ages.

Ethan Ekk, 15, clocked in six best times for the competition, including a standout 2:06.01 swim in the boys’ 200 backstroke. That swim improves upon his previous best of 2:07.18 set last July, and ranks him fourth this season among 15-year-olds and 94th all-time.

Ekk also went 1:55.16 in the 200 free to rank ninth among 15-year-old this season, 59.24 in the 100 back to sit 14th, and added new PBs in the 100 free (53.88), 200 IM (2:13.25) and 400 IM (4:41.58).

Owen Ekk, 13, came into the meet with a lifetime best of 2:00.00 in the 200 free, and brought that all the way down to 1:58.91 at the competition, tying him for 30th all-time among 13-year-old boys and ranking second in the 2021-22 season.

He was also 2:16.79 in the 200 IM to rank 11th this season among 13-year-olds.

Another notable swim on the male side of the meet came German native and Florida State Seminole Peter Varjasi, who clocked in a time of 50.09 in the 100 freestyle. Varjasi owns a best of 49.45 set back in 2018.

The Ekk family dominance continued on the girls’ side, as 16-year-old Bella Ekk won six gold medals at the competition and had some of the top swims in the 50 free (27.49), 100 free (59.14) and 200 free (2:08.44).

2022 FL Planet Swim Summer Championship

• June 24-26, 2022
• Ponte Vedra, Florida
• Planet Swim
• LCM (50m)
• Results (PDF)
• Results on Meet Mobile: “2022 Planet Swim Summer Championships”

Raleigh Swimming Association’s Brasen Walker made huge strides at the Planet Swim Summer Championships in Ponte Vedra, knocking nearly half a second off his best time in the 100 breaststroke.

Walker, 16, touched in 1:04.42 to lower his previous best of 1:04.90 set last July (when he was also 16, meaning he’ll be aging up soon), ranking him ninth this season among 16-year-olds. He’s also just 12 one-hundredths shy of cracking the all-time top 100 in the 15-16 age group.

The other standouts from the meet were a pair of 11-year-old boys: Austin Tomas and Reef McMeeking.

Loggerhead Aquatics’ Thomas clocked 2:34.77 in the 200 fly and 2:33.60 in the 200 back to rank fourth and sixth this season among 11-year-old boys, respectively, while Hydro4 Swimming’s McMeeking registered a 2:29.94 in the 200 IM to sit fifth among 11-year-olds in 2021-22.

2022 BSS TYR June Classic

• June 23-26, 2022
• Jacksonville, Florida
• The Bolles School
• LCM (50m)
• Results (Swimcloud)
• Results on Meet Mobile: “2022 BSS TYR June Classic”

The Bolles School meet featured some rising talents from the Sharks, along with a few University of Florida swimmers and incoming Harvard freshman Kiley Wilhelm of Life Time – Cary.

Wilhelm, 17, put up some noteworthy times in the girls’ 100 fly (59.89), 100 back (1:02.37) and 200 IM (2:16.80), none of which were too far off her lifetime bests. In the 100 fly, her swim was just seven-tenths off the 59.19 she clocked at the U.S. International Team Trials two months earlier.

We also saw rising Florida senior Talia Bates put up similar times to finish in the runner-up position to Wilhelm in both the 100 back (1:02.50) and 100 fly (1:00.68), while another Gator, Canadian Mabel Zavaros, had five top-three finishes including wins in the 400 IM (4:45.61), 200 IM (2:14.70) and 800 free (8:44.19).

Zavaros was recently named to Canada’s Commonwealth Games team later this month after Penny Oleksiak withdrew.

Other strong swims from Gators included La Mirada Armada’s Kevin Vargas, who neared his PB with a 2:02.12 200 IM, and GSC’s Mason Laur, who rattled off strong bests in the 200 IM (2:03.18) and 400 IM (4:24.62).

In the age group ranks, Bolles School swimmers Eldad Zamir and Louis Joos did some damage in the boys’ breaststroke events.

Joos dropped his PB down from 1:08.55 to 1:06.93, slotting him into the top spot this season among 14-year-old boys and tied for 61st all-time.

Zamir swam to a best of 1:05.73, good for ninth among 15-year-olds in the U.S. this season, and also went 2:22.55 in the 200 breast to rank fifth.