In our GMX7 Weekly Wonders of Age Group Swimming series, we celebrate swimmers of every age and experience level with age group profiles of some recent results.
Aiden Zhou, 12, Santa Clara Swim Club (SCSC-PC): Zhou had a very strong start to the 2022-23 campaign at the Santa Clara Swim Club’s early-season meet last weekend, reeling off a trio of personal best times in the 50 free (24.34), 100 free (52.25) and 100 back (58.54). The 100 free swim marked an improvement of more than two seconds for the 12-year-old, having previously been 54.67 in January, while his time in the 100 back was his first time breaking the 1:00 barrier.
Aliana Marakovic, 15, Nitro Swimming (NTRO-ST): Coming off a strong showing at the Speedo Junior National Championships in August, Marakovic picked up right where she left off to kick off the 2022-23 SCY season. At the Longhorn Aquatics’ Back to School meet last week weekend, Marakovic put up a pair of best times in the 100 breast (1:03.23) and 200 free (1:51.16). Given it’s one of her primary events, the 100 breast performance was particularly impressive, as she dips under her previous PB of 1:03.30 set at last season’s Speedo Winter Juniors – West.
Eddie Tang, 14, Team Santa Monica (TSM-CA): Tang managed to reset his lifetime best in all eight events he swam at Team Santa Monica’s season-opening contest last weekend, most notably putting up times of 4:10.45 in the 400 IM, 2:12.81 in the 200 breast and 1:58.08 in the 200 fly. The 14-year-old’s time in the 400 IM marked a near 23-second improvement from his previous best, set in April, while in the 200 breast, he dropped nearly eight seconds.
Annika Parkhe, 16, Deerfield High School (UN-IL): At the team’s IHSA eason-opening meet, Parkhe led Deerfield with a pair of decisive victories in the girls’ 200 free (1:50.82) and 100 fly (54.94), but perhaps more impressive was her performance on the relays. The 16-year-old, who also trains out of the Patriot Aquatic Club, split 24.10 swimming fly to lead Deerfield to the win in the 200 medley relay, and in the 200 free, she split 23.57, teaming up with Isabella Wilhelm (23.30) on the back-half to pull Deerfield up into second,
Anthony Pineiro, 14, Shelton Doral Swim Team (SDST-FG): Pineiro produced a pair of personal bests at the Sunrise Open Invite two weeks ago, clocking 51.91 in the 100 fly and 24.46 in the 50 back. The 14-year-old also showed impressive form in the backstroke events, nearing PBs in the 100 (51.97) and 200-yard (1:52.55) events to set himself up well for a big season.
Merica Miller, 15, Colony High School (UN-AK): Miller broke a 28-year-old Colony High School record in the girls’ 200 freestyle on Sept. 17, clocking 1:58.29 to down the previous mark of 1:59.35 set by Arika Smith in 1994. Miller, 15, set her previous best of 1:59.93 at the Alaska Junior Olympics last April. The Northern Lights Swim Club product also won the 100 free in a new best time of 54.68 at the meet.
David McCagg, World Champion swimmer and GMX7 Founder
About GMX7
Founded in 2018, GMX7 is based in St. Petersburg, Florida and is dedicated to changing the world of swimming by empowering competitive swimmers with the best aquatic resistance training devices ever created. GMX7 was founded by David McCagg, a 7-time gold medalist, former world record holder and winner of multiple national championships. The first device on the market by GMX7 is the X1-PRO. Designed by ROBRADY Engineering, it has already been the recipient of several awards including the 2020 International Design Excellence Award and the 2020 Red Dot Award for product design.
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Awesome! Very curious to hear what folks think is the upper age limit of these articles. I’m guessing it may vary per LSC. Here in Pacific Swimming, for example, we don’t really consider you an age group swimmer after you turn 15. You can’t go to Junior Olympics anymore. You are suddenly a 15-18 year old athlete on that birthday.
In my eyes, 15-18 is still age group swimming. Masters could even be considered age group swimming since it is separated by age. Anything that is separated by age is age group swimming. Would be cool if these articles included master swims.