Gretchen Walsh Adds 2 More Wins to Finish 6-for-6 at Southeastern LSC Champs

2021 SOUTHEASTERN SWIMMING LSC CHAMPIONSHIPS

• July 16-18, 2021
• Centennial Sportsplex (13 & Over), Nasvhille, Tennessee
• Long Course Meters (50m), Prelims/Finals
• Meet Site
• Live Results
• Day 1 Recap
• Day 2 Recap

Gretchen Walsh and Levenia Sim each picked up two victories on the final day of competition at the 2021 Southeastern Swimming LSC Championships, wrapping up banner meets for the pair as follow-ups to their Olympic Trials performances in June.

Walsh’s day began with a win in the 50 breaststroke in a new best time of 32.85. That gives her a clean sweep of the 50 meter events this week after winning the 50 fly, 50 back, and 50 free earlier in the meet.

Walsh finished her meet with a win in the 100 free, flat-startting 55.76. That’s about two seconds slower than her best time, done in 2019, but faster than what she swam in prelims of the Olympic Trials. She was expected to advance to at least the semi-finals in Omaha in June, but wound up 28th in prelims.

In total, Walsh came away with 6 individual and 2 relay wins at the meet:

• 50 fly – 26.73
• 100 back – 1:01.57
• 50 back – 28.60
• 50 free – 25.46
• 50 breast – 32.85
• 100 free – 55.76
• 400 free relay – 3:50.78 (55.59 anchor split)
• 400 medley relay – 4:12.75 (1:01.16 leadoff split)

With 6 wins in the maximum 6 individual events, Walsh was the high-point award winner of the meet with 129 total scored. Not far behind her in that tally were sisters Levenia Sim and Letitia Sim, who scored 104 and 100 points, respectively.

15-year old Levenia entered the final day of competition with top 4 finishes in her first 4 individual events, but on Sunday she returned dual victories in the 200 back and 100 fly.

In the 200 backstroke, she swam 2:15.91, which missed her best time by about half-a-second. She followed that up with a best time in the 100 fly, swimming 1:01.46. That cut .09 seconds off her previous best time from an Olympic Trials time trial swim in June.

In total, Levenia Sim posted best times in 4 of her 6 events over the weekend.

Older sister Letitia Sim, 18, was just behind her in the 100 fly final, placing 2nd in 1:01.85. While she didn’t add any wins on Sunday, she did pick up 2 earlier in the meet.

The boys’ high point scorer was Mason Mathias of the Birmingham Swim League, who picked up 111 individual points. That included adding a 5th win on Sunday in 6 races by winning the boys’ 200 IM in 2:07.40.

It was a breakout week for the Auburn commit (one of several Auburn commits who performed well at the meet) that swam him huge swim best times in 4 of his 5 victories. The only blemish on his record individually was an 8th-place finish in the boys’ 100 fly to finish the meet, though even there he swam a best time in prelims.

Mathias’ full meet results:

• 200 free – 1:50.92 (1st – 4.10 second drop)
• 400 IM – 4:29.82 (1st – 22.37 second drop)
• 200 fly – 2:01.93 (1st – .26 second add)
• 400 free – 4:00.24 (1st – .97 second drop)
• 200 IM – 2:07.40 (1st – 6.8 second drop)
• 100 fly – 59.07 (8th – 56.31 in prelims – 1.01 second drop)

Other Day 3 Winners and highlights:

• 15-year old Sophie Kiryk from City of Mobile Swim Team won the women’s 1500 free in 17:40.73. That’s a new lifetime best by more than 16 seconds from her previous best time done in March. In fact, almost every swimmer in the field swam either a first time or a best time in the senior 1500.
• Jack Rowell from the Greater Pensacola Aquatic Club won the men’s senior 1500 free in 16:08.56, knocking more than 25 seconds off his personal best. A pair of Baylor Swim Club athletes, Josean Massucco (16:20.63) and Sam Flack (16:22.26) gave Rowell a push for the first 900 meters or so, but eventually fell off Rowell’s steady back-third pace, leaving the 17-year old with a comfortable margin of victory.
• Luke Maggiore of the Panama City Swim Team won the boys’ 50 breast in 29.56, dancing past Julian Killius of the host Nashville Aquatic Club by .05 seconds for the win. Killius, who won both the 100 and 200 breaststrokes, swam a time of 29.61 – which is actually just .01 seconds better than the first 50 meters of his 100 meter breaststroke was on Friday. He swam a big best time in that 100 breaststroke, and was almost four seconds faster there than Maggiore, but Maggiore found another gear for the 50 meter race.
• City of Mobile got another win on Sunday when Stephen Conrad topped the boys’ 200 backstroke in 2:06.32. For the NC State commit, that’s a best time and a second win of the meet after earlier winning the 100 back in a best time of 56.46.
• City of Mobile’s third win of the day came in the boys’ 100 free, where Andrew Jordan pulled off an upset to win in 51.64 ahead of Evan Petty‘s 51.89. Jordan entered the meet with a best time of 54.14, but after winning Alabama state titles in the 500 free and 200 free in December and posting big short course drops through the winter, he was due for an improvement in this event. Petty’s 2nd-place swim was also a best time after a 52.51 in March. Jordan is committed to Auburn for 2022 and Petty is committed to Cal for 2021.
• GPAC’s Landry Hadder grabbed her first win of the meet, cruising to a victory in the 200 IM in 2:24.17. She was pushed by Memphis Tiger’s Grace Ciaramitaro on the backstroke leg, but Hadder’s breaststroke separated the two for good.