2023 NJSIAA Meet Of Champions
- March 4, 2023 (prelims) to March 5, 2023 (finals)
- Gloucester Institute of Technology, Sewell, New Jersey
- Full Boys’ Prelims Results
- Full Girls’ Prelims Results
- SCY (25 yards)
A full NJSIAA Meet of Champs recap will be posted on Sunday after finals.
During the prelims session of the NJSIAA Meet of Champions, Haddonfield High School senior Henry McFadden scared the National High School record in the 200 free with a time of 1:32.97. The current record stands at 1:32.85, a time that was set by Aaron Shackell just last week at the Indiana Boys’ State Championships. In addition, McFadden also crushed Destin Lasco‘s meet record time of 1:35.17, which was clocked back in 2019.
McFadden now passes Carson Foster as the #7 U.S. performer of all-time in the 17-18 age group. He also joins Drew Kibler, Foster, and Shackell as one of the only four high schoolers to have gone sub-1:33 in the 200 free.
All-Time Top 200-Yard Free Performers, U.S. Boys’ 17-18 Age Group:
- Maxime Rooney — 1:32.18 (2017)
- Drew Kibler — 1:32.20 (2018)
- Luke Miller — 1:32.23 (2021)
- Luke Hobson — 1:32.31 (2022)
- Sam Hoover — 1:32.62 (2022)
- Aaron Shackell — 1:32.85 (2023)
- Henry McFadden — 1:32.97 (2023)
Coming into the meet, McFadden’s best time in the 200 free was a 1:33.07, which he swam at winter juniors last December. He paced his race at Meet of Champs completely differently than at winter juniors, as he was out 0.8 seconds faster but came home 0.7 seconds slower. Compared to Shackell though, McFadden still has a faster back half while Shackell outpaces him on the first 100.
Comparative Splits:
| Henry McFadden, 2023 NJSIAA Meet of Champions | Aaron Shackell, 2023 IHSAA Boys State Championships | Henry McFadden, 2022 Winter Juniors — East | |
| 50y | 21.81 | 21.46 | 22.08 |
| 100y | 23.36 (45.17) | 23.35 (44.81) | 23.89 (45.97) |
| 150y | 23.95 | 23.94 | 23.77 |
| 200y | 23.85 (47.80) | 24.10 (48.04) | 23.33 (47.10) |
| Total | 1:32.97 | 1:32.85 | 1:33.07 |
With McFadden and Shackell both being high school seniors, their recent swims in the 200 free mean that we could be in a good NCAA rivalry between the two swimmers in the next four years. This especially holds true because the two swimmers will be competing in the same conference, with McFadden being set to swim at Stanford while Shackell will be at Cal.
Headed into finals, McFadden is the top seed in the 200 free by nearly seven seconds. The second-fastest swimmer in the 200 free prelims was St. Augustine’s Anthony Mortellite, who swam a 1:39.38. McFadden and Mortellite are club teammates, both swimming for the Jersey Wahoos. McFadden also raced the 500 free, where he swam a time 4:27.82 to take top seed. His best time in the event is a 4:16.99.
The NJSIAA Meet Of Champions serves as an individual high school state championship meet for New Jersey swimmers. Team champions were crowned last week in dual meet bracket-style tournaments.
My guess is he goes for the 500 at finals. Shackell did the same thing with a 2 fr PB in prelims and 5 fr PB in finals.
But tomorrow is also his last shot at the National HS record in the 200 free—since he was so close today, he might as well try and go for it one more time. Meanwhile he’ll have to drop four seconds in the 500 to get the record there.
Oh man. Going to girls meet tomorrow…might stick around for afternoon session!!
Craziest thing about these two guys is that they both managed to have insane drops this year to get/approach the record. Unless I’m mistaken, both of them had just gone PB’s around 1:35 high/ 1:36 low at this time last year. If I’m a coach at Cal or Stanford, I’m foaming out the mouth at the potential they have.
McFadden vs. Shackell is going to be so interesting to watch in the Pac-12 as they continue to progress throughout college. They swim virtually the same events and have near-identical PBs.
200 Free: McFadden 1:32.97, Shackell 1:32.85
500 Free: McFadden 4:16.99, Shackell 4:16.49
200 Fly: McFadden 1:44.30, Shackell 1:44.24
100 Fly: McFadden 47.95, Shackell 47.04
That’s eerily similar. Has anyone checked to see if they’re the same person?
They’re also both really good LCM. 2024 picks 🤔