Iris Kim, 15, Earns Her First Summer Jr Nationals Cuts on Day 2 of Fullerton Sectional

2023 CA/NV SPEEDO SECTIONALS – FULLERTON

• July 13-16, 2023
• Janet Evans Swim Complex, Fullerton, CA
• LCM (50 meters)
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheet
• Live Results on MeetMobile
  • “2023 CA/NV Speedo Sectional”

Day two of the 2023 Summer Sectional at the Janet Evans Swim Complex in Fullerton, CA featured the 200 free, 400 IM, and 100 back individually.

The second day of the meet was a great one for Scarlet Aquatics, a team from New Jersey who traveled cross country to be there. A pair of Scarlet Aquatics 15-year-old girls, Iris Kim and Kathleen Turano, both earned new Summer Junior Nationals cuts last night.

Starting with Kim, she kicked things off with a 2nd place finish (to Turano) in the women’s 200 free final. Kim clocked a 2:04.27, taking well over half-a-second off her career best of 2:04.92, which she swam at the 2023 NJ SCAR Memorial Day Meet at the end of May. Also of importance, she dipped under the Summer Junior National cut of 2:04.29. Of note, that marks Kim’s second Summer Junior Nationals cut after clearing the 100 free earlier in the week. Those are the first two such cuts of her young career.

Kim then went on to win the next women’s event, the 400 IM. She posted a 4:56.24, which comes in nearly 9 seconds under her PB heading into the day, which was a 5:05.02. She also cleared the Summer Juniors cut of 4:57.29 in that event as well. Kim was excellent on backstroke last night, splitting 1:05.82, but where she really shone the brightest was on the freestyle leg, where she roared home in a blistering 1:03.89.

As for Turano, as mentioned earlier, she won the women’s 200 free to start the session last night. She swam a 2:03.94, blowing away her previous best of 2:05.14, which she also swam at the Memorial Day meet at the end of May. With that swim, Turano picked up the Summer Juniors cut in the event as well. Turano had already gotten the Juniors cut in the 400 IM, so her 200 performance last night marks her second Juniors cut of her career.

The women’s 100 back went to San Diego State’s Alex Roberts, who swam a 1:02.95. Roberts has a personal best of 1:02.09 in the event, a time which she swam in May at the Mission Viejo Pro Swim Series. Last night, she was out in 30.71 on the first 50m, then came home in 32.24.

Cal’s Matthew Chai, who won the men’s 800 free on Thursday, claimed victory in the men’s 200 free last night with a 1:53.59. It was a personal best performance for the distance-oriented Chai. His previous best in the event was a 1:54.37, which he had swum last June at the Mel Zajac Jr. International meet. Putting his distance chops on full display, Chai even-split his 200 free last night, swimming a 56.78 on the first 100m, then clocking a 56.81 on the second half of the race.

Arizona State’s Evan Nail won the men’s 400 IM in 4:25.29. He took nearly 2 seconds off his PB of 4:27.06 with the swim. He swam that 4:27 at the Sun Devil Open last month.

Golden West Swim Club’s Kenta Chiyo took the men’s 100 back in 57.61, touching as the only swimmer in the field under 58 seconds. He was just off his personal best of 57.35, which he swam in May at the CA Speedo Grand Challenge.