Four boys from the Irvine Novaquatics in Irvine, California, have taken a sizable chunk out of the NAG record in the 11-12 400m free relay. Tonight at the CA NOVA/SCS June Age Group Champs, Allen Cai, Humberto Najera, Joey Chang, and Nick Grulke combined for a final time of 3:54.06. That takes almost four seconds off of the old record, held by the Cincinnati Marlins.
When the Marlins first broke this record, they went 3:58.04. That was with a 57.65 lead-off from Carson Foster— Foster last year earned an Olympic Trials cut in the 400m IM at age 14. At the time Foster and his teammates combined for that 3:58.04 NAG, they became the first 11-12 relay in American history to break 4 minutes.
So, the fact that the Novaquatics boys just went almost four seconds faster than that is pretty impressive. Check out the split comparisons below:
Cincinnati Marlins (old record) – 3:58.04
- Carson Foster 57.65
- Jacob McDonald 59.77
- Ansel Froass 59.88
- Kevin Thibodeaux 1:00.74
Irvine Novaquatics (new record) – 3:54.06
- Allen Cai 57.51
- Humberto Najera 59.05
- Joey Chang 58.68
- Nick Grulke 58.82
Leg-for-leg, the Novaquatics team was quicker than the Marlins, especially in the back half. Cai, who had a great lead-off leg, set a personal best by almost 1.25 seconds. He now ranks 74th all-time in the 11-12 age group in the 100 free.
Notably they missed the NAG record in the 200 free relay by .04. NOVA is a team to be reckoned with!