2023 SPEEDO ESSZ SPRING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Thursday, March 9 – Sunday, March 12, 2023
- Triangle Aquatic Center — Raleigh, NC
- SCY (25 Yards)
- Results: “2023 Speedo ESSZ Spring SC Championships” on MeetMobile
On Day 2 of sectionals in Cary, North Carolina, TAC Titans swimmers had a dominant showing, winning all events contested but one. One highlight was 16-year-old Tac Titans swimmer and Tennessee commit Jillian Crooks, who took on a 200 free and 100 fly double and won both of her events.
Crooks started her night with the 200 free, where she dropped over a second off her best time of 1:46.60 set in prelims. In addition, her swim was also a 4+ second improvement from the 1:49.49 PB she held coming into this meet that was set nearly. a year ago. Crooks went out extremely fast in a 50.48 first 100, before coming home in a 54.45. Her time is particularly impressive because it would have qualified her for the 2023 NCAA Championships this year, is just 0.19 seconds off last season’s NCAA scoring time, and would tie her with Ellie Caldow as the third-fastest 200 freestyler on Tennessee’s depth chart for this season.
After the 200 free, Crooks swam a time of 53.36 to win the 100 fly. This time was just 0.12 seconds off her personal best of 53.24 that was set this January.
Another impressive TAC Titans swimmer was Nicole Zettel, who swam a 4:11.10 in the 400 IM to win her race by over ten seconds. This time was a four-second drop from her previous best time of 4:15.69, which was set last November. In her splitting, she saw substantial improvements on her breaststroke and freestyle legs, swimming 1.76 seconds faster than her previous PB on breast (1:12.00 split) and nearly three seconds faster on free (56.97 split). Notably, she closed on her last 50 with a time of 56.97.
Zettel’s time also would have been under this year’s NCAA qualification mark of 4:11.36.
In the mens’ 400 IM, 15-year-old Clem Camacho of the TAC Titans swam a 3:50.86, winning his race by nearly ten seconds and dropping nearly four seconds from his personal best of 3:54.00 coming into this meet.
Another strong result on the mens’ side of this meet was TAC Titans swimmer Jorge Murillo‘s 52.38 100 breast. Murillo, a 2016 and 2021 Olympian from Columbia, swam just 0.01 of a second off his best time of 52.37 from last year’s edition of this meet.
Other Event Winners:
- Mens’ 200 Free: Jerry Fox, TAC Titans — 1:36.55
- Womens’ 100 Breast: Samantha Armand, TAC Titans — 1:01.00
- Mens’ 100 Fly: Mitchell Ledford, Unattached — 47.62
- Womens’ 400 Medley Relay: TAC Titans (Mere Whelehan [55.47], Samantha Armand [1:01.56], Nicole Zettel [57.13], Jillian Crooks [49.09]) — 3:43.26
- Men’s 400 Medley Relay: TAC Titans (Will Thompson [48.13], Grayson Nye [53.39], Colin Whelehan [47.60], Jerry Fox [42.48]) — 3:11.60
This girl is BLOWIN UP! Was 23.0, 50.0, 1:49.5 when she committed. Now 22.4 (w/ 21.7 relay split), 48.7, and 1:45.1 with range into fly/back. Should easily be top 15 recruit when reranked.