Josh Zuchowski Ties Florida Gold Coast LSC Record in 200 IM

PIRANAHAS SENIOR INVITE

• March 4-7, 2021
• Plantation Aquatic Complex, Plantation, Florida
• Long Course Meters (50 meters)
• Results on Meet Mobile: “Piranhas Senior Invitational”
• Web Results

14-year old Erika Pelaez swam two lifetime bests en route to two wins, and Josh Zuchowski swam another lifetime best of his own on Saturday at the Piranhas Senior Invite in Florida.

The weather conditions were less-than-ideal on the third day of the meet, with pouring rain throughout the evening and a thunder-and-lightning delay, but the session wound up finishing with a mix of wins from some of the youngest participants and some of the most veteran participants.

Pelaez, the youngest winner of the meet so far, added two more victories to her tally on Saturday, bringing her to four so far in the meet.

First she topped the 100 backstroke in 1:01.85. Combined with a 1:02.16 in prelims, that chopped eight-tenths off her previous best of 1:02.65 coming into the meet.

She then returned later in the session to win the 50 free in 25.84. Her 25.83 in prelims was a new best time, knocking a tenth from her previous fastest time.

In both cases, she already had Olympic Trials cuts, and in both cases, she’s still just-shy of qualifying for the faster Wave 2 Olympic Trials meet (1:01.49 in the 100 back, 25.65 in the 50 free). She will enter both races as one of the top seeds in the Wave 1 meet, though, with a chance for one of the top 2 spots that advance to the Wave 2 meet.

Peleaz also has a trials cut in the 100 free, which she’s entered to race on Sunday. If she drops as much time in that race as she did in the 100 back, that would put her into the Wave 2 meet.

Pelaez trains with Eagle Aquatics.

Another young winner on Friday was 16-year old Josh Zuchowski. He topped the 200 IM in 2:04.52, which undercut his best time by just over a second. That swim ties the Florida Gold Coast LSC Record for 15-16 boys. The existing record was set in 2015 by Nikita Treyakov when he was swimming at the Russian National Championships.

That win came after a runner-up finish in the 100 fly on Friday, which also saw him drop a second to go 55.58.

On the other end of the experience spectrum are Alia Atkinson and Bruno Fratus, who also picked up wins on Saturday evening.

Atkinson showed off her sprint versatility by winning both the 50 breaststroke (31.25) and 50 fly (26.97). Added to earlier victories in the 100 breast and 100 fly, she has now four individual wins this weekend, plus a 200 medley relay victory.

Atkinson isn’t entered in any races on Sunday, so her meet appears to be over.

Fratus, meanwhile, showed up his sprint specialty, winning the 50 in 22.33. Fratus, the defending World Championship silver medalist in the 50 free, is based in Florida. He also swam at Florida’s Sectional Championship a few weeks ago, where he swam 22.10.

Fratus is entered in the 100 free on Sunday as his only other race this weekend.

Other Event Winners on Saturday:

• 16-year old Julia Podkoscielny won the 200 IM in 2:17.22, which missed her best time of 2:16.36 set in February. She also won the 400 IM earlier in the meet, though in that race she dropped 6 seconds.
• Puerto Rican swimmer Yeziel Morales won the men’s 100 back in 56.19. That misses his own Puerto Rican record by about four-tenths of a second.
• Atkinson’s SoFlo Aquatics teammate Julio Horrego won the men’s 50 breaststroke in 28.35. That breaks the old Honduras National Record of 28.46, set by Marco Flores in 2019.
• Kent Olsen-Stavrakas from the Colorado Stars won the men’s 50 fly in 24.64.
• Megan Reich gave the visiting team from Phoenix Swimming in Massachusetts, one of several teams visiting from New England, their first win of the meet on Saturday. She won the 400 free in 4:23.86, more than two seconds ahead of SoFlo’s Mallory Schleicher (4:26.06).
• Azura Florida’s Joaquin Vargas won the 400 free in 3:57.53. After a best time and a win in the 200 free on Friday, this swim was about a second-and-a-half short of his fastest.