2025 Southern Zone South Sectional Championships
- February 13-16, 2025
- Plantation Aquatic Complex — Plantation, Florida
- LCM (50 meters)
- Psych Sheets
- Full Results: “Southern Zone South Sectional Championships” on Meet Mobile
Katie Ledecky closed out the 2025 Southern Zone South Sectional Championships with a strong showing in the women’s 1500 freestyle on Sunday, producing one of the fastest swims in history.
After posting the fastest time in the world this year on Saturday in the women’s 400 free (4:01.04), Ledecky posted a time of 15:36.87 in the 1500 on Sunday, overtaking the 15:42.73 marker she set in January for the #1 ranking worldwide in the 2024-25 season.
The 27-year-old’s swim is also faster than anyone else has ever been in history, standing up as the 16th-quickest ever to give Ledecky ownership of the 21 fastest performances of all-time.
All-Time Performances, Women’s 1500 Freestyle (LCM)
- Katie Ledecky (USA), 15:20.48 – 2018 Pro Swim Series – Indianapolis
- Katie Ledecky (USA), 15:25.48 – 2015 World Championships
- Katie Ledecky (USA), 15:26.27 – 2023 World Championships
- Katie Ledecky (USA), 15:27.71 – 2015 World Championships (prelims)
- Katie Ledecky (USA), 15:28.36 – 2014 Pan Pacific Championships
- Katie Ledecky (USA), 15:29.51 – 2020 Pro Swim Series – Des Moines
- Katie Ledecky (USA), 15:29.64 – 2023 U.S. National Championships
- Katie Ledecky (USA), 15:30.02 – 2024 Olympic Games
- Katie Ledecky (USA), 15:30.15 – 2022 World Championships
- Katie Ledecky (USA), 15:31.82 – 2017 World Championships
- Katie Ledecky (USA), 15:34.23 – 2014 TWST Senior Invitational
- Katie Ledecky (USA), 15:35.35 – 2021 Olympic Games
- Katie Ledecky (USA), 15:35.65 – 2017 Pro Swim Series – Santa Clara
- Katie Ledecky (USA), 15:35.98 – 2019 U.S. Open
- Katie Ledecky (USA), 15:36.53 – 2013 World Championships
- Katie Ledecky (USA), 15:36.87 – 2025 Southern Zone South Sectionals
- Katie Ledecky (USA), 15:37.34 – 2021 Olympic Games
- Katie Ledecky (USA), 15:37.35 – 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials
- Katie Ledecky (USA), 15:37.99 – 2023 Pro Swim Series – Knoxville
- Katie Ledecky (USA), 15:38.25 – 2024 Atlanta Classic
- Katie Ledecky (USA), 15:38.81 – 2024 Pro Swim Series – Knoxville
Ledecky won the event by more than a minute and 40 seconds, with South Florida Aquatic Club’s Izzy Wilson the runner-up in a lifetime best of 17:18.35.
Ledecky’s Gator Swim Club teammate Isabel Ivey finished off her meet with a win in the women’s 100 free, clocking 55.44 for a season-best time and her fifth victory of the meet.
Placing 2nd and 3rd in the event were 15-year-old Laila Harran (57.74) and 13-year-old Penelope Lopez-Casula (57.78), who both set new personal best times. Lopez-Casula’s swim also makes her the fastest 13-year-old this season by nearly two seconds.
OTHER WOMEN’S HIGHLIGHTS
- Laker Swim Club’s Lilliana Krstolic topped the 200 fly in a time of 2:16.95, just shy of her PB from July 2023 (2:16.43). Fourteen-year-old Jianna Amores hit a season-best to place 2nd in 2:19.46.
- Sarasota Sharks’ Danica Aten, 16, won the 200 breast in 2:34.26, with 14-year-old teammate Sydney Hardy scoring a PB of 2:38.71 for 2nd. Aten set a best of 2:29.75 at the 2023 U.S. Open Championships.
- T2 Aquatics’ Toula Hickmon, 15, won the 200 back in a lifetime best of 2:21.00. It was her second PB of the day in the event after going 2:22.66 in the prelims. Fourteen-year-olds Sophia Malkowicz (2:22.98 – 2:22.91 prelims) and Jianna Amores (2:23.64) set best times in 3rd and 4th.
MEN’S HIGHLIGHTS
- Laker’s Jayden Tsai stole the show in the male competition on Sunday, as the 13-year-old topped the ‘B’ final of the 200 fly in a time of 2:08.12, his second best time of the day after clocking 2:10.16 in the prelims. Tsai, who came into the meet with a best of 2:13.87, narrowly misses cracking the top 100 all-time in the boys’ 13-14 age group (2:07.90 is 100th), but does rank 1st this season among 13-year-olds by more than five seconds.
- In the 200 fly ‘A’ final, it was Southwest Stars’ Roberto Zarate earning the win in a best time of 2:01.82.
- Adrian Gustavo Ywanaga led a 1-2-3 sweep for Azura Florida Aquatics in the men’s 1500 free, as the 20-year-old hit a PB of 15:49.85.
- Jupiter Dragons’ Charles Howard was only 13th in the prelims of the 100 free (53.42), but was scratched into the ‘A’ final and took full advantage, earning the win in 51.93 for a massive best time (his prelim swim was also a PB). The swim makes him the fastest 15-year-old in the U.S. this season by more than a second and a half.
- Hurricane Aquatics’ Giulian Martin paced the men’s 200 breast in 2:17.95, with the 18-year-old having been as fast as 2:13-high in the summer of 2023.
- Sarasota’s David Melnychuk, 17, set a best of 2:01.57 en route to winning the 200 back, ranking him #1 in the country among 17-year-olds this season by more than two seconds.
she swam in the mother ocean
I think she could continue this event through 2032. That would be an interesting bookend to a career, swimming only the longest available distance in 2012 and again 20 years later.
IIRC, she has already said she is not going through 2032. Of course she could always change her mind later, but I somehow doubt it.
So when ledecky goes her 16th fastest time ever (not a pb) she gets her own article, but when Rami Rahmouni (15) drops ten seconds for a 1500 PB, not even a mention anywhere? Make it make sense…
Ledecky just swam faster than any other woman has EVER swam, in her in her 13th year after her first olympic gold medal. It would literally be a world record if not for her own previous monumental swims.
If you can’t understand the significance of that then you’re clearly not a real fan of the sport
Vladimir Salnikov, Kieren Perkins, Grant Hackett, Sun Yang, Gregorio Paltrinieri, Bobby Finke, Rami Rahmouni. I suggest you consult this list of the greatest distance swimmers of all time before you try to clap back at me with baseless accusations 😉
The way you’ve only named male swimmers tells us all we need to know about you
Salnikov 14:54, Kieren Perkins 14:41, Grant Hackett 14:34, Sun Yang 14:31, Bobby Finke 14:30, Rami Rahmouni 15:10. While Ledecky is undisputed greatest female swimmer of all time, her PB (15:20) does not stack up to those that I have named.
those are… men? I guess Sjostrom is a terrible swimmer because Cielo went 20.9 and Dressel went 21.0….
Do not make this about gender, I am graciously giving you the chance to hop on the Rahgooni hype train before it has left the station… Pardon my French, but “do not shoot the messenger!”
You’re wild…
I will see you serfs in about 5 months after Rami streaks the field in 14 minutes and 29 seconds groveling. Don’t say i didn’t warn you.
A men’s comp to Ledecky 1500 would be a 14:35.79. Every guy who goes that far certainly gets mentioned prominently on SwimSwam.
She continues to be amazing
https://swimswam.com/16-yr-old-rami-rahmouni-continuing-tunisian-distance-free-tradition/
No other swimmer is ever able to swim worlds best times in multiple events in practice and in every meet they entered every year for more than 12 years straight, unbroken.
Ledecky high level consistency is simply mindboggling.
Not only it requires great constant physical maintenance and conditioning, but her mental strength to stave off boredom is astounding.
Seriously, I want to know what keeps her going…
She wants to represent her country so bad
*swim in front of her home crowd
to me, it will never be possible to overstate how impressive Katie Ledecky’s dominance in this event is. to swim her 16th fastest time in the event, and to still have 5 more swims faster than ANYONE has ever gone in the same event is just mind blowing.
Why are there no pro swim series this year?
First event in a little over two weeks
15:36.87 in the W 1500 FR is damn fast for the month of February.
🐐goat