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 MeetMobile
14-time Olympic medalist Katie Ledecky launched herself to the top of the season’s world rankings in the women’s 400 freestyle yesterday, swimming 4:01.04 to dominate the event at the Southern Zone Sectionals. No other woman has broken 4:09 this season, but Ledecky has now dropped a pair of 4:01s, as she clocked 4:01.27 in prelims.
Ledecky Split Comparison, Prelims vs. Finals
| Ledecky, 2025 Southern Zone Finals | Ledecky, 2025 Southern Zone Prelims | |
| 100 | 57.81 | 57.48 |
| 200 | 1:58.54 (1:00.73) | 1:58.58 (1:01.10) |
| 300 | 3:00.53 (1:01.99) | 3:00.32 (1:01.74) |
| 400 | 4:01.04 (1:00.51) | 4:01.27 (1:00.95) |
Both her prelims and finals swims are faster than she went at this meet a year ago. Last year, she swam 4:05.48 in prelims before winning with a 4:02.39. In the lead-up to the Olympics, she first dipped into the 4:01 range at the San Antonio Pro Swim Series in April (4:01.44). She wasn’t faster than this winning time until May, when she broke 4:00 at the Atlanta Classic (3:59.44).
Ledecky’s final time is just .18 seconds off the 4:00.86 she swam to win bronze in her opening event at the Paris Olympics. Summer McIntosh, one of Ledecky’s two biggest competitors in the 400 freestyle, also raced at this meet, though the two did not race head-to-head. McIntosh skipped the 400 freestyle after becoming the second female swimmer to break 8:10 in the 800-meter freestyle with a Canadian record of 8:09.86 on the meet’s first day.
Other Event Winners
Isabel Ivey and Ethan Ekk did doubles on Saturday night and walked away with two wins each. First, Ivey won the 200 IM, clocking 2:14.01. After only racing the event in long-course meters twice since 2019, Ivey picked this event back up in 2023. She’s made steady improvements since, culminating in a lifetime best of 2:10.09 for third at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials. Later in the meet, she was back on the blocks for the 50 freestyle. She touched in 25.72 for the win, about a half-second from her lifetime best 25.21.
Ekk, 17, is slated to head to Stanford this fall. He swam 56.48 for his first event win of the night in the 100 backstroke, .43 seconds from his lifetime best. His other event win came in the men’s 400 freestyle and while he was not as dominant as Ledecky’s 16.60-second margin of victory, he still won handily. He stopped the clock at 3:54.19 and was the only swimmer in the field to break four minutes. Again he neared his lifetime best, which stands at 3:53.35 from the 2024 Canadian Olympic Trials.
There was a closer race for the men’s 50 freestyle title. Bolles School Sharks’ Liam Carrington, an NC State commit, grabbed the win by matching the lifetime best 23.44 he swam in prelims. He won by two-hundredths over Jacob Rubin. Coming into the meet, Carrington’s lifetime best stood at 23.55 from last June.
Grant Sanders and Brynn Lavigueur won the day’s other individual events. Sanders picked up the men’s 200 IM win in 2:03.77, while the 17-year-old Lavigueur won the women’s 100 backstroke with a 1:03.27.
Ledecky won’t beat summer ever again last 3 times they faced each other summer easily won, with titmus absent this summer, Macintosh will easily win the 400/800 this summer.
Do you think it is possible she may pass on the 800 at worlds out of respect for Ledecky? Summer doesn’t strike me like her mission is to go out of her way to race Ledecky. There’s plenty of other events for her to race.
I am sure neither wanted the pressure at a February sectionals, but the 800m versus Summer could have been a race for the ages.
That’s great. Curious if it would be possible to ever do a best time ever again? What would that entail?
not in any of her main freestyle events, maybe an off event though. Hosszu was 27 when she broke the 400 IM world record in Rio
I think if she trained at altitude for an extended period and came down and entered some random meet in a fast pool with no pressure and was feeling on fire she could possibly hit a new WR in the 1500. I feel like she will need competition to do so in the shorter races.
She just went 15:36.87 in the 1500. Out of the 10 fastest ever and still faster than anyone in history. What a consistency
That’s faster than she’s been at a non-Nationals/Worlds/Olympics since the 2020 Des Moines Pro-Swim, and is faster than she went both in Tokyo, and at the 2024 Olympic Trials.
The Queen simple as that, unbelievable swimmer.
It’s staggering that Ledecky is able to maintain such high level of consistency for more than 12 years straight, unbroken.
No other swimmer ever has done it.
Phelps, Lochte, ?
no!
12 years at that level as said Thomas is unique to me;
Phelps WR in 2001 and still multiple golds in 2016 seems like 15+ years
C’mon, you really wanna go there? Phelps’ stretch interrupted–or shall we say “suspended” — on multiple occasions and he didn’t even swim a World Champs after 2011. Lagged in certain years, pretty ridiculous that he feels he can criticize the men’s performance in Paris. Don’t get me started on Lochte,
Phelps also retired between 2012 and 2015
I think he came out of retirement officially in 2013.
Then he was suspended again in 2014.
But he had some off years in between and didn’t fully compete in others.
“More than 12 years straight, unbroken.”
How many times do I have to write this part?
“More than 12 years straight, unbroken.”
These comparisons are pointless. She is the female GOAT
When did Lochte ever swim world’s fastest times during training?
Lochte infamously swam slooooowww whenever he was untapered
only 1250 sleeps until LA.
McIntosh still gets 400 gold this summer
Canucks always got something to say
Not sure why there are downvotes on this, she’s the overwhelming fav atm. Titmus isn’t swimming
Ledecky probably gonna need a PB if she wants that gold.