Leah Braswell Drops 10 seconds to Win 400 IM at Y Nats Night 3

2018 YMCA SHORT COURSE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

On the 3rd night of the 2018 YMCA Short Course National Championships, 16 year old Brendan Burns won the 100 back in a best time and YMCA National record of 46.24. That time came in under his previous best of 46.93, and moved him up from 4th to 2nd in the all-time rankings for 15-16 boys, behind only Destin Lasco’s 45.93 from last week. The Y National record stood at 47.06 from last year, and was set by Austin Katz, who won the NCAA title in the 200 back just 2 weeks ago.

Leah Braswell, a Florida recruit, dropped an astonishing 10.23 seconds en route to winning the women’s 400 IM. Braswell posted a 4:08.98 in finals to win by almost 3 seconds over 16 year old Emma Weyant (4:11.65). Braswell’s best time coming into the meet was 4:19.21, which she swam at last year’s Y Nats. She dropped a 4:15.78 in prelims, which was already a decent drop, until she dropped almost another 7 seconds in finals. She threw down an incredible 55.82 on the free leg of the race, which for reference was just over a second off Ella Eastin‘s split of 54.48 when she went 3:54.60 to break the NCAA, American, and US Open records a few weeks ago.

16 year old Olivia Harper took the women’s 100 back with a new best time of 53.71. That time came in about half a second under her previous best of 54.3. Haroer got her hand on the wall first in a tight race with 17 year olds Emma Shuppert (54.85) and Gabby Low (53.87). Harper was actually out the slowest of the 3, hitting the 50 at 26.15 compared to Shuppert’s 25.90 and Low’s 26.11. She then came home in 27.56 compared to 27.95 from Shuppert and 27.76 from Low.

Brendan Burns also led off the Upper Main Line men’s 200 free relay with a 20.09, which was the fastest lead-off split, and was only slower than 15 year old David Curtiss, who anchored the Tri-Hampton relay in 19.70. Burns dropped close to half a second off his best time with that relay split, continuing a great meet for the 16 year old.

  • Jackson Cunningham won the men’s 400 IM with a 3:50.42
  • Paige Hetrick won the women’s 200 free with a 1:46.48
  • Josh Cohen took the men’s 200 free with a 1:38.10
  • The Westport/Weston women’s 200 free relay team of Marissa Healy, Sarah Grinalds, Esme Hunter, and Simona Visinski won in 1:32.78.

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Bob
6 years ago

*Westport/Weston is spelled wrong

Coach
6 years ago

I get that Leah is a Florida recruit, but what is her current team?

Brendan R
6 years ago

Leah Braswell seems like she can swim any event. .

JimSwim
Reply to  Brendan R
6 years ago

That’s the beauty of 400IMers!

SwimGeek
6 years ago

Whoa, the first sentence says Brendan Burns is a Virginia recruit. I don’t think I’ve seen that before — is that correct?