FLORIDA VIRTUAL CHAMPIONSHIPS – SITE 4 (PEMBROKE PINES)
- December 4-6, 2020
- Academic Village Swimming pool, Pembroke Pines, Florida
- Short Course Yards (25 yards)
- Results on Meet Mobile: “2020 Florida Virtual Championships – Site 4”
- Full Results
The final day from Pembroke Pines, Site 4 of the Florida Virtual Championships, featured several pool records at the Academic Village Swimming Pool, as SoFlo Aquatics played host to clubs from around the surrounding area.
While several athletes competing are over 18 and therefore ineligible to have their results count towards the USA Swimming 18 & Under Winter Championships, there were still a few junior standouts who picked up wins on Sunday.
Julia Podkoscielny, a 16-year-old who won four events in four personal best times over the first two days, followed up with a fifth win in the 100 free in a time of 50.28, taking over six-tenths off her old PB of 50.90. Swim Florida’s Olivia McMurray, 17, took second in 50.93, and also won the 200 fly in 1:59.23. Both marked the second-fastest swims of her career.
A member of the Pine Crest Swim Team, Podkoscielny was also the runner-up in the 200 back in 1:57.41, where Azura Florida Aquatics member Celina Marquez broke the pool record in 1:54.80. Marquez, a 21-year-old who represents El Salvador internationally, had first set it in the prelims (1:55.84).
On the men’s side, Salvadoran Olympian Marcelo Acosta crushed the pool record in the 1650 freestyle in a time of 15:18.35, with Azura swimmers Gabriel Araya (15:32.54) and Joaquin Vargas (15:32.73) second and third. The previous fastest time ever done in the pool was 15:51.48.
Vargas, who broke a 38-year-old Florida Gold Coast LSC Record in the 500 free earlier in the meet, also won the 100 free in a personal best time of 45.02, breaking his own pool record of 45.33 set last year.
In the 200 fly, Araya lowered the pool record in both prelims and finals, bringing the time down to 1:46.11. In the final, the 21-year-old also notably turned fifth at the 150 before storming home in 27.21 to claim the win, with Mason Laur (1:46.15) and Andrew Reiter (1:46.83) rounding out the podium. Araya owns a best of 1:45.14 set in December of 2019.
OTHER WINNERS
- 15-year-old Olivia Dinehart out-touched 17-year-old Paige MacEachern by .01 to win the women’s 200 breaststroke in 2:15.19, giving the SoFlo swimmer a new best by over 1.3 seconds.
- 22-year old South Florida Aquatics swimmer Julio Horrego followed up earlier wins in the men’s 100 breaststroke and 200 IM with another in the 200 breast, clocking 1:58.31 to set a new pool record. The record had been set at 1:59.95 in the prelims by T2 Aquatics’ Andrew Gardner, who was second in the final in 2:00.13.
- Yeziel Morales, a 24-year-old from Azura Florida Aquatics, downed the pool record by nearly two seconds in the 200 back in a time of 1:43.62, lowering his best of 1:44.39 set just under a year ago. Laur was the runner-up in 1:47.37.
- SoFlo’s Mallory Schleicher, 17, won the women’s 1650 free in 16:52.97, a massive best time and her first time sub-17.
