Matt Fallon Drops 1:45.67 200 IM Personal Best at Y Spring Festival – Voorhees

2021 YMCA Spring Festival – Voorhees

• April 8-11, 2021
• NL Aquatic Center, Voorhees, NJ
• Short Course Yards
• Results on Meet Mobile “YMCA Swimming Festival NJ”

The second weekend of the YMCA Spring Festival kicked off in New Jersey with a total of 17 teams competing at the NL Aquatic Center. The festival is designed to serve as a Multi-site replacement for the YMCA National Championships, which were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. More information about the format of the spring festival can be found here. 

GSCY’s Matt Fallon dominated the field in the 200 IM, touching almost 5 seconds ahead of the field. Fallon touched in a time of 1:45.67, cutting 2 seconds off of his personal best. With his swim, Fallon moves to #78 all-time in the 17-18 age group, tying American record holder Ian Finney. The Penn commit has been on a roll in the pool lately, breaking the National HS Record in the 400m free, posting a personal best in the 200 breaststroke, and throwing down a 8:56 in the 1000 freestyle within the last few months.

US National Team member David Curtiss swam to a time of 19.33 in the 50 freestyle, coming within .2 of his best time, which stands at a 19.11 from last month. Behind the NC State commit, US Junior National Team member and Cal commit Jack Alexy threw down a best time of 19.61 for second place. Alexy set his best time of 19.79 back in February, and it stood at a 20.07 prior to that, meaning he’s cut almost a half second in the past 2 months.

Alexy then combined with his GSCY teammates Fallon, Trent Russano, and Rob Alexy to claim victory in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:28.66. On the relay, Fallon split a quick 24.31 on the breaststroke leg, while Jack Alexy threw down a 21.72 on the backstroke leg. The relay set a new YMCA National Record with their performance. 

GSCY’s Rob Alexy also won the 500 freestyle, touching in a time of 4:29.85. The 16-year-old chopped over a second off of his best time in the process. Behind Alexy, 17-year-old Theo Rennard touched in a time of 4:31.45 for second, while 18-year-old Clayton Bernauer came just behind him, touching in 4:31.55 for third.  Further back, 13-year-old Kenneth Barnicle of GSCY posted a best time of 4:37.08, moving him into #12 all time amongst 13-year-olds in the event. 

In the women’s 500 freestyle, 17-year-old Catherine Meisner of the Greater Somerset County YMCA (GSCY) came in first overall by almost 10 seconds. Meisner swam to a time of 4:48.51 to cut 3 seconds off of her personal best of 4:52.28. 16-year-old Sarah Eldridge finished second in a time of 4:57.97, narrowly coming ahead of Bridget Thomas who touched in 4:58.21. 

15-year-old Emily Thompson of GSCY won the 200 IM, touching in a time of 2:00.21. Thompson dropped almost 2 seconds off of her best time en route to victory, defending her top seed from prelims in the process. Thompson’s teammate Julia Meisner came in second with a time of 2:02.80, cutting a second off of her personal best. 

Greater Somerset got its third individual victory of the night via 17-year-old Danielle D’Ambrosio, who won the 50 freestyle in a time of 23.73, chopping a tenth off of her best time. Behind D’Ambrosio, the race for second came down to .01 between Ema Habjan and Katie Lawrence with Habjan touching in 23.90 to Lawrence’s 23.91. Although she was disqualified in finals for a false start, Westfield Area’s Clare Logan actually posted the fastest swim of the day during the prelims  session with her time of 22.54. Her swim set new NJ LSC women’s 15-18 and open records, breaking the previous record of 22.88 set by former US National Team member Caroline Baldwin. Baldwin is now ranked as the 14th-fastest 15-year-old in history in the event and the second fastest 15-16 year old in the country this season. 

The Greater Monmouth Swim Team closed out the night with a win in the 200 medley relay. The team of Lily Hughes, Emma Shaughnessy, Arabella Lee, and Jessica Zebrowski combined for a time of 1:42.77, dropping over 5 seconds off of his seed time.