12-year-old Meghan Lynch came up with a pair of top-10 swims all-time within the 11-12 age group on Saturday night of the Michael Lohberg Invite in Coral Springs, Florida.
Lynch, who competes for the Greenwich YWCA Dolphins, started off the day by blasting the second-fastest 400 IM in age group history in a timed final event.
Lynch broke five minutes for the first time, going 4:58.56 to chop four seconds off her best and rocket up the all-time charts. Previously 7th on the list, Lynch now sits 2nd behind only Olympian Elizabeth Beisel, who was 4:55.35 back in 2005.
At that night’s finals session, Lynch would go 2:37.52 to win the 200 breast, jumping to #6 on that list. Lynch’s best before the meet was a 2:40.40. She’s now about three off the NAG record, held by Annie Zhu at 2:34.28.
In an interesting twist, Lynch is still about 3.5 seconds off the fastest recorded 11-12 swim in American history. That comes from Laura Davis in 1997 – Davis was 2:34.07. However, her swim came before NAG records were kept in 200-meter distances for 11-12s, and when USA Swimming began tracking those events, it elected not to retroactively award NAG records to swims done in the past.
Lynch also won the 200 free in 2:07.80. That’s 20th all-time in the 11-12 age group.
Another notable swim out of Saturday’s finals: 15-year-old Aitor Fungairino cut more than a second off his lifetime-best in the 200 free, going 1:52.87 to come with in a second of the Olympic Trials cut.
Full results are available on Meet Mobile under “2016 Michael Lohberg Invitational- CSSC-061716.”
Jared, who is Laura Davis? 🙂
The 200 breast 11/12 NAG record is held by Annie Zhu in 2.34.28 since 2007.
So who actually holds the record?
I’ve written it just above. Annie Zhu.
I still don’t know who is Laura Davis.
Hm, interesting. Laura Davis was a Terrapins swimmer in the 90s who went on to win an NCAA title with Stanford. She’s listed as the fastest 11-12 performer in history at 2:34.07 on USA Swimming’s top 100 list: http://www.usaswimming.org/_Rainbow/Documents/91dea8b9-b968-4425-b4e8-12605b21df36/girls_1112-lcm.PDF
You’re right, though, that USA Swimming lists Zhu as the NAG record-holder on its NAG record document (http://www.usaswimming.org/_Rainbow/Documents/b0a57ad4-b1d2-4e17-9489-ec1ea648b3b3/USA%20SWIMMING%20NATIONAL%20A.G.%20RECORDS.L.C.pdf) even though her time is slower than Davis’s.
We’re looking into the discrepancy now.
Jared, thanks for the news. I didn’t know her.
Sometimes there are a few errors in USA swimming rankings.
You’re right, she’s ranked first in the top 100 list.
However impossible to find a trace of that swim in the USA swimming database.
But you know my investigation skills and I’ve looked at the results of different US nationals and I’ve found it!
12-year-old Laura Davis finished 5th of the women’s 200 breast at US spring nationals in Buffalo in February 1997.
The winner was Amanda Beard.
I’ve seen in the results that Laura Davis swam the medley relays of Terrapins with a 14-year-old backstroker who will have a pretty good career later, Natalie… Read more »
Small point.
“I had already remarked that they didn’t make NAG records in those events in LCM or SCY at that time.”
I talked only about 10 and under and 11/12 age categories.
Good detective work, as always, Bobo! We’ve confirmed with USA Swimming and that is the case. Zhu is still the official NAG record-holder, as USA Swimming did not retroactively award NAG records to older swims when it started tracking 200s in the year 2000.
Behind Beisel, wow!! That’s good news for her, congrats and good luck in your future! I’m calling it before Bobo that she will be a star!
😆 😆 😆 😆 I don’t call all fast kids “future stars”! 😆 😆 😆 😆
By the way we know her name for a long time. She broke 50 and 100 breast 10 and under NAG records.
Since then she has become more versatile. Her freestyle has especially improved a lot.
I know it was a joke because you always do that!!