Meghan Small breaks two YMCA national records on day 3 of Short Course YNats

The girls of York YMCA were the stars of day 3 at the Short Course YMCA National Championships in Greensboro. York swept the girls individual events, setting new national records in all three.

Full results

16-year-old Meghan Small broke two of those records herself. Swimming a rough double, Small picked up two huge wins and absolutely crushed national records in both events.

First came the 100 back, where Small was 52.19, taking more than a full second off the previous mark, a 53.27 set by Emily Slabe last season. Also going under the old record was Middle Tyger’s Katrina Konopka, who was 52.70, and Middle Tyger’s Ali Galyer was third in 53.71.

Not long after, Small returned to pace the 400 IM, taking that brutal double in stride. Small was 4:03.96, a big-time swim from the 16-year-old and the best time in YMCA history by nearly 6 seconds. The previous record was from 2011, and was set by former York star and current Georgia standout Hali Flickinger at 4:09.30. Flickinger was the NCAA runner-up just a few weeks ago at an NCAA meet in which Small’s time would have placed 6th overall.

Middle Tyger once again took second, with Savanna Faulconer going 4:08.59 and also breaking the old record.

Not to be outdone by her teammate Small, 15-year-old Courtney Harnish pulled off a national record of her own, going 1:45.62 to win the 200 free late in the evening. Harnish’s time took six tenths off the 1:46.20 originally set by future NCAA champ Margo Geer back in 2010.

Sarasota’s Sophie Cattermole was second in 1:47.43.

The final national record of the night came in the 400 medley relay, where Middle Tyger finally broke through for a win. With Small swimming breaststroke on York’s relay, Middle Tyger ran away on the back leg, with Ali Galyer going 52.66 on the leadoff. Faulconer was 1:01.95 to keep her team in the lead through the breaststroke, and Jessi Snover went 54.38 on fly. Trailing by almost two seconds at that point, anchor Konopka was unstoppable, going 47.82 to run down York for the win in 3:37.81, breaking the Middle Tyger YMCA’s own national record from a year ago.

York was second in 3:39.42. Small was a quick 59.96 on breaststroke, the field’s best split, and Harnish also offered up a field-best 52.11 on fly.

On the boys’ side, Somerset Valley took home a pair of wins. Brad Zdroik had a hand in both.

The 18-year-old first blasted a 1:36.58 to pick up the win in the 200 free, besting Sarasota’s duo of Austin Katz (1:38.00) and Daniel Erlenmeyer (1:38.40).

Then Zdroik led off the 400 medley relay in 48.91, the best backstroke leg of the field. (Katz was just .01 back for Sarasota). He handed off to teammates Winston Chu (57.08 breast), Joseph Delbuono (48.88 fly) and Samuel Hendrix (45.22 free) as Somerset Valley went 3:20.09 for the event win.

Lakeland Hills was second overall in 3:20.36, actually leading through the breast and fly legs before falling off on free.

Katz had a pair of runner-up finishes individually for Sarasota, the current team leaders. He was also second in the 100 back, where Kishwaukee’s Daniel Hein went 47.79 to take the win. Katz was 48.28 for second.

The 400 IM went to Greater Miami Valley’s Mark Andrew in 3:47.94, just beating out Eau Claire’s Paul DeLakis (3:48.91).

Team Scores

Girls

1. Middle Tyger – 246
2. York – 213
3. Sarasota – 147
4. YMCA of the Triangle – 113.5
5. Northwest North Carolina – 98

Boys

1. Sarasota – 243
2. Westport/Weston – 111
3. YMCA of the Triangle – 104
4. Somerset Valley – 99
5. Countryside – 98