Michael Cotter Swims Class of 2022’s Best 200 Yard Free on Saturday in NC

TAC TITANS INVITATIONAL MEET

• August 7-9, 2020
• Triangle Aquatic Center, Cary, North Carolina
• 25 yard (SCY) course
• Psych Sheets
• Results on Meet Mobile: “2020 TAC Titans Invitational Meet”

16-year old TAC Titans swimmer Claire Curzan blew through the 50 second barrier in the 100 yard fly as the highlight of the second night of competition in North Carolina on Saturday in a dual meet between the Titans and the Marlins of Raleigh.

Curzan swam 49.73 in the event, breaking her own National Age Group Record of 50.35 set in July. The swim also makes her the 5th-best performer in history, at any age, in that event.

• Read a full breakdown of Curzan’s record-setting swim here.

She also swam a 51.42 in the 100 backstroke on Saturday evening. That’s about three-tenths slower than she was at the team’s intrasquad meet in July.

Curzan isn’t the only TAC Titan who has been swimming lifetime best-after lifetime best this summer.

Lance Norris, like his teammate, continued his hot streak since returning to competition post-coronavirus quarantine. He swam a best time of 3:51.57 to win the 400 yard IM. That cut just over a second off his best time of 3:52.85 set in January of this year.

Norris, like Curzan, has been on a tear over the last month, setting several new lifetime bests. He also swam a best time of 4:23.80 in the 500 free on Friday. He’s scheduled to swim the 1650 free on Sunday.

Other Winners and Notable Results

• 16-year old Tate Bacon topped the boys’ 100 fly in a new best time of 48.68. That’s his first time under 50 seconds in that event, and is a new cut for the Winter Junior Championships, based on the 2019 standards. Mitchell Stroud also dipped under the Winter Juniors cut with a new best time of 49.48.
• Bacon later won the 100 backstroke at the end of the evening in 49.06. That was also a lifetime best, by nearly 2 seconds, and his first time under 50 seconds in that race as well.
• TAC 17-year old Caroline Pennington out-battled her 15-year old teammate Keelan Cotter in the 200 free. Both swimmers posted lifetime bests, with Pennington winning in 1:50.19 and Cotter finishing 2nd in 1:50.25. Cotter jumped out to a lead at the halfway mark, but Pennington, who very-nearly even-split her race with cuts of 54.79/55.40, fought back on the back-half of the race to win.
• Michael Cotter, an uncommitted rising high school junior, led the field in the 200 free with a 1:36.41, which is a new best time for him by half-a-second. He already had the best 200 free time in the class, and now extends that margin. This best time followed a best time on Friday in the 200 IM, where he swam 1:48.42.
• NC State commit Abby Arens won the girls’ 100 breaststroke in 1:00.20, running away from 16-year old US National Team member Charlotte Hook (1:02.14).
• 28-year old Colombian Olympian Jorge Murillo swam a best time of 53.10 in the 100 yard breaststroke.