MP Weekly Wonders of Age Group Swimming – 2/22/2017

Presenting the MP Weekly Wonders for the weekend of February 17-19, 2017.

Kenna Haney, 15, New Wave Swim Team: 1000y free (9:59.94) – Haney dropped just over 18 seconds and scored her first Winter Juniors cut, dipping under 10:00 for the first time. She finished second in the event. Three days later she dropped 45 seconds to win the 1650 free, also picking up a first-time national cut, this time Summer Juniors. In addition, Haney finished the weekend with PBs in the 50 free and 200 free.

Liam Frater, 11, and Izaiah Trevino-Lozano, 11, Fusion Aquatics: 1650y free – Teammates Frater and Trevino-Lozano went 1-2 in the boys’ 11-12 1650y free at the CCAQ Short Course Championships, hosted by Circle City Aquatics of Corona. The pair traded stroke for stroke, especially over the final 200, in which they raced furiously to the finish. Frater dropped 15.7 seconds and Trevino-Lozano improved by 51.1 seconds. Frater also won the 200 free, while Trevino-Lozano claimed victory in the 500.

Emily Cook, 18, Tualatin Hills Swim Club: 100y back (53.71) – Swimming for Portland’s Jesuit High School, the future Washington State University Cougar won both the 100y back and the 100y fly at the 2017 OSAA 6A Championships and helped her team to a second-place state finish. Cook’s backstroke time, #8 in the U.S. for the weekend for 18-and-unders, was a PB by .3, and 2.3 seconds better than she’d been a year ago.

Rylee Moore, 14, Crawfish Aquatics: 200y back (2:00.83) – Moore won the girls’ 13-14 100 back, 200 back, 200 breast, 200 fly, 200 IM, and 400 IM at the Louisiana 13 & Over State Championships. She went best times in the 100/200 back, 200 breast, 200 fly, and 200 IM. Moore dropped 3.5 seconds in the 200 back and was 8.2 ahead of last year’s pace, and she snagged first-time Winter Juniors invites in both the 100y back and 200y back.

Lauren Burckel, 16, Lobo Aquatic Club: 100y breast (1:02.01) – Representing Albuquerque’s Eldorado High School at the 2017 NMAA State Swimming Meet, Burckel won the 200 IM (2:05.05) and 100 breast (1:02.01). She broke the New Mexico state record as well as the Albuquerque Academy Natatorium pool record, and earned her first U.S. Open time standard, posting the #7 100 breast in U.S. for the weekend.

Jonathan Cook, 16, West Coast Aquatics: 100y breast (53.91) – Jackson High School junior Cook dropped 0.90 and was 2.2 seconds faster than he’d been last year at this time when he won the 100 breast at the Washington Boys 4A State Meet. It was his first sub-54 and the #2 time in the U.S. for 18-and-unders. Cook set the Class 4A State Meet records in both the 100 breast and 200 IM (1:48.36); the latter had stood since 1988.

Dalton Lowe, 14, Spring Swim Team: 100y fly (49.60) – The only 9th grader in the final of the 100 fly at the Texas UIL 6A State Meet, Lowe went 49.60 in prelims to qualify ninth, only .08 off making the championship final. It was a personal best, and his second sub-50 swim. Lowe has now dropped 5.2 seconds in the event since October 2016. Dalton was also the only freshman in the 50 free finals, qualifying 15th with a personal-best 21.27 and finishing 13th overall with 21.39.

Reminder: The Weekly Wonders column is a celebration of age-group swimming, where new champions are made every day. Anyone can look up the top swims of the week. That’s not what we’re doing here. If we were only reporting on the week’s top swims we would feature the same handful of athletes every Wednesday. Instead, this is an opportunity to introduce the swimming community to athletes who have made great strides in the context of their own particular swimming worlds. By association, it also celebrates their coaches and their teams. The Weekly Wonders column, therefore, amounts to a pat on the back for a job well done, and hopefully encourages swimmers of all levels to continue to reach from within to get to that next level.

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