MP Weekly Wonders of Age Group Swimming – 7/5/2017

Presenting our Weekly Wonders for the weekend of June 30-July 2, 2017:

Riley Huddleston, 13, Ohio State Swim Club (OSSC-OH): 50m free (26.72) – Huddleston earned her first Winter Juniors cut in the 50 free at the Peppe Bruce Invitational hosted by Ohio State Swim Club. She won the girls’ 13-14 50 free with a PB by 7/10, which is 9/10 faster than at this time last year. Huddleston also won the 100/200/400 free, placed 2nd in the 100 back, 8th in the 100 fly, and 5th in the 200 IM. She went best times in all seven events.

Charley Page-Jones, 13, Team Eugene Aquatics-YMCA (TEAM-OR): 100m free (58.53) – Page-Jones dropped 1.7 in the 100 free to go 9 seconds faster than a year ago, at the TEAM Summer Open in Eugene. He also improved his personal bests in the 50 free, 100/200 back, 100 breast, 100 fly and 200 IM during the weekend.

Alexei Sancov, 17, Terrapins Swim Team (TERA-PC): 200m free (1:47.00) – Swimming for Moldova at the LEN European Junior Swimming Championships in Netanya, Israel, Sancov dropped 1.4 seconds from his previous PB and won the 200 free with a new Junior World Record of 1:47.00. Sancov also earned a new PB in the 100 free, finishing second, just .19 out of first place, with 49.01.

Emily Hetzer, 17, Occoquan Swimming (OCCS-PV): 400m free (4:19.42) – Hetzer had some big time drops at 2017 Summer Nationals and World Championship Trials. In the 400 free she was seeded with a yards time and dropped 9.5 seconds off her previous LCM best, earning her first national cut (US Open) in the 400. She also went PBs in the 200 free (-2.6), 800 free (-19.1), 1500 free (-38.2), and 400 IM (-8.8).

Sydney Kang, 12, Gator Swim Club (GSC-FL): 800m free (9:43.62) – Competing at the ATAC Long Course Invitational hosted by Area Tallahassee Aquatic Club, Kang took another 17.6 seconds of a PB in the 800 free that was only 3 weeks old, putting her 22 seconds ahead of last year’s pace. In addition, Kang finished the meet with new times in the 100/400 free and 50/100 fly.

Ethan Harder, 17, Billings Aquatic Club (BAC-MT): 200m back (2:01.99) – Harder went a best time in the 200 back by 2.9 seconds with his 18th-place finish at Summer Nationals and World Championship Trials. He earned his first Summer Nationals cut in the event and was 5 seconds faster than he’d been a year ago. Harder also improved his previous PB in the 200 free and 50/100 back.

Lorelai Page, 12, Cougar Aquatic Team (CAT-NJ): 200m back (2:24.69) – Swimming at the Jeffrey S Mace Memorial Summer Sizzle hosted by Eastern Express at Rutgers University, Page took 2.1 seconds off her best time to win the girls’ 11-12 200 back with a new meet record. Page also won the 200/400 free and 100 back, was runner-up in the 100 free and 200 IM, and 11th in the 50 free. She also placed fourth in the girls open 800 free, and finished the weekend with new times in the 50/200/800 free and 50/200 back.

Rush Clark, 15, Greater Omaha Aquatics (GOAL-MW): 200m back (2:14.52) – Clark dropped 2.3 seconds and took third in the boys’ 15&O 200 back at the Aquajets Summer Invitational in Minneapolis, 6.6 seconds ahead of where he’d been last year at this time. Clark also went best times in the 50/200 free, 50/100 back, 50/100/200 fly, and 400 IM during the weekend.

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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