Presenting our Weekly Wonders from the weekend of November 2-4, 2018:
Caleb Law, 17, Northern Lights Swim Club (NLSC-AK): 50y free (20.60) – Swimming for Service High School at the 2018 Alaska ASAA State Swim and Dive Championships, Law improved his PB in the 50 free by 2/10 en route to winning state titles in all 4 of his events. He finished 1.5 seconds ahead of the competition in the 50 with a time that was 2/10 ahead of last year’s; he won the 100 free by 1.7 seconds with a PB of 46.08. He also contributed to the winning 200 medley relay and 200 free relays, splitting 19.89 on the end of the former and 19.93 anchoring the latter.
Justina Kozan, 14, BREA Aquatics (BREA-CA): 100y free (49.05) – Kozan snagged her 1st U.S. Open cut with a 1.3-second drop to win the women’s 100 free at Kevin Perry Invitational at La Mirada. Kozan was 2 full seconds faster than the 51.04 she’d gone at this meet last year. She posted the #1 time in the country for all 11-18s (including 17- and 18-year-olds swimming at college meets) for the weekend in the 100/200 free, 100 fly, and 200 IM. She wrapped up the meet with new PBs in the 50/100/200 free, 100/200 fly, and 200 IM.
Alex Mitchell, 13, Chicago Wolfpack Aquatic Club (CWAC-IL): 200y free (1:51.24) – Mitchell earned her 1st Futures cut in the 200 free by dropping 2.2 seconds at Patriot Aquatic Club’s 3rd Annual Patriot Premier Plus. She won the event by over 2 seconds and was 11.5 seconds faster than she’d been the same weekend last year (2:01.78). Mitchell also won the 100 free, 200 IM, and 400 IM and took home new times in the 50/100/200 free.
James Henderson, 16, Crawfish Aquatics (CRAW-LA): 100y back (50.27) – Swimming at the Nu Wave “Fall SC Open” hosted by Nu Wave Swim Club, Henderson won the 100 back by nearly 5 seconds, picking up his first-ever Winter Juniors cut and going 2.5 seconds faster than he’d been at the same meet a year ago. It was a PB by 0.55. Henderson also won the 50 free, 200 back, and 100 fly and finished the meet with PBs in the 50 free and 50/100 back.
Aubree Brouwer, 14, Springfield Aquatics (SPA-AR): 100y breast (1:03.50) – Brouwer scored her 1st Winter Juniors cut in the SCY 100 breast with a 1.2-second drop to win the women’s open event at Columbia Swim Club’s Jim Devine Memorial Invite. She swam 1:08.67 in the event the same weekend last year. Brouwer was runner-up in the 200 breast and finished in the top 10 of both the 200 IM and the 400 IM. She earned new times in the 50/100 free, 100/200 breast, 100 fly, and 200/400 IM.
Faith Eilertson, 15, Mako Aquatics (MAKO-MN): 100y breast (1:05.48) – Swimming for Hudson High School at the Wisconsin Girls Division 1 Wisconsin Rapids Sectional Meet, Eilertson dropped 1.8 seconds to earn her 1st Futures cut while finishing 2nd in the 100 breast. She was 1:08.11 at the 2017 WIAA Division 1 Girls State Championships last year. Eilertson also swam a PB in the 50 breast, coming in 3rd in that event.
Brian Jarupakorn, 15, Northern Lights Swim Club (NLSC-AK): 100y fly (50.47) – Representing Service High School at the Alaska High School State Championships, Jarupakorn won all 4 of his events and took home new PBs in the 50 free (21.68), 50 back (23.80), 100 back, and 100 fly. He took 9/10 off 1-week-old times in the 100 fly and 100 back, going a respective 2.4 seconds and 2.9 seconds faster than he’d been at the same meet last year.
Mary Kate Conway, 16, Schenectady-Saratoga Swim Club (SCHE-AD): 100y fly (56.90) – Swimming at the New York State Girls Section II – Division 1 Championships, Mohonasen High School junior Conway broke 57 seconds in the 100 fly for the first time, dropping 4/10 off her PB and coming to the wall 2.1 seconds faster than she’d been in October 2017 (59.02). Conway won both the 200 free and 100 fly and contributed to the 200 and 400 freestyle relays, both of which placed 3rd.
Tona Zinn, 13, SOCAL Aquatics Association (SCAL-CA): 200y IM (1:52.27) – Zinn tied his second-best time in the 200 IM, only 1/100 off his PB and 4.7 seconds faster than he’d been a year ago, when he placed 5th in the men’s open event at Kevin Perry Invitational. He also finished 6th in the 200 fly (1:51.06, PBx6/10) and was the only 14-year-old in the A finals of both the 200 fly and 200 IM. Zinn finished the weekend with new times in the 100 free, 500 free, and 200 fly.
Sydney Sorbello, 16, Delmar Dolfins (DELM-AD): 200y IM (2:04.84) – A junior at Bethlehem High School, Sorbello won the 200 IM at the New York State Girls Section II – Division 1 Championships with a time that was 2.6 seconds faster than she went at the same meet last year. She also won the 100 free with a best time (51.90). She led off the 2nd-place 200 medley relay in 27.46 and anchored the winning 200 free relay in 23.22. She also scored a PB in the 50 free (23.64) leading off the 200 free relay in prelims.
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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Josh Parent, 13, from Bluefish Swim Club went 4:41.74 this past weekend at the ABF Trials/Finals meet. This time was 12.12 seconds faster than his previous lifetime best, and is a whopping 31 seconds than he was at the same time last season!!!
Great swim! Congrats, Josh!