Below are our Weekly Wonders for the weekends of May 18-20 and May 25-27, 2018:
Jack Armstrong, 17, Houston Bridge Bats: 50m free (23.03) – Armstrong snagged his first Summer Nationals cut while winning the men’s 50 free by nearly a body length at 2018 Katy Senior Invite. It was a PB by .23, 1.03 faster than his time from a year ago, and the #1 performance in the country for 18&U boys for the weekend.
Charley Page-Jones, 14, Team Eugene Aquatics-YMCA: 100m free (56.21) – Page-Jones took 7/10 off a two-week-old PB in the 100 free leading off the TEAM 400 free relay at Comfort Suites Corvallis CAT Long Course Open. He is now 4 seconds faster than he was last year at this time. Page-Jones won the 100 fly and was runner-up in the 100 back. He finished the weekend with new PBs in all three events.
Adell Sabovic, 15, Asphalt Green Unified Aquatics: 200m free (1:55.93) – Swimming at TYR Pro Swim Series Indianapolis, Sabovic earned his first Winter Juniors cut in the 200 free with the 38th-fastest time in prelims. It was a best time by 2.4 seconds and 9.7 better than he’d been a year ago. Sabovic left the meet with new PBs in the 50/100/200 free, 100 fly, and 200 IM.
Christopher Richardson, 14, Tiger Aquatics: 400m free (4:22.11) – Richardson improved his PB by 7 second and won the boys’ 13-14 400 free at the Crawfish Aquatics Long Course Invitational. He went 4:38.78 at the same meet last year. He also won the 100 back and 200 back and went best times in all three events.
Megan Maholic, 14, Lake Erie Silver Dolphins: 100m back (1:07.59) – Swimming at the Robert F. Busbey Invite, Maholic dropped 1.1 in the 100 back to place 2nd in the women’s open event. She has improved 4 seconds in the last year. Maholic was 3rd in the 200 back, 12th in the 100 fly, and 27th in the 200 IM. She lowered her PBs in the 100 free and both backstrokes.
Reese Dehen, 15, Great Wolf Swim Team: 100m breast (1:12.96) – Dehen qualified for the B final in the 100 breast at TYR Pro Swim Series Indy, then proceeded to earn her 1st Summer Nations cut with a PB by 7/10 in the final for 10th place overall. Dehen is now 4.5 seconds faster than she was a year ago. She also took home a new time in the 50 free.
Yvonne Jia, 14, Edina Swim Club: 200m IM (2:22.52) – Swimming at Speedo Grand Challenge hosted by Irvine NOVA, Jia qualified for the C final in the 200 IM. She dropped 4.1 seconds and finished 19th overall. She also finaled in the 100 fly and 400 IM and left the meet with new PBs in the 200 back, 100 fly, and 200/400 IM.
Jed Michael Jones, 16, Metroplex Aquatics: 400m IM (4:35.03) – Seeded with a yards time (3:57.86), Jones dropped over 4.6 seconds in prelims at Atlanta Classic Swim Meet to qualify for the B final with 4:37.67. He then took another 2.6 off in finals and snagged his first Winter Juniors cut in the event with 4:35.03. He has improved 11.5 seconds in a year. Jones finished the meet with new times in the 100 back and 200/400 IM.
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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