Pacific Swimming Relay Records Fall At Adam Szmidt Memorial Meet

2023 Adam Szmidt LCM Age Group Championships

• July 7-July 9, 2023
• Baler Aquatic Center, Hollister, CA
• LCM (50 meters)
• Results or on MeetMobile: “2023 2023 SBA Adam Szmidt Memorial Meet”

The 2023 Adam Szmidt LCM Age Group Championships were hosted last weekend by San Benito Aquatics in Hollister, California. The meet is named in honor of Adam Szmidt, who served as a long-time Pacific Swimming official and volunteer before passing away in 2000 from cancer. 

Among the highlights of the competition was the Pleasanton Seahawks’ 13-14 boys, who established two new Pacific Swimming LSC records in the 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay. 

The 200 medley team of Luka Mijatovic (27.69), Dylan Tambuwun (32.41), Songrui Wu (25.08), and Oryan Liu (25.48) combined for a winning time of 1:50.66. Their swim takes over a second off the previous Pacific Swimming record done by Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics in 2019.

Three of the relay members returned in the 400 freestyle relay, where Mijatovic (52.42), Liu (58.01), Ziyue Yang (57.12), and Wu (52.22) put together a time of 3:39.77. Their time destroys the previous mark of 3:41.89 from Peak Swimming in 2016. 

Mijatovic’s lead-off leg in the 400 freestyle relay marks a personal best by a few tenths, as his previous stood at 52.78 from the George Haines International meet. The only other event he entered in was the 100 fly where he was disqualified in prelims.  

Better known as a distance freestyler, Mijatovic recently set three new National Age Group (NAG) records in the 200, 400, and 800 freestyle at the U.S. National Championships.

Another standout swimmer from the meet was Santa Clara’s Shareef Elaydi, who won the boys’ 14-year-old high point award with five victories. Elaydi opened with a win in the 100 backstroke, where he dropped over seven seconds to post a 1:00.78. He then went on to win the 200 breast (2:23.74) and 100 free (53.50), with those swims ranking 47th and 92nd, respectively, on the all-time top-100 lists for the age group. Rounding out Elaydi’s 1st-place finishes was the 50 free (25.00), 100 fly (55.64), and 100 breast (1:06.67). 

This summer has turned into a breakthrough season for Elaydi. In June, he threw down the 5th-fastest performance in the age group for the 100 fly (55.44), as well as set new Pacific Swimming records in the 200 IM (2:07.42) and 100 breast (1:05.89).

Aiden Zhou and Isabel Wu, both from Santa Clara, took home the high point awards for 13-year-olds. Highlighting Zhou’s schedule was the 200 freestyle, where he knocked off nearly five seconds from his entry time to log a 2:01.71, which currently ranks 6th this season for his age. Wu had a fantastic swim in the 200 IM, as she touched first in a best time of 2:23.90 to rank 5th among 13-year-old girls this year.

Other top swimmers included 12-year-olds Fedor Igoshin and Clara Young. Igoshin’s standout swim of the weekend came in the 800 free, where he took almost five seconds off to post a 9:23.53 and climb to 3rd this season for the 11-12-year-olds. Young hit best times across the board, but saw the biggest improvements in the IM events. She dropped five seconds to earn runner-up in the 200 IM (2:32.67), then went on to win the 400 IM later in the meet with a best time of 5:26.25.

Leading the 10 and unders was Leo Byer and Zixin Zhou, who scored a total of 51 and 57 points, respectively. Byer and Zhou both collected wins in four events, with Byer sweeping the freestyle events and Zhou winning a combination of breaststroke and freestyle races.