Brought to you by Spectrum Aquatics, a SwimSwam partner, our Weekly Wonders of Age Group Swimming series celebrates swimmers of every age and experience level with age group profiles of some recent results.
Kate Wong, 12, DARE Aquatics (CA): Wong set new LCM personal best times in five events at the Armada LC April Meet last week in La Mirada, and tied her PB in another. Highlighting her performances was what she did in the 100 free, where she knocked more than five seconds off her best time in 1:03.31 to rank 3rd this season in the girls’ 11-12 age group. She also set best times in the 100 back (1:10.85) and 200 free (2:21.96) to rank 6th and 16th in the age group this season, respectively, while in the 50 back, she tied her best time from last summer of 33.53 to rank 8th this season.
Kurt Gartland, 12, MAX Aquatics (CA): Also racing at the Armanda LC April Meet, Gartland set five best times and swam two races for the first time in the long course pool. Gartland set a new best time of 5:14.64 in the 400 IM to climb all the way to the top of the boys’ 11-12 rankings this season, while he swam the 200 back (2:29.64) and 200 breast (2:49.05) for the first time in LC, ranking 2nd in the age group in both in 2025-26. He also set bests in the 1500 free (19:01.85) and 100 breast (1:19.19) to rank 4th this season, and also clocked 36.52 in the 50 breast to rank 7th.
Renee Lu, 10, Capital of Texas Aquatics (ST): Lu set a pair of best times at the LSAC 6th Annual Atomic Fest LCM meet in Round Rock, Texas, climbing the girls’ 10 & under rankings this season. The Capital of Texas Aquatics product clocked 34.40 in the 50 fly to rank 2nd among 10 & under girls this season, while in the 100 back, her time of 1:22.33 ranks 5th. She also swam the LCM 200 back for the first time in 3:01.15, ranking her 1st this season in the 10 & under age group (only nine have raced it thus far), and she also set a season-best in the 50 free (32.89) to rank 13th this season.
Jacob Garcia Villar, 13, Texas Ford Aquatics (NT): Garcia Villar set a pair of LCM best times at the Texas Ford Super League meet last weekend in Frisco, cracking the top 10 in the boys’ 13-14 age group in one of them despite being in the younger half of the age group. In the 200 fly, Garcia Villar’s time of 2:16.18 ranks him 9th this season among 13-14 boys and 2nd among 13-year-olds, while in the 200 back, he moves to 3rd this season among 13-year-olds and 28th in the 13-14 age group in 2:19.70. He also clocked 1:01.65 in the 100 free and 4:28.05 in the 400 free, with his lifetime bests standing at 59.38 and 4:27.48, respectively.
Zsofia Milak, 14, Ridgefield Aquatic Club (CT): Milak set best times across the board while racing at the Puerto Rico International Swimming Open (LCM) in Salinas, cracking the top six in the girls’ 13-14 age group this season in three events. The Ridgefield Aquatic Club member posted times of 58.40 in the 100 free and 2:07.48 in the 200 free to rank 4th this season in the girls’ 13-14 age group, while her time of 27.26 in the 50 free ranks 6th. She also moved to 12th in the 50 back (31.88), 13th in the 50 fly (29.34) and 29th in the 400 free (4:40.66).
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