SPEEDO WINTER JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS – EAST
- Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, North Carolina
- Prelims: 9 am (ET)
- Finals: 5 pm (ET) – Wed. relays at 6 pm
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
- Live Stream
2021 SPEEDO WINTER JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS WEST
- December 8-11, 2021
- Jamail Texas Swim Center, Austin, Texas
- Short Course Yards (25 yards), Prelims/Finals
- Prelims: 9 am (ET)
- Finals: 5 pm (ET) – Wed. relays at 6 pm
- Meet Central
- Live Results
- Psych Sheets
The first sessions of the East and West Speedo Winter Junior Championships took place, tonight in Greensboro, NC, and Austin, TX. As usual with the Winter Junior Champs, we’ll be combining results from the 2 sites to bring you the combined top 8 in each event from each day.
Day 1 of the meet featured only the 200 medley and 80o free relays.
WOMEN’S 200 MEDLEY RELAY – TIMED FINALS
Meet: 1:37.65 Fort Collins Area Swim Team (B. Stewart, Z. Bartel, C. Gillilan, K. Alons) – 12/6/2017
Combined Top 8:
- Carmel Swim Club ‘A’ – 1:37.60 (Meet Record)
- Denver Hilltoppers ‘A’ – 1:39.41
- Sandpipers of Nevada ‘A’ – 1:40.33
- DART Swimming ‘A’ – 1:40.41
- Irvine Novaquatics ‘A’ – 1:40.65
- TAC Titans ‘A’ – 1:41.26
- Bellevue Club Swimming ‘A’ – 1:41.55
- Club Wolverine ‘A’ – 1:41.59
Carmel Swim Club out of the East Championships took the cake here by a pretty big margin, undercutting the previous meet record by 0.05 seconds. Carmel was helped most by a huge backstroke split from 16-year-old Berit Berglund (24.13), and a 23.47 on the fly split from 15-year-old Alex Shackell. Devon Kitchel (27.50) and Meghan Christman (22.50) were the other members of the relay, swimming breast and free respectively.
Behind Carmel, it was all West site teams. Starting with the Denver Hilltoppers, West meet teams took places 2-5.
MEN’S 200 MEDLEY RELAY – TIMED FINALS
- Meet: 1:26.52 Mason Manta Rays (C. Foster, J. Foster, J. McDonald, A. Chaney) – 12/5/2018
Combined Top 8:
- SwimMAC Carolina ‘A’ – 1:27.35
- Mason Manta Rays ‘A’ – 1:28.22
- Bolles School Sharks ‘A’ – 1:28.27
- Spartan Aquatic Club ‘A’ – 1:28.47
- Bolles School Sharks ‘B’ – 1:28.58
- Nitro Swimming ‘A’ – 1:28.87
- Carmel Swim Club ‘A’ – 1:28.99
- New Albany Aquatics Club ‘A’ – 1:29.05
The East meet was dominant in the men’s 200 medley relay, taking 7 of the top 8 finishes tonight, including the top 5 teams.
SwimMAC Carolina put up a decisive victory at the East meet, which of course was good enough to beat all the West teams as well. Using a blistering back half of the relay to take over the race, Logan Zucker roared to a 20.77 fly split, which is particular impressive when taking into account that Zucker’s best time in the 100 fly is 48.45. Zucker will be one to watch out for in the 100 fly later in the meet. Following Zucker, Baylor Nelson threw down a blistering 19.17 on the free leg.
SwimMAC was led off by Caleb Maldari, who posted a huge new personal best of 22.70 in the 50 backstroke. Cam Abaqueta swam a 24.71 on the breast leg for his team.
Another very notable split is 14-year-old Thomas Heilman of Cavalier Aquatics, who threw down an astonishing 20.73 on the fly leg. If you’ve grown tired of hearing about Heilman over the past week, we urge you to hold on through the rest of this week. If tonight’s relay performance is any indication, Heilman still has some historically fast swims left in him for this week.
WOMEN’S 800 FREE RELAY – TIMED FINALS
Meet: 7:05.85 Nashville Aquatic Club (A. Raab, G. Walsh, E. Nelson, A. Walsh) – 12/6/2017
Combined Top 8:
- Sandpipers of Nevada ‘A’ – 7:02.90
- Carmel Swim Club ‘A’ – 7:11.84
- Sarasota Sharks ‘A’ – 7:13.49
- Irvine Novaquatics ‘A’ – 7:14.79
- Dynamo Swim Club ‘A’ – 7:15.66
- Phoenix Swimming ‘A’ – 7:16.74
- Elevation Athletics ‘A’ – 7:19.13
- Mansfield Aquatic Club ‘A’ – 7:21.10
We knew this group from Sandpipers would be fast, but, goodness, was this an impressive race. Firstly, they absolutely shattered the Winter Juniors meet record that was held by Allie Raab, Gretchen Walsh, Ella Nelson, and Alex Walsh from Nasheville Aquatics Club. The 7:02.90 also makes this the fastest 18&U relay ever. It would have been a 15-18 NAG, except that Claire Weinstein is just 14 years old.
That 14-year-old clocked an impressive 1:45.40 split on the 2nd leg of this race. Olympian Katie Grimes led the team off in 1:44.96, just half a second off her personal best of 1:44.43. Olympic Silver medalist Bella Sims anchored the relay in 1:43.56, which was far and away the fastest split in the field at either meet. Paige Kuwata went 3rd for the Sandpipers, turning in a solid 1:48.98 to complete the team.
MEN’S 800 FREE RELAY – TIMED FINALS
- Meet: 6:23.21 Carmel Swim Club (W. Davis, A. Rothrock, G. Hadley, J. Mitchell) – 12/11/2019
Combined Top 8:
- SwimMAC Carolina ‘A’ – 6:26.99
- Rose Bowl Aquatics ‘A’ – 6:29.57
- Lakeside Aquatic Club ‘ A’ – 6:29.66
- TAC Titans ‘A’ – 6:30.26
- SwimAtlanta ‘A’ – 6:31.68
- Bolles School Sharks ‘A’ – 6:32.29
- New Albany Aquatics Club ‘A’ – 6:33.11
- Dynamo Swim Club ‘A’ – 6:33.15
This was another lopsided event, with the East meet grabbing 6 of the top 8 spots, including the top team. SwimMAC Carolina put together an impressive team performance, thanks in large part to huge splits from lead-off Logan Zucker (1:35.55) and anchor Baylor Nelson (1:34.53).
