Speedo Winter Junior Championships – East: Day 1 Finals Live Recap

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

DAY 1 HEAT SHEET

The first session of the Speedo Winter Junior Championships is underway (or almost underway, depending on when you’re reading this) in Greensboro, NC. Tonight’s action includes the men’s and women’s 200 medley and 800 free relays. The relays will be swum fastest to slowest, so keep checking in for updates as the session progresses.

Don’t forget to be on the lookout for our Winter Junior Championships – West coverage, which will begin at 7:00pm Eastern!

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
• Pool: 1:32.93 University of Virginia (C. Gmelich, A. Wenger, A. Cuomo, K. Douglass) – 2/17/2021

1. Carmel Swim Club – 1:37.60
2. TAC Titans – 1:41.26
3. Club Wolverine – 1:41.73

It was an absolutely dominant performance from Carmel Swim Club, as they tore to a new meet record of 1:37.60, touching first by 3.66 seconds. Carmel was led off by Berit Berglund, who blew away her old personal best 50 back of 24.54, clocking a 24.13 tonight. Berglund’s split set her team up for success, and Devon Kitchel dove in next, putting up a 27.50 breast split. Alex Shackell and Meghan Christman brought it home for CSC, splitting 23.47 on fly and 22.50 on free respectively.

Carmel was just half a second off the NAG, which stands at 1:37.04 from Nasheville Aquatic Club in 2019. On Carmel’s B relay, Gretchen Lueking anchored in 22.68, which was one of the fastest free split in the event, setting Carmel up very nicely for the 200 free relay later in the meet.

MEN’S 200 MEDLEY RELAY – TIMES FINALS

• Meet: 1:26.52 Mason Manta Rays (C. Foster, J. Foster, J. McDonald, A. Chaney) – 12/5/2018
• Pool: 1:22.37 North Carolina State (C. Stewart, D. Graber, N. Korstanje, J. Ress) – 2/27/2019

1. SwimMAC Carolina – 1:27.35
2. Mason Manta Rays – 1:28.22
3. Bolles School Sharks – 1:28.27

SwimMAC Carolina put up a decisive victory in the fastest heat, 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.

There were a few other notable fly splits in the field. Carl Bloebaum of the Mason Manta Rays swam a field-leading 20.50 on his relay, which ultimately came in 2nd. Avery Clapp led off Mason Manta Rays relay in 22.49, a new personal best by nearly a full second. 14-year-old Thomas Heilman just simply isn’t done yet, as he clocked a jaw-dropping 20.73 on the fly leg of Cavalier Aquatics’ relay. Heilman’s split was the 2nd-fastest in the field.

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
• Pool: 6:50.99 California (C. Rung, C. Cheng, E. Pelton, M. Franklin) – 3/20/2015

1. Carmel Swim Club – 7:11.84
2. Sarasota Sharks – 7:13.49
3. Dynamo Swim Club – 7:15.66

Carmel swept the women’s relays to kick off these championships, taking the 800 free relay in 7:11.84. Both Alex Shackell and Berit Berglund were members of both winning Carmel relays tonight. Shackell, 15, led the Carmel squad off in a new best time of 1:46.37, which was the 2nd-fastest split in the event, despite coming on a lead-off leg. Berglund went next, splitting a 1:49.16. Lynsey Bowen swam 3rd, splitting 1:48.04, and Gretchen Lueking, who swam freestyle on Carmel’s B 200 medley relay tonight, anchored in 1:48.27.

Sarasota Sharks came in 2nd place, led off by Gracie Weyant in 1:49.76. The swim was just a tick off Weyant’s personal best of 1:49.17, which she swam in early March 2020. However, the swim was Weyant’s fastest of 2021 by almost 5 seconds.

Behind Weyant, the other 3 members of the Sarasota Sharks relay split under their personal bests, albeit off relay starts. Addison Sauickie went 2nd, clocking a 1:46.48 split, which is almost exactly a second faster than her flat-start best of 1:47.46. Next up was Michaela Mattes, who swam a 1:47.21, over a second under her best time of 1:48.54. Sarah Sensenbrenner anchored the team, splitting a 1:50.04, just under her best time of 1:50.08.

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
• Pool: 6:10.86 Arizona State University (G. House, C. Swift, J. Hill, L. Marchand) – 11/19/2021

1. SwimMAC Carolina – 6:26.99
2. TAC Titans – 6:30.26
3. SwimAtlanta – 6:31.68

SwimMAC Carolina made it a sweep of the men’s relays tonight, roaring to victory in a 6:26.99, thanks in large part to Logan Zucker‘s lead-off and Baylor Nelson‘s anchor. Zucker led the team off in 1:35.55, the 3rd-fastest lead-off split in the field. The swim was more than a second under his previous personal best of 1:36.79, and pulls him into the top 100 all-time for 17-18 boys. Nelson anchored the squad in 1:34.53, which was the fastest overall split in the field, and well under his flat-start best time of 1:36.24.

The other two members of the SwimMAC relay also split under their personal bests. Alex Ayers went 2nd, splitting a 1:39.02, which is 0.45 seconds faster than his best time of 1:39.47. Caleb Maldari swam 3rd in 1:37.89, blowing away his personal best of 1:40.16.

Other notable lead-off legs included Owen McDonald, who posted a 1:35.37 for the fastest lead-off split in the event. McDonald, who swims for Dynamo, tore down his previous best of 1:36.61 with the performance.