College swimming has dominated the news recently, but age group swimmers are still doing some pretty amazing things out there. Here are our Daring Dozen of the week:
Jack Blake, 15, Scottsdale Aquatic Club: 50 free (20.72) – Swimming at the 2014 Phoenix Winter Invitational, Blake went his second-fastest lifetime best and was 2.6 seconds faster than where he was at the same meet last year.
Amy Bilquist, 16, Carmel Swim Club: 100 free (48.93) – Swimming for Carmel at the Indiana Girls High School State Championships, Bilquist went under 49 for the first time to win the 100 free, lowering her own state record in the process. She also broke the 50 free record (with 22.15) in prelims.
Melissa Pish, 14, Waves Bloomington/Normal Y S.T.: 200 free (1:48.77) – Pish won the girls’ 13-14 200 free by seven seconds at the 2014 SCST Arena Chicagoland Championships and nearly four seconds faster than her best time from last spring.
Joshua McDonald, 15, Cincinnati Marlins (4:33.57) and Hassler Carroll, 16, Kingfish Aquatic Club (4:33.56): 500 free – Taking it to a whole new level, McDonald dropped eight seconds and Carroll dropped nearly five off their best-ever 500 frees to go 1-2 in the Ohio Southwest District High School Meet. Carroll was representing Cincinnati Anderson, while McDonald swam for Liberty Township Lakota East.
Samantha Shelton, 13, Mission Viejo Nadadores: 1000 free (10:05.58) – Shelton was four seconds off her best time but still won the girls’ 13-14 1000 free at the Southern California Swimming Club Championships. She also won the 100/500/1650 free.
Nick Williams, 11, Pleasant Valley Swim Team: 100 back (59.20) – Williams dropped almost two seconds off his previous best in winning the boys’ 11-12 100 back at the Southern California Swimming Club Championships. It was his first time under the 1:00 barrier.
Marcie Maguire, 14, Ridgefield Aquatic Club: 200 back (1:59.47): Maguire broke through the 2:00 barrier for the first time, winning the girls’ 200 back at the Region 1 Short Course Championships hosted by Schenectady-Saratoga Swim Club.
Pierce Holler, 12, Lobo Aquatic Club: 100 breast (1:03.32) and 200 breast (2:14.79) – Holler dropped a total of four seconds off his 100 breast seed time and 11.5 seconds off his 200, crashing through the meet records in both events at the Lost Dutchman Invitational hosted by Rio Salado Swim Club. Holler also won the boys’ 11-12 50/100 fly, 50 breast, and 100/200 IM, setting meet record in the 100 fly.
Aly Tetzloff, 16, Crown Point Swim Club: 100 fly (52.70) – Representing Crown Point at the Indiana High School Girls Swimming and Diving State Championships, Tetzloff won the 100 fly and broke the state record. It was her best performance by 1.5 seconds.
Hayley Pike, 11, Razorback Aquatic Club AquaHawgs: 200 fly (2:18.19) – Swimming at the RAC AquaHawgs Presidential Invitational, Pike broke the team, state, and LSC 11-12 girls’ records in the 200 fly. It was her best time by 4 seconds, and was 8 seconds faster than a year ago.
William Kamps, 13, Academy Bullets Swim Club: 400 IM (4:11.91) – Kamps dropped 5 seconds to win the boys’ 13-14 400 IM at the 2014 SCST Arena Chicagoland Championships. He was 22 seconds faster than last February. Kamps also went best times in the 50/100/200/500/1000 free, 100/200 back, 100 fly and 200 IM.
Special thanks to Lyle Campbell for his assistance in putting this list together.
My usual focus on the next great US star on the women’s side, Regan Smith.
She has turned 12 recently and has one year to demolish the 11/12 NAG records on backstroke.
Her records.
100 free. 53.59
200 free. 1.55.94
1000 free. 10.45.92
50 back. 26.92
100 back. 56.93
200 back. 2.03.82
50 fly. 25.99
100 fly. 57.57
200 fly. 2.07.36
100 IM. 1.01.06
200 IM. 2.11.32
She has swum last week 27.10 in the 50 back, 57.35 in the 100 back and 2.06.55 in the 200 back.
Remember she isn’t only a backstroker but she’s also a great fly swimmer. 26.22 in the 50 fly, 57.57 in the 100 fly and 2.07.36 in the 200 fly last week.
Sometimes the LSC Times Chairman does not get the meets downloaded to SWIMS. If the times are not in SWIMS, they will probably not be picked up…
I highly doubt SwimSwam scours meet results each week… it feels more like people email them to get their attention.
If you want your LSC, club or child recognized, don’t wait till after to mention it.
Nope, actually, Anne spends about 8 hours scouring the web looking for results, along with help from Lyle Campbell, who’s the times chair in PNS.
As WHOKNOWS pointed out, folks are way more likely to get picked up if their times chair submits results earlier in the week rather than later. Anne also tries to not over-focus on one meet: the goal of the Weekly Wonders is to get attention to all of the corners of USA Swimming, including folks who don’t usually get a lot of attention, so she’s unlikely to pick more than 2-3 from any one area to recognize in a given week.
I really think you should look into the SCS Club Championship meet more, that meet has more than tons of amazing swims from age group swimmers. Standout swimmers included, Victoria Navarro, Amy Okada, Benji Willmore, Sean Lee, Matt Hales, Kenisha Liu, and many more, thats just a few names.
How about Abby Richer who swam a 1:55.24 in the 200 back which broke the Socal girls 13-14 record and 4th best ever for a 13-14 year olds.
No NC Swimming Age Group Champs? Emmaline Peterson (14) went 16:27 in mile, Levente Bathory (14) 51.7 100 back, John Healy (13) 1:54.1 200 back, Jordan Kohut (14) and Sophie Clayton-Luce (13) both 23.9 50 free, and Julia Poole (14) 2:17.3 200 breast were some highlights.