Teammates Sims, Grimes Climb All-Time 200 Backstroke Age-Group Rankings

2020 Red Rock Invitational 

• December 4-6, 2020
• Dixie State Human Performance Center, St. George, UT
• Course: SCY (25 yards)
• Results on Meet Mobile: 2020 Red Rock Invitational 

The Red Rock Invitational this weekend was headlined by 4 historical swims, all falling within the top 40 in age-group history. 

All of the swims came as part USA Swimming’s 18& Under Winter Championships, which are occurring at pools across the country until December 13th.

Leading the way was 15-year-old 800 freestyle US Open champion Bella Sims from the Sandpipers of Nevada. In the 200 backstroke, Sims swam one of the fastest times by a 15-year-old in history. After cruising to a time of 2:00.17 during prelims to take the third seed going into finals, Sims crushed a time of 1:53.66 to finish first overall by a wide margin. For Sims, this marked a time drop of over 2 seconds from her previous best from earlier this year. In addition, her swim moves her up to #23 all-time in 15-16 age group history. With over a year left in the age group, Sims will most likely be able to improve that ranking in the future. 

Sims’ only other event for the weekend was the 50 freestyle, where she posted a time of 22.83 to claim first place. For the distance specialist, this was a .3 second drop off of her previous best. 

Sims’ teammate Katie Grimes also climbed the historical rankings in the 200 backstroke. The 14 year-old Grimes put up a time of 1:56.45 to claim third just behind Sims, dropping over a second in the process. Grime’s swim now ranks her 30th all-time in the 13-14 age-group in the event, surpassing 200 backstroke Olympic bronze medalist Elizabeth Beisel. 

Grimes also swam the 200 breaststroke, coming in at a time of 2:20.77 to drop over 7 seconds off of her best time. 

On the men’s side, 14-year-old Jake Eccleston from Loveland Swim Club dropped a time of 2:01.34 in the 200 breaststroke to move to #10 all-time in 13-14 age group history. Eccleston also put up a time of 57.20 in the 100 breaststroke to move to #39 all-time in 13-14 age group history. For Eccleston, both times were Colorado Swimming LSC records for the 13-14 age group, taking down Daniel Carr‘s 57.81 from 2013 and Sebastian Wolff‘s 2:06.46 from 2018. 

Other Highlights: 

• 13-year-old Jade Garstang put up a time of 55.11 in the 100 fly to claim victory and drop over a second off of her best time. 
• 16-year-old Evan Sproul dropped a time of 1:52.44 in the 200 backstroke, cutting over a second off of his best time. 
• 15-year-old Carter Ruthven cut over a second in the 200 butterfly to finish in a time of 1:49.48, marking his first time under the 1:50-barrier.