Torri Huske Hits 1:43 200 Free on Day 2 of PV Winter Champs

2020 Potomac Valley 18&U Winter Championships

• December 3-December 6, 2020
• Claude Moore Recreation Center, Sterling, VA
• SCY
• Results on Meet Mobile as “2020 PV 18&U Winter Championships”
• Meet Central
• Friday Finals Results

The Potomac Valley LSC 18&U Championships continued today with the 400 IM, 200 free, and the 100 breast. This is one of many events contested between now and December 13th that will count towards USA Swimming’s Winter 18&U Championships, and you can keep an eye on those consolidated rankings here.

For the second night in a row, the biggest swim of the session belonged to Torri Huske, of Arlington Aquatic Club, who rattled the 17-18 NAG records in the 50 free and the 100 fly last night. Tonight, the Stanford commit knocked nearly three seconds off of her lifetime best in the 200 free to take the win in a time of 1:43.23. That moves her up to #11 all-time in the 17-18 age group. Missy Franklin holds the NAG record with her 1:40.31 from the 2014 NCAA Championships.

Nation’s Capital teammates Erin Gemmell and Camille Spink took 2nd and 3rd in that event, with times of 1:46.49 and 1:47.18. Gemmell was about half a second of her lifetime best, while Spink was exactly one second away from hers.

NCAP swept the top four spots in the 400 IM, led by 16 year-old Sophie Duncan, who swam a new personal best time of 4:11.75 to take the win. Teammate Eleanor Sun took 2nd in 4:14.25, lowering her own best time by over three seconds. Sun won the 200 breast last night.

The only other event of the evening was the 100 breast, where Occoquan’s Abby Daniel swam new personal best times in prelims (1:02.94) and finals (1:02.04) to earn the win. Daniel came into the meet with a best time of 1:04.31. Aris Runnels of NCAP also swam a new lifetime best with her 2nd place time of 1:03.51, while Rockville-Montgomery’s Joyce Wu came out on top in a three-way battle for 3rd, touching in 1:03.82.

On the men’s side, the top of the podium looked exactly the same as yesterday, as each of tonight’s three championships also won an event the day before.

Rockville-Montgomery’s Toby Barnett got the action going with a 3:52.71 victory in the 400 IM. He and NCAP’s Michael Jiang had kept it matched nearly split-for-split over the first 150 yards, before Jiang pulled away on the back half of the backstroke leg. Barnett got right back in the lead with a 1:04 breaststroke leg, then held off a strong charge by Jiang down the final stretch to win, 3:52.71 to 3:53.24. That’s a new lifetime best by nearly three seconds for Barnett, who won the 200 breast yesterday.

NCAP’s Landon Gentry, a Virginia Tech commit, continues to have a stellar meet. After winning the 100 fly last night, he lowered his lifetime best in the 200 free today by over three seconds, winning with a time of 1:37.87.  The 2nd and 3rd place finishers also had sizable drops, with Snow’s Noah Dyer going from 1:42.52 to 1:40.24 today, and Rockville-Maryland’s Everett Oehler taking 3rd in 1:40.32, almost exactly lower than his personal best of 1:41.33 coming into today.

Mako’s Anthony Grimm, who’s heading to Texas next year, is one of the most versatile sprint stroke guys we’ve ever seen. Last night he won the 50 free and took 2nd to Gentry in the 100 fly, and tonight, he won the 100 breast in 53.86 — that’s about a second away from his personal best.

Gentry’s future Hokie teammate Aiken Do also had a nice time drop in the 100 breast, going from 55.32 to take 2nd in 54.68. Cincinnati commit Tyler Lentine of Machine Aquatics took 3rd in 55.77, lowering his personal best by roughly half a second today.