Weekly Wonders of Age Group Swimming – 10/13/2023

Our Weekly Wonders of Age Group Swimming series celebrates swimmers of every age and experience level with age group profiles of some recent results.

Lauren Lonsdale, 11, California Gold (SN): Lonsdale was on fire at the CCA’s Spooktacular meet last weekend in Roseville, setting eight new lifetime bests, seven of which cracked the 900 power-point mark. Lonsdale’s times in the 200 free (1:56.65), 200 breast (2:26.94) and 200 IM (2:10.94) would have ranked #2 in the U.S. last season among 11-year-olds (they rank #1 early on this season), while her time of 31.58 in the 50 breast would be 3rd. She also put up impressive times in the 500 free (5:14.46), 100 back (1:00.94), 200 back (2:11.83) and 200 fly (2:17.52).

Ty Thomas, 14, River City Aquatics (OZ): Thomas notched five best times at the OZ Fall Festival over the weekend, including a 1:56.30 showing in the 200 IM to take off more than a second from his previous PB set in March. The River City Aquatics product also went 21.94 in the 50 free and 1:57.33 in the 200 back, both of which rank #5 in the boys’ 13-14 age group this season. In the 100 back, his time of 52.67 didn’t quite mark a personal best but does rank #3 in the age group this season.

Elisabeth Chiu, 12, Rockwell Aquatic Center (NT): Chiu set nine lifetime bests at the COR Senior Meet in Garland, Texas last weekend, including breaking 1:00 for the first time in the 100 fly, knocking off more than two seconds from 1:01.03 to 58.98. She also now ranks 1st in the girls’ 11-12 age group this season in the 200 free (1:55.90), 500 free (5:07.01), 200 back (2:07.24), 200 fly (2:10.83), 200 IM (2:10.55) and 400 IM (4:38.57), with all but the 200 back marking a new PB.

Fedor Igoshin, 12, Orinda Aquatics (PC): Igoshin dropped more than seven seconds in the 400 IM two weeks ago in Morgana, California, clocking 4:23.13 to move into 77th all-time in the boys’ 11-12 age group. That was one of seven new lifetime bests for the 12-year-old, also going 1:04.66 in the 100 breast to rank 2nd in the age group this season. The Orinda Aquatics product added swims of 1:52.56 in the 200 free, 58.38 in the 100 back and 57.76 in the 100 fly.

Sonja Petrov, 14, Tampa Bay Aquatics (FL): Petrov won the girls’ 100 breast by two seconds in a lifetime best of 1:05.18 two weeks ago at the Tampa Bay Classic, a high school meet where Petrov helped Tampa Prep to a runner-up finish. Petrov’s time improved on her previous best of 1:06.10 set in March, ranking her 2nd in the country this season behind DART Swimming’s Mikayla Tan. Petrov, who competes for Tampa Bay Aquatics in club swimming, was also the runner-up at the Tampa Bay Classic in the 200 IM, setting a PB of 2:09.44, and contributed a 29.34 breast split on Tampa Prep’s 200 medley relay that was the fastest in the field.