Recap: 18 & Under Champs Day 2
By Reach for the Wall Staff
Well if Day 1 didn’t get your excitement going for fast swimming, Day 2 delivered in a big way! The night started off with the Women’s 400 IM, where the consolation heat was won by Emmy Gallion, who knocked almost 2 seconds off her best time & touched in 4:25.79. The final heat was won by Sophie Duncan with a time of 4:11.75 (best time by 1.25), and was pushed throughout by Eleanor Sun who finished 2nd in 4:14.25 (best time by 3.07), Jordan Durocher (best time by .26) and Mackenzie McConagha (who was Dq’d for what looked like an issue with her back to breast turn). The top 4 finishers in the race were 16 or younger.
In the Boys 400 IM, there were a couple of big swims in the Consolation heat, with Stephen Gilbert finishing in 3:59.06 (best time by 3.84 seconds), followed by 15 yr old Jordan Kelly in 4:01.83 (best time by 3.32 seconds). In the final heat, Toby Barnett took the victory in 3:52.71 (best time by 2.67 seconds & top time by a 16 yr old in the country!) closely followed by Michal Jiang in 3:53.24 (best time by 9.53 seconds, and top time in the country for 17 yr olds!) and in 3rd Andrew Blusiewicz with a time 3:56.87 (best time by .65). The race went back and forth between these three and Sam O’Brien until the breaststroke leg where Toby split a 1:04.11, besting the field by over a second. Michael Jiang made the finish interesting with his blazing 100 free split of 52.98 (26.89, 26.09), but had too much to make up on Toby to catch him.
In our preview of this meet, we predicted that the 200 Free was going to be a tight race for Torri Huske. Last night, Torri made a statement at the outset that this was her race. She took it out in 49.31 on her way to winning in 1:43.23! Need we say that this is the fastest time in the country? Not only i is this currently the fastest 18 & under swim, this is the fastest time swum in PVS since Katie Ledecky posted a 1:41.04 back in 2015. Erin Gemmell finished 2nd with a 1:46.49, just.53 off her lifetime best. Also notable, Carly Sebring in the Consolation final,touched first (9th overall) in 1:49.00, just .53 off her best time, but a full 2 seconds ahead of the field.
The Boys 200 Free saw an equally dominant win, with Landon Gentry winning the race in 1:37.87, besting the field by 2.37 seconds! This was a 3+ second drop for Landon and jumped him into 2nd best in the country for 16 yr old boys. 15 yr old Noah Dyer led the battle for 2nd place, just touching out 4 other swimmers in 1:40.24 (The spread between 2nd and 6th was .74). This time puts Noah at 6th in the country for 15 yr olds!
In the Girls 100 Breaststroke, Abby Daniel took the victory with a 1:02.04, dropping 2.5 seconds from her previous best time. Aris Runnels finished 2nd and also posted a best time by .66 seconds with a 1:03.51. 14 yr old Cameron House competed in the Consolation heat and finished 13th overall with a 1:06.20.
In the final race of the night Anthony Grimm took charge from the first 50 (25.29) and won the race in 53.86. This wasn’t a best time, but still puts him at 6th fastest in the country for 18 & unders.Aiken Do took 2nd in 54.68 (best time by .64) , Tyler Lentine 3rd 55.77, then there was logjam of 56’s. Jakob Frick who posted a 1:59.08 in yesterday’s prelim of the 200 Breaststroke, led the way with a 56.06 (best time by .08), followed by 11 other swimmers across the Consolation and Final heats. 15 yr. old Jordan Kelly was one of the 12 and posted a 56.56 (best time by 1.89 seconds), which puts him at the 4th fasted 15 yr old in the country.
We’ll keep watching the livestream today & tomorrow to see what other feats will be accomplished!
Full Results: