PVS Championship Series: Wave II, PVS records go down!

By Reach for the Wall Staff

While some PVS teams ventured to Orlando for the NCSA Spring Invite, others stayed local and competed in the PVS Championship Series Wave II meet. The results from this meet will also be used for the USA Swimming Spring 18 & Under Spring Virtual Championships . The meet started off on Thursday with the 100 Butterfly, 200 Breaststroke, 50 Freestyle, Girls 1650 and Boys 1000 Freestyle. Due to COVID protocols and lanning contingencies, the meet offers three heats of finals, encompassing the top 20 swimmers. the first two ‘consolation’ heats have 6 swimmers with the ‘A Final’ heat having 8 swimmers. As you would expect, Torri Huske led the way in the 100 Butterfly. She not only set a new 17-18 National Age Group record, but also the PVS 17-18 and Open records (which she set in 2019). Thanks to Occoquan Swimming and their awesome livestream system, we are able to share the record setting video.
In the Boys 100 Butterfly race, Anthony Grimm took the top spot and came up just short of Jack Conger’s PVS Open (and 17-18) record of 46.15, by clocking a 46.50. Second place finisher Landon Gentry did set a new PVS standard for 15-16 yr olds with his 47.13, which bested the prior records (the PVS open was 47.43 and resident was 47.40 both held by Anthony Grimm). The third place finisher, Simon Bermudez also got into the record breaking, with his time of 48.88 which set a new standard for 13-14’s (the PVS open was 49.46 and resident 49.37, both held by Landon Gentry). Not sure if this phenomenon has occurred before, where one race produced two (almost 3) PVS age group records, and the prior record holders were competitors in the race!
**Editor’s Note: We were reminded by a reader that Landon Gentry actually swam a 46.41 at the 18 & Under Championship meet held in December, so he already owns the PVS Open and Resident records. We were tracking the records published to the PVS site which were last updated 10/2020.

In the Girls 200 Breaststroke, it was a battle between Abby Daniel (OCCS), Joyce Wu (RMSC) and Catherine Hughes (AAC), where Abby prevailed in the last 50, touching in 2:16.59 to Joyce Wu 2:16.90, followed closely by Hughes in 2:17.54. The Boys 200 breaststroke was also a 3 person race where NCAP’s Jokob Frick took the top spot in 1:58.75, followed closely by two FISH swimmers, Collin McKenzie 1:59.26 and Aiken Do 2:00.82.
Torri wasn’t done after her 100 Butterfly performance, she stepped back on the blocks for the 50 Freestyle, where again she set a new standard in PVS, touching in 21.39, besting the prior record of 21.82 (resident) and 21.94 (open), both previously held by Janet Hu. Camille Spink (NCAP) and Katherine Helms (Mako), tied for 2nd, in 22.65, both swimming super fast as 16 yr olds! In the boys 50 Freestyle, Anthony Grimm again came close, but just missed his PVS record. His time of 19.82 was .04 from breaking his record of 19.79 set in 2020. Another oddity was in the boys final two 16 yr olds tied for 2nd- Landon Gentry (NCAP) and Mac Marsh ( AAC) both touched in 20.58! In the B-Final, Simon Bermudez (NCAP) came close to the PVS 13-14 record, by touching in 21.13, just off the 20.99 record set in 2018 by Aiken Do.
In the distance events, Paige McKenna (NCAP) took charge of the 1650 with a 16:08.80, second place went to Sophie Duncan (NCAP) in 16:39.00. The boys 1000 race was tight through 500 yards, then Christopher Kopac (NCAP) broke away to win in 9:26.19. Dylan Danaie (NCAP) grabbed 2nd in 9:32.48, just touching ahead of Benjamin Huffman (OCCS) in 9:32.51.

Friday’s events were the 400 IM, 200 Freestyle, and 100 Breaststroke. Sophie Duncan (NCAP) started the finals session off with a commanding win in the girls 400IM taking the top spot in 4:09.80. Jordan Durocher (NCAP) and Eleanor Sun (NCAP) finished 2nd and 3rd respectively in 4:14.79 and 4:15.75. The boys 400 IM final featured two 14 yr olds (Adriano Arioti-RMSC & Simon Bermudez-NCAP) that were within striking distance of the 13-14 PVS record. Sam O’Brien (FISH) brought home the victory in 3:53.59 and Adriano took 2nd in 3:57.29- YES, another PVS age group record went down! The prior record was 3:58.00, held by Landon Gentry. Simon Bermudez took 6th place, touching in 4:01.53- an awesome time, especially at 14!
The girls 200 Freestyle featured Torri Huske who was just off her personal best, winnig in 1:44.00. She was closely followed two 16 yr olds, Katherine Helms (Mako) 1:46.18 and Erin Gemmell (NCAP) 1:46.63. Katherine’s time was her best by over a second and Erin was just off her personal best. The boys race featured three 16 yr olds in the ‘A’ final (J.T. Ewing, Landon Gentry and Benjamin Huffman), with J.T. Ewing (Fish) taking the top spot in 1:37.99. Brett Feyerick touched 2nd in 1:38.73, followed closely by Landon Gentry in 1:39.02. Benjamin Huffman dropped 1.46 off his best time to touch in 7th place in 1:40.62.
In the 100 breaststroke, Joyce Wu, Catherine Hughes, and Abby Daniel occupied the top 3 spots after prelims and much like the finishing order in the 200, Abby touched first in 1:02.67, Joyce 2nd in 1:03.19 and Catherine 3rd in 1:03.54. In the boys race, Anthony Grimm held the top spot in prelims as well as in the final, where he touched first in 54.12, he was followed closely by Jakob Frick who touched 2nd in 54.73.

Saturday started off with the 500 freestyle, where Paige McKenna and Sophie Duncan took the top 2 spots in 4:43.04 and 4:45.74 respectively. Sam O’Brien (Fish) led the way in the boys race, touching in 4:26.38, well ahead of Dylan Danaie (NCAP) 4:31.60 and Benjamin Huffman (OCCS) 4:31.66.
In the girls 100 Backstroke, Aris Runnels (NCAP) took the top spot, narrowly holding off Tatum Wall (NCAP) 54.11 to 54.63. The boys 100 backstroke was also a nailbiter, where J.T. Ewing Collin McKenzie (Fish) and Brett Feyerick (NCAP) hit thae wall in 48.52, 48.72, and 48.95 respectively.
In the girls 200 Butterfly, Torri made a run at another PVS record (1:52.92), but touched just shy in 1:53.71. Mackenzie McConagha (NCAP) finished 2nd in 1:56.10 and Jill Berger 3rd in 1:58.36, all three swims were lifetime bests! Landon Gentry set the ace in the boys race, winning in 1:45.34 which bests the current PVS resident 15-16 record of 1:45.44, which was set by Andrew Seliskar in 2012. This was slightly off Landon’s best time of 1:43.03, but the fastest he’s swum as a PVS athlete in a PVS meet.

One more day of swimming today, with the 200 Backstroke, 100 Freestyle and 200 IM being competed…You can follow along via OCCS’s Livestream. We’re eager to see what these awesome swimmers have in store for us tonight!!!