2020 Las Vegas Super Finals
- December 18-20, 2020
- Dixie State University, St. George, Utah
- Short Course Yards (25 yards)
- Prelims/finals
- Live Stream Link
- Results on Meet Mobile: “2020 UT Las Vegas Super Finals”
- Results
Swimmers continued to throw down top all-time age group swims on the final day of competition at the Las Vegas Super Finals. Note that while the Dixie State pool stands at an elevation of approximately 2674 feet, USA Swimming requires a pool to be at a minimum elevation of 3000 feet before time adjustments are applied.
Bella Sims started out Sunday’s finals sessions by slicing 2 seconds off her lifetime best 200 IM, winning the race with a time of 1:56.12, and ranking herself the 12th fastest all-time 15-16 year-old in the event.
15-year-old Sims is now sandwiched between the age group times of #12 former World Record holder Kathleen Baker and #13 U.S. National Junior Team member Justina Kozan. The 2nd place-finisher was Stanford sophomore Alexandra Crisera, swimming unattached, with a time about 1.5 off her best, 2:02.03.
Sims closed out the weekend with another victory in the 100 fly, touching the wall at 52.98. This was Sims’ first and only event this weekend that she did not post a best time in, due to the fact she swam a 52.84 at the Desert Committee Championships in February when she was 14. That swim still ranks her 5th out of the all-time fastest 13-14 year-olds and tonight she ranked herself as the 46th all-time fastest in her new age group. Her Sandpipers teammate Paige Kuwata snagged 2nd place at 56.42, shaving .12 from her lifetime best.
Right before the 100 fly, 16-year-old Kuwata competed in the 1650 free final against 4 of her teammates, including 14-year-olds Katie Grimes and Abby Dunford. Grimes dominated the event by dropping 14 seconds from the lifetime best she posted in December, 2019 for a time of 16:05.03. That is the 8th all-time fastest 1650 free in the 13-14 age group, pushing Virginia Tech freshman and open water U.S. National Team member Chase Travis’ age group time to 9th. Grimes created a lead quickly after going out in 55.03 on the first 100. She then held 58’s for the majority of the race, including splitting a 58.36 on the final 100.
Kuwata snagged 2nd place at 16:24.06, slicing 5 seconds off her best time, while Dunford placed 3rd at 16:31.46. This was about an 11 second add for Dunford, whose lifetime best ranks her 28th out of the all-time fastest 13-14 year-olds in the event.
The girls’ 100 free was a tight race between 16-year-old Audrey Yu of Sandpipers and Crisera. They were virtually tied at the 50 yard mark, where Yu flipped at 23.94 and Crisera at 23.94. Yu claimed 1st place with a lifetime best of 49.96, breaking 50 for the first time, and touching the wall .14 ahead of Crisera. This was an add for Crisera, about 1.2 seconds off her lifetime best.
One of the youngest swimmers in finals throughout this meet has been 13-year-old Bella Brito from Beach Cities Swim. During Sunday’s final session she snagged 3rd place in the 100 free with a 51.71, slicing nearly a full second from her previous best she posted in October. This swim came after her 3rd place finish in the 200 IM earlier where she touched the wall with another lifetime best of 2:05.16. She bettered the 2:05.72 that she swam in prelims, which was already a 1.5 second time drop from the best time she swam in October.
Other Standout Swims:
- Evan Yoo of Beach Cities took 1st place in the 200 IM with a time of 1:50.52, crushing his previous best from the 2019 Winter Junior Nationals by nearly a full second.
- Nick Simons of Lake Oswego Swim Club posted a 49.44 in the 100 fly, snagging 2nd place behind USC grad Kevin Bartell by .5. The top 4 finishers in this event, Bartell, Simons, Evan VanBrocklin, and Konrad Antoniuk all broke the meet record of 50.17 set by John Plutt in 2018.
- This came after Simons won the 100 free in prelims with a time of 46.03. This was 1.7 seconds faster than the best time he posted in early December at the Red Rock Invitational, and Simons scratched the 100 free final.
- Sandpipers’ Dylan Gravley won the men’s 1650 with a lifetime best of 15:42.40, slicing 10 seconds off his previous best from December, 2019.
- Alto Swim Club’s Austin Sparrow battled it out with Michael Andrizzi of Paseo Aquatics in the 100 free. Sparrow claimed 1st by .07, touching the wall at 45.64, and shaving .21 off his lifetime best.
Chef Jake is 100 percent correct. Only meet on the west coast this month—shame on USA swimming for excluding these kids and any chance a west coaster had to participate in the “winter championships.” Their dates were arbitrary—no reason not to extend them for this meet.
YEAH! TBH they should’ve extended it until EVERY TEAM is back racing. Make it a season long meet!
Chill y’all, it’s just a silly, fun concept to try to interject some energy into the sport. the 2020 Winter 18 & Under Championships don’t really mean anything, they had to draw a line somewhere. It’s not a personal affront to you and your precious children. Stop focusing on the negative – let’s focus on the positives where we have them.
Completely agree! They all were able to race regardless if included in 18&U champs. It’s not about the hardware or titles right now, it’s about swimmers enjoying competing and looks like they all did! Sounds like parents are more upset about 18&U champ timing than the swimmers!
And huge congrats to Katie Grimes a great swim during a difficult period. Bravo!
Perfectly legitimate to be frustrated that the only prelims finals meet in the far west is excluded from a “meet” that was specifically put together to let as many people as possible participate.
This idea was thrown together in November, why is it such a stretch to allow a meet a week later to be included. It certainly was not put on this weekend to gain an advantage of any kind. The number of kids that would be recognized is relatively small and it only takes a click of a button to add them in. Disenfranchise these kids for what reason? This Is not a precedent setting decision as this current covid circumstance would not be expected to be… Read more »
Ok but are you a coach of one of the teams?
It doesn’t matter. Just be thankful racing again and try to bring the clock down during a very difficult time which is what the Sandpipers did. Be grateful these kids got the opportunity to race. Stop focusing on wanting more for certain swimmers who are very fortunate already during a time many are still not even training regularly.
Sandpipers were at a meet at Dixie State 2 weeks ago that WAS recorded in the 18 & under qualifying dates. You want them to have TWO meets to record their times?? Special.
Be thankful your swimmers had the opportunity to race. Full stop. Teach your swimmers they are fortunate in this respect vs getting greedy over seedlings or “championship” titles which are only posted for fun during a global pandemic. What about all those swimmers that have not been able to train properly yet with pools closing? Should the time frame of the championship be extended for them too? Seriously get over it and look at the big picture.
If you read my posts I did not attack any swimmer who has the opportunity to compete. It’s amazing. The issue was you were complaining that USA should have extended the deadline for this particular meet also to be entered into the “ championship”. Be grateful for having opportunity to compete vs still complaining for wanting more, especially right now.
You need to read posts again as you are taking my comments of context to shift the focus of this thread. Comments were about you complaining not kids and that you should be setting a good example vs complaining and wanting more during a global pandemic. You don’t understand the point myself and others are trying to make which is unfortunate.
Swimchill didn’t sound upset but I do think they summed it up perfectly. Every single swimmer in the country has had their training interrupted. How about just be grateful? You got 2 meets in the last month to do prelim + final. Some kids haven’t even able to race and have their times recorded. Sandpipers already had their 18&U meet where their times were recorded. It’s obnoxious to be shouting “look at me”.
It is also too bad ChefJake used this post to complain and own personal agenda vs even mentioning/congratulating Katie on an awesome swim!