2023 FUTURES — West Fargo
- July 26 to 29, 2023
- LCM (50m)
- Hulbert Aquatics Center, West Fargo, North Dakota
- Meet Central
- Livestream
- Results on Meet Mobile: “2023 Futures Championships – West Fargo”
The final evening of the 2023 Futures Championship in West Fargo saw the finals of 200 IM, 50 ree, 200 back, and 400 medley relay, as well as the fastest heat of the women’s 1500 and men’s 800.
Kicking things off in the first event of the evening, the women’s 200 IM was Madeleine Simmons. As previously mentioned, due to the other Futures sites (Richmond, Ocala, San Antonio, and Sacramento) reaching their athlete cap, several teams were forced to travel outside of their region and swim in West Fargo. Making the most of the switch was Simmons, who swims for All Star Aquatics, which is out of Maryland.
Simmons took the victory in 2:21.27, a time that represents a new personal best by close to two seconds. Her previous best of 2:23.10 was from Richmond Sectionals meet held in May of this year. Runner-up in the IM was 13-year-old Grace Koenig-Song, who also touched under in 2:22, hitting the wall in 2:21.99. UNLV swimmer Erika Carlson, swimming for her club team of South Snohomish Co. Dolphins, rounded out the podium with a time of 2:22.42, a drop of over a second from her personal best set at last summer’s futures meet held in Santa Clara.
NASA Wildcat Aquatic’s Charlie Bufton took the men’s 200 IM with a time of 2:05.20. The win was his first of the meet; his highest finish was in 400 IM, where he placed 3rd. Bufton dropped over three seconds from his personal, a time that he set just one month ago. Touching behind him for second place was Minnesota’s Cameron Linder. Linder, the winner of the 400 IM, touched in 2:06.98, just a little slower than his prelims time of 2:05.99.
The splash and dash saw Annika Parkhe atop the field once again. The Patriot Aquatic Club swimmer added the 50 free title to her already impressive list of wins in the 200 free and 100 fly. Parkhe touched in 26.36, just ahead of Averi Webb’s 26.81. Webb, like Carlson, swims collegiately for UNLV but is in West Fargo, representing her club team. Webb’s time of 26.81 is a new personal and represented the first time under 27.
Tying for 3rd place with a time of 26.88 was Isabelle Wilhelm and Tierney Lenahan. Lenahan, in particular, has had a successful meet, adding this bronze to her gold from the 100 free and 100 back.
Lenahan was not content with just one medal in the evening, though; one event later, in the 200 back, she nabbed the silver medal in a time of 2:16.73. Ahead of her to take the gold was Minnesota’s Indy Jongman. Jongman, a native of the Netherlands, touched in 2:15.87, which was a new best time by over 2 seconds. She hadn’t set a personal best in this event since 2018.
Between the women’s 50 free and the women’s 200 back was the men’s 50 free. An event that saw Kaiser Neverman complete his sweep of the sprint freestyles and go four for four over the course of the meet by adding the 50 free crown to his collection of victories in the 100/200 free and 100 fly. Neverman dropped .24 from his personal best to break under the 23-second barrier for the first time, touching in 22.99. Rounding out the podium in 2nd was his teammates at Minnesota, Lucas Farrar (23.41) and Saint Cloud’s Conner Hogan (23.51).
Dropping over a second from his personal best to take the win in the men’s 200 back was Western Michigan Swimmers’ Owen Stevens. His time of 2:04.41 just barely touched out Reed Wallace’s 2:04.45. Wallace had the lead at the 100 mark by nearly a second but was run down by the fast-charging Stevens.
With only six swimmers in the women’s 1500, the longest event on the docket saw all of them compete at night. Taking the win was 15-year-old Ellie Bina, who touched in 17:12.79. Bina is listed as having a personal best of 17:57.30 from a meet in June, so this swim represents a massive new personal best.
Like Simmons, the runner-up in the women’s 1500 was forced to attend the meet in West Fargo due to their Futures site being full. 14-year-old Margot Levesque of the Bluefish Swim Club, which is based out of Massachusetts, swam to a new personal best of 17.20:79, a drop of over 10 seconds from her former personal best setback in July of 2022. The third-place finisher in the 1500 hails from the other side of the country; Mia Avansino of Washington State, touched in 17:22.08.
The last individual event of the meet, the men’s 800 free, saw Jack Callan of Michigan take the win in 8:18.16, five seconds slower than the 8:13.20 he swam to place 35th at the US Nationals meet. Runner-up honors in the 800 went to Kjell Cady, who touched in 8:29.04. The South Snohomish Co. Dolphin’s swim represents a new personal best by over 20 seconds.
The NASA Wildcat Aquatics’s quartet of Tierney Lenahan (1:03.71), Grace Koenig-Song (1:12.75), Adeline Koenig-Song (1:03.03), and Olivia Safarikova (58.30) took the win in the women’s 4×100 medley relay. The win marked the team’s first relay victory after placing second in the women’s 4×100 free relay.
The last event, the men’s 4×100 medley relay, saw the NASA Wildcat men emulate the women’s relay atop the podium. Andrew Kelly (57.22), Charlie Bufton (1:05.39), Stuart Timmerman (55.40,) and Aiden Musick (52.09) combined for the win in a time of 3:50.10
I’d rather be in Fargo instead of suffering heatstroke in the other locations!
Cmon Fargo is the most exciting place south of Regina!