2025 Speedo Sectionals – Christiansburg, Virginia
- March 27-30, 2025
- Christiansburg Aquatic Center – Christiansburg, VA
- SCY (25 yards); Prelims/Finals
- Results on Meet Mobile “2022 EZ Reg 2 SC Speedo Champ Series”
- Day 1 Recap | Day 2 Recap | Day 3 Recap
Northern Kentucky Clippers’ Chase Knopf was on fire on day four of the Christiansburg Sectionals, bringing home three individual event titles to wrap up his weekend. With only three events Sunday night, Knopf won back-to-back-to-back races in quick succession, dominating the competition.
Knopf kicked off the evening with a victory in the 200 back, blasting into the wall in a lifetime best time of 1:46.12 and shaving .55 off of his previous best. Out in 52.24, Knopf came home in 53.88 to secure the win by over three seconds, with runner-up Jacob Lin turning in a time of 1:49.39.
Shortly after, Knopf turned in a tremendous performance in the 100 free, throwing down a time of 45.10 to win the event. Knopf came into the meet with a best time of 46.19 from March 2024, only to post a new lifetime best 45.55 in prelims before lowering it even further during finals.
His final victory of the meet came in the 200 IM, as he prevailed in 1:49.39. Shaving almost a second off his time from prelims marking a new overall lifetime best by 3.22, Knopf’s performance was over four seconds faster than the runner-up Joseph Gardner (1:53.97).
Knopf closed out the meet with a total of five wins and seven new personal best times.
Another top performer on day 4 was Mount Pleasant Aqua Club’s Lily King, who brought home two individual victories. King completed a sweep of the sprint freestyle events with her win in the 100 free, posting a time of 48.36; the performance was just over a second off of her lifetime best (47.31).
The NC State commit turned right around to win the very next event as well, prevailing in the 200 IM in 2:00.95. After tying her previous personal best time of 2:02.08 during prelims, King’s performance in finals knocked over a second off of her lifetime best and marked her first time approaching the sub-2:00 zone.
Not far behind King was Ava Buhrman from Cumberland Valley, who after leading at the 100-yard mark turned in a time of 2:01.08 to take 2nd.
Northern Kentucky continued to dominate the podium, as 15-year-old Clare Herfel won the 1000 free during the distance session. Herfel, who already brought home the title in the 1650, enjoyed a tremendous race, winning in a time of 9:56.32 and knocking over 11 seconds off of her lifetime best to mark her first time under 10:00. Her performance is the 17th-fastest time this season among the 15-16 girls age group.
Picking up the other distance event of the day was Northern Kentucky’s Cono Presti, who won the boys 1650 free in 15:49.30. Presti saw a massive drop in his race, knocking 55.58 off of his lifetime best; he came into the meet with a personal best of 16:44.88 from back in December.
Day 4 Event Winners
- Women 1000 Free: Clare Herfel (CLPR) – 9:56.32
- Men 1650 Free: Cono Presti (CLPR) – 15:49.30
- Women 200 Back: Claire Ciemania (CM) – 1:58.37
- Men 200 Back: Chase Knopf (CLPR) – 1:46.12
- Women 100 Free: Lily King (MPAC) – 48.36
- Men 100 Free: Chase Knopf (CLPR) – 45.10
- Women 200 IM: Lily King (MPAC) – 2:00.95
- Men 200 IM: Chase Knopf (CLPR) – 1:49.39
- Women 400 Medley Relay: Lancaster Aquatic Club (Addison Elliott, Camryn Schwartz, Mabel Walborn and Dru Landis) – 3:49.35
- Men 400 Medley Relay: H2okie Aquatics (Cameron Roy, Trent Hollandsworth, Michael Anders and Mason Fenn) – 3:23.17)
Final Team Scores
Girls Top 5:
- Northern KY Clippers Swimming – 521
- 757 Swim – 418
- Lancaster Aquatic Club – 314
- Wilmington Aquatic Club – 249
- Cumberland Valley Aquatic Club – 241
Boys Top 5:
- Northern KY Clippers Swimming – 562.5
- Lancaster Aquatic Club – 314
- Machine Aquatics – 310
- 757 Swim – 218
- H2okie Aquatics – 198