This week’s high school and age group roundup will start in Austin, Texas. Not with Doug Rusk’s famed Longhorn Aquatics charges though, rather we’ll look at the upstart, but already powerful, Nitro Swim club.
Nitro held their season-kickoff intrasquad meet over the weekend, and though these meets are fully centered around fun and getting swimmers into the racing atmosphere, that doesn’t mean that they didn’t put up some killer times.
Do you think that 14-year old Quinn Carrozza is on any college programs’ radars yet? I bet that she is. The recent convert from the aforementioned L.A, having only just begun her high school swimming career, joined this Nitro program over the summer, and so-far things seem to be going well for her. She took wins in this meet in the 100 free in 51.83, which is much faster than she’s ever swum this early in the season (which makes her year-end potential pretty scary). That meet was her last as a 13-14 swimmer (her birthday is on Tuesday), and she will be left with 8 South Texas Age Group records in her career as she moves up to chase the 15-16 records.
There, she will be going after the marks of swimmers like Mary Beck, one of the best high school swimmers ever, as well as the 50 free record of Indira Allick. That name is a real blast from the past, as the record is one of the oldest sprint-free records at any LSC anywhere and has stood since 1990. Allick should sound familiar to some of our older readers as a former National Teamer and 1993 World University Games champion.
Carrozza is a freestyler at best, but she also showed off her great backstroke (56.88) and butterfly (58.78) skills as well. That backstroke time was the best of her young career by seven-tenths.
She wasn’t the only Nitro swimmer to have a great meet to kick off the season. Her 12-year old teammates Regan Barney and Lillian Benwell broke off times of 2:15.3 and 2:16.3, respectively, in the 200 IM to lead the age group Nationally this season. That’s an impressive set of young bookends.
On the boys side of that meet, 12-year old Corbin Rawls put up a 50-free time to kick off the season that I think a lot of high school swimmers would be envious of. His mark of 24.41 placed 7th overall in the meet (behind mostly older swimmers), but that’s a “AAAA” time and a career-best for him.
Nation-wide, Rawls wasn’t the only 12-year old sprinter who put up a lightening-quick time. Michael Andrew is best known for his 7 National Age Group Records in the 10 & under age group while a member of South Dakota’s Aberdeen Aquaholics. Over the summer, he and his family (including former South African elite swimmer Peter Michael, his father) moved to Lawrence, Kansas, where Michael now swims for the Lawrence Aquahawks. He’s picked up right where he left off in his new stomping ground and has already set 10 LSC records in 11-12’s in just a few months.
He continued his great swimming over the weekend with a 23.79 to win the 50 freestyle at the NLU Sprint Decathlon meet. The youngster is a monster who is one of the best in the country in all four strokes, including breaking his 10th LSC Record, this time in the 100 IM with a time of 58.54. The old record was held by Max Jaben from 1998.
For full results of that meet, click here.
In high school news, at least two Illinois High Schools are being hit hard by changes to the Virginia Graeme Baker Act that went into effect October 1. This law, which has been a frustrating one for many pool administrators, requires that special reverse-flow drains be installed on all pools that only have one main drain. The intent is to prevent swimmers from being trapped on a drain.
In the decade before the implementation of the law, a study found 9 deaths and 63 injuries were caused by drain entrapment. Originally, one way around the very expensive fix was to install a special cover over the drain to prevent swimmers from being trapped. Now though, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission has decided that this is no longer sufficient, as the covers could be broken or improperly installed.
Opponents of the changes to the rule point that the rule, under its old revisions, was sufficient, given that in the nearly three years that it was in place, there were exactly no deaths or injuries caused by drain entrapment. There is a fear that the new rule could cause the shutdown of many swimming facilities that already run on razor-thin margins with no obvious improvement in actual safety.
Two of the first victims are Vernon Hills and Libertyville High Schools in the Chicagoland area, which have been closed in compliance. This is a huge blow for both programs that combined to send three swimmers to the Illinois High School State Championship meets last year.