National Club Swimming Association Junior Nationals
ORLANDO, Florida – Spring championships are here. And with it, comes the NCSA Spring Championship meet held this year from March 17-21 in Orlando, Florida.
Session One will feature (both men’s and women’s) 1000/1650, 200 free relay, and 200 medley relay. Check down below for a live recap of each event.
For live results, click here!
Women’s 1650
For the first event, the women’s 1650, first place went to second seeded Isabella Rongione – a 15 year old from Nation’s Capital Swim Club – who won by over four seconds with a time of 16:07.40! Second and third places went to Joy Field and Megan Brynes, with times of 16:11.65 and 16:22.12, respectively. Brynes was seeded first with a time of 16:01 but fell behind.
Men’s 1000
Matthew Hirshberger – a 16 year old also from Nation’s Capital Swim Club – won the 1000 with an unrivaled time of 8:45.11. Hirshberger finished almost 20 seconds ahead of second place finisher, Joshua McDonald who swam a 9:03.50 and touched out Gavin Springer by just over a second.
Hirshberger broke a NAG record more than double his own age.
Women’s 200 Free Relay
Aquajets take first with Rachel Wittmer, Carly Quast, Kaiai Grobe, and Zoe Avestruz swimming a time of 1:30.60. The Academy Bullets – from Illinois – took second at a 1:31.09 while Nation’s Capital took third at a 1:32.78,
Men’s 200 Free Relay
With the Nation’s Capital Swim Club seeded well ahead of the rest of the pack, it’s no surprise that their relay – consisting of James Jones, Andrew Seliskar, Grant Goddard, and John Shebat – finished first by over two seconds, with a final time of 1:19.55. In second and third places, come the Iowa Flyers and Machine Aquatics – with times of 1:21.92 and 1:22.02, respectively.
Nation’s Capital broke the NAG record for 15-18 200 free relay!
Unfortunately, one of the higher seeds – the Arlington Aquatic Club – DQed in the event.
Women’s 200 Medley Relay
This one didn’t go out to Nation’s Capital, but rather, Minnesota’s Aquajets Swim Team took first place with a time of 1:40.70. Aquajets’ first place relay consisted of Zoe Avestruz, Olivia Anderson, Kaia Grobe, and Rachel Wittmer. Nation’s Capital finished second followed by Ozaukee Aquatics (Wisconsin), with times of 1:41.08 and 1:41.38, respectively.
Amazingly enough, Aquajets’ B relay finished in fourth place, just behind Ozuakee with a time of 1:42.13.
Men’s 200 Medley Relay
With nearly three seconds to the competition, Nation’s Capital’s A relay – consisting of John Shebat, Carsten Vissering, Andrew Seliskar, and James Jones – took first place in the 200 medley with a time of 1:26.47. Second and third places went to Dynamo (GA) and Jersey Wahoos, with times of 1:29.41 and 1:29.69, respectively.
Any breakouts outside of McDonald in 1000fr? Just noticed Nc State’s commit Ress had a huge PB in 1000fr (9:06) and then went on to split 19:84/19:85 on both medleys.
Watch Ress the rest of the meet – especially in the IMs. State got a steal of a recruit in him – huge improvement over the past year or so.
Also huge respect to Paul Silver (HC of Marlins of Raleigh) with 31 kids at this meet.
…and the 1500m record is Goodell’s iconic swim in Montreal. Likely if not certainly the greatest race in the history of the sport. So great a book was written about it. It would be incredible to see that one go.
I believe the record was actually set by Bobby Hackett in the same race. He finished second to Goodell’s 15:02. Goodell was 17 at the time. I agree it was one of the greatest races of all time.
By all means congratulations to Hirschberger. Breaking any record, let alone one that’s 33 years old, is impressive. But can anyone tell me where Townley Haas was today? He didn’t swim the 1000 and wasn’t in either of NOVA’s relays tonight.
I would guess couldn’t or didn’t want to take a full week off of school. Last year a few of the NCAP guys skipped the first day or two also.
Heard Townley had food poisoning and had to go to the ER.
If this is true, wish him a speedy & comfortable recovery.
Looks like Townley confirmed that he has food poisoning on his Twitter.
Nacp girls 200 relays looked fantastic ! Can’t wait to see the rest of their swims! Go cap and ncap west girls,,
*not as
NCAP’s medley relay also takes the NAG, but as I fast I was expecting. Pretty sure all those splits are pretty close to that those guys swam at their high school championship meets.
I noticed that they were conservative on their transitions/starts – probably not a bad strategy to be safe to lock in the NAG record when they had such a large margin going into the race.
The noise was a huge factor. Very loud. First swimmers in the last couple of heats on both sides were shaky off the block.
The Boys 200 Medley relay winner NCAP breaks the 17-18 and 15-18 NAG records (1:28.29, held by SwimMAC since 2012). New NAG is 1:26.47, which still doesn’t qualify for NCAA Div1….. amazing.
Great job Aquajets sweeping the 200 relays for the girls!!