After a morning of madness at Georgia Tech, things settled down in the finals session on day 4 of the 2012 YMCA long course National Championships in Atlanta.
That is, until Triangle Area’s Joe Bonk hit the water in the 4th event of the night: the men’s 100 free. He had over a second lead on the field at the turn, and roared home to a 50.17. That destroys the old Meet Record set by US National Teamer Tim Phillips at the 2009 version of the meet in 50.72. That’s also the second-fastest time swum by an 18 & under this year, and adds a little bit of life to what had been a downer of a year for the American junior sprint group.
Bonk will be headed to Virginia Tech next season and join a Hokies team that had a great year in 2012. If Bonk continues to advance and swim well, they can expect to have another great year in 2013.
Upper Main Line’s Vlad Komarov took 2nd in 52.10, and James Ross from Somerset Hills was 3rd in 52.54. The lone 15-year old in the final was another Triangle Area swimmer, Colin Ellington, who was 4th in 52.57.
Later in the meet, Bonk tied Eric Lethander for a win in the 50 fly in 25.29.
The Orlando YMCA’s Gregoriy Tarasevich broke his second Meet Record of the week when he posted a 2:01.01 to win the boys’ 200 backstroke. Much like he did in the 100 on Tuesday, this swim took down the record previously held by Steven Zimmerman. The 16-year old Tarasevich is a Russian National, and could be seen competing for them internationally down the line. Nic Graesser took second more than four seconds back in 2:05.49.
17-year old Sava Turcanu won the boys’ 400 IM in 4:29.19. Turcanu didn’t compete in the 200 IM, but already had a victory in the 1500 under his belt from Monday. His great endurance showed in a big closing kick with a 1:01.81 closing 100 meters. That pulled him away from Lancaster’s Chris DePietro, who was 2nd in 4:32.01. After a huge time drop to win the 200 IM, DePietro would have probably liked a better swim in this 400, which historically has been his better of the two races. Instead, he was almost two seconds off of his personal best.
Remedy Rule from Westboro won the women’s 200 back in 2:18.22. She was in a near dead-heat with Elkins’ Maggie Miller before pulling away in the last 50 meters. Miller was second in 2:18.69, which was a personal best by more than 6 seconds. Both are only 15, and should have plenty of great battles to come. Middle Tygers’ Ali Galyer scored 3rd in the same race in 2:19.10 at only 13 years old, ranking her 5th in the country among swimmers her age in 2012. That’s the second different 13-year old that Middle Tyger has had place in the top three at this meet, as Galyer placed 2nd overall in the 200 breaststroke. A great medley relay of the future is developing in South Carolina.
Not that the present is bad for the club, either. They won their second relay in two nights, and a second straight meet record, in the women’s 800 free relay. There, Haley Lips, Galyer, Katrina Konopka, and Annie Gillig combined for a 8:20.61. That took more than 8 seconds off of the old YMCA National Meet Record that belonged to this same club from 2009 (Lips was on that relay as well, though as a 15-year old).
In the boys’ version of the same race, Triangle Area picked up another win, when Bonk joined Macon Crowder, Colin Ellington, and Ben Mayes for a 7:44.53 and a record of their own. Relay times continue to advance at this meet, showing the overall improving depth at the YMCA level, as this makes 6 relay records in 6 races.
Other Winners:
- Madeline Smart put Wilton back in the winners’ column with a 57.38 to win the women’s 100 free. Smart had a great anchor to Wilton’s runner-up 400 free relay on Wednesday as well.
- Courtney Weaver won her 2nd butterfly event with a 27.47 in the girls’ 50 fly. She’s won the two shorter events, we’ll now await something really fast in her best race: the 200 fly.
- Orlando’s Kendall Dawson won the girls’ 400 IM in 4:57.86. She may have had even better of a mark in her after finishing with a closing 50 of 31.77. That’s better than some of the boys in the A-Final split.
Full, live meet results available here.
Team Standings
The results above should make it obvious that Middle Tyger is still firmly in control of this meet title, but in case it’s not the numbers should bear that out. The club now holds a nearly 180 point margin over the rest of the field, which will leave the title nearly out-of-reach from the rest of the competition. Wilton still holds a narrow lead over the hard-charging squad from the YMCA of the Triangle Area.
The top 10 in the team standings after Thursday’s finals are below.
1. Middle Tyger YMCA 897
2. Wilton Family YMCA 719.5
3. Triangle Area YMCA 681.5
4. Upper Main Line YMCA 603
5. Somerset Valley YMCA 422.5
6. Central Florida Metro YMCA 377
7. Somerset Hills YMCA 351
8. Countryside Ralph Stolle Ymca. 283.5
9. Wyckoff Family YMCA Inc 282
10. Fanwood-Scotch Plains YMCA 281
Was Joe Bonk borned on Jun 2,1993?