James Plage Wins Men’s 1500, Ranking #9 All-Time for 15-16 Boys

2019 USA SWIMMING SPEEDO JUNIOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, August 6 – Saturday, August 10, 2019
• Stanford Avery Aquatic Center, Palo Alto, CA
• Prelims 9 AM / Finals 5 PM (U.S. Pacific Time)
• LCM format
• Psych sheet
• Live stream (all sessions)
• Start Lists & Live Results

James Plage, a 16-year-old from AquaBears, was dominant in the men’s 1500 at Speedo Junior Nationals tonight, establishing a huge lead from the very beginning of the race. Plage had a best time of 15:26.64, which he had swum just about 2 weeks ago at the Connecticut Senior Champs, and he shattered that time was a 15:16.97 to scare the meet record of 15:16.62, held by Johannes Calloni. Plage rose all the way up to #9 all-time for 15-16 boys, actually sitting right behind Calloni, whose meet record was also set while he was 16.

Plage established an aggressive pace early on in the race, which he did fall off of, but not by too much. He was 3:57.95 at the 300 mark, then splitting 1:01 per 100 for the next 500 meters. He then stayed at 1:02 mostly for the remainder of the race, but coming home in 29.47 on the final 50.

Here is the current top 10 all-time for 15-16 boys:

1. Bobby Hackett (1976) – 15:03.91
2. Larsen Jensen (2002) – 15:04.83
3. Bobby Finke (2016) – 15:05.29
4. Arthur Frayler (2010) – 15:07.37
5. Evan Pinion (2011) – 15:11.03
6. Andrew Abruzzo (2016) – 15:15.99
7. Dan Jorgensen (1984) – 15:16.10
8. Johannes Calloni (2016) – 15:16.62
9. James Plage (2019) – 15:16.97
10. Matt Hooper (1990) – 15:17.69

Aidan Reagan of Tuscon Ford Dealers Aquatics, 16, came in 5th, dropping almost 10 seconds from his previous best to touch in 15:35.35. With that swim, he boosted up from 92nd all-time for 15-16 boys to 44th all-time, where he is tied with none other than Michael Phelps. 16-Year-Old Peter Thompson had an even bigger drop to finish 6th. Thompson dropped 23 seconds from his personal best of 15:58.83 to go 15:35.51 for 6th. That time took Thompson from well outside the all-time top 100 for 15-16 boys, all the way to 46th.