Florida Virtual Championships – Site 4 (Pembroke Pines)
- December 4-6, 2020
- Academic Village Swimming pool, Pembroke Pines, Florida
- Short Course Yards (25 yards)
- Results on Meet Mobile: “2020 Florida Virtual Championships – Site 4”
- Saturday Results (PDF)
SoFlo Aquatics is hosting one of 4 sites of the 2020 Florida Virtual Championships this weekend. In parallel with another site in Stuart, plus two more sites next weekend, teams were assigned to a given location based on their primary training site.
Unlike the Stuart site, many of the top performers in SoFlo have results that aren’t eligible for the USA Swimming 18 & Under Winter Championships. While foreign athletes who are USA Swimming registered members are eligible, swimmers must have been 18 as of the start of the competition period (December 1) for their results to be considered.
Among the top juniors in the meet’s first two days was 16-year old Julia Podkoscielny from the Pine Crest Swim Team. Through the meet’s first two days, she’s won all 4 races that she’s entered at the meet, and all in new lifetime best swims.
- 200 free – 1:47.56 (Previous Best: 1:49.71)
- 400 IM – 4:12.91 (Previous Best: 4:19.40)
- 200 IM – 1:58.72 (Previous Best: 1:59.00)
- 500 free – 4:46.85 (Previous Best: 4:50.76)
Those times in the 200 IM (74th) and 400 IM (69th) both rank her among the top 100 all-time American performers in the event for 15-16 girls. Her time in the 400 IM is a new 15-16 LSC Record, breaking the 4:14.46 done by Kathleen Golding in 2016.
Podkoscielny, daughter of two-time Polish Olympic swimmer Mariusz, won Florida 2A High School State Championships a month ago in both the 200 IM and 100 back.
The top junior performer on the men’s side through 2 days is 18-year old Peruvian international Joaquin Vargas, who is training with Azura Florida Aquatics.
Vargas won the 200 free on Friday in 1:36.42 and placed 3rd in the 400 IM in 3:58.32. Undeterred by a prelims DQ on Saturday morning in the 100 back, Vargas swam a 4:20.18 in the 500 free in finals to crush the pool record by over 5 seconds.
That 500 free time also breaks the 17-18 LSC Record of 4:23.90 that was set more than 38 years ago in 1982 by Matt Cetlinski in 4:23.90. Cetlinski, who swam for the Wahoos of Wellington, went on to win an Olympic gold medal as part of the American 800 free relay at the 1988 Games.
Other Highlights:
- 21-year old Azura Florida swimmer Celina Marquez swam 52.36 to cut more than a second off the 5-year old Pool Record in the women’s 100 backstroke (after already breaking it in prelims). Marquez, who represents El Salvador internationally, also won the 50 back in 25.84, 100 fly in 54.08, 50 fly in 24.56, and was 2nd to Podkoscielny in the 200 IM in 2:00.37.
- High school senior and UCLA commit Paige MacEachern won the 100 breaststroke in 1:02.35, which is a best time by 1.2 seconds; and was 2nd in the 400 IM in 4:16.44, which is a best time by more than 7 seconds.
- 22-year old South Florida Aquatics swimmer Julio Horrego won the men’s 100 breaststroke in 53.85 and the men’s 200 IM in 1:47.55. The former Florida State Seminole attended high school in Florida but represents Honduras internationally.
Site 4 of the Florida Virtual Championships
Julio Horrego – not a junior – 53.85 – 22
Steven Aimable – 100 fly – not a junior – 48.45
Matt Cetlinsky was 18 in like 1983-84 if not earlier, so that swim would’ve been more like 36-37 years ago. 4:23 was a helluva swim in 1983-84. Love seeing these amazing older records as they finally go down.