Rose Bowl 17-18 Boys Crack 400 Medley Relay NAG Record At 2023 LA Invite

2023 Los Angeles Invitational

• July 6-9, 2023
• Uytengsu Aquatic Center, Los Angeles, CA
• LCM (50 meters)
• Results

Trojan Swim Club and Southern California Swimming hosted the annual Los Angeles Invitational at USC this past weekend. The meet featured a mix of swimmers from west coast colleges and local club teams, as well as a handful of foreign athletes. 

Among the top highlights of the meet was Rose Bowl Aquatics’ time trial of the 400 medley relay. The team of Rex Maurer (55.02), Daniel Li (1:02.80), Logan Noguchi (54.94), and Nathan Kim (50.90) combined for a time of 3:43.66, marking a new boy’s 17-18 National Age Group (NAG) record. They also narrowly missed the boy’s 15-18 relay record, which stands at 3:43.63 from the Mason Manta Rays in 2018.

The record was previously 3:44.00, done by Dynamo Swim Club in 2019. The biggest impact in splits came from the front half of the race, with Maurer and Li significantly out-splitting Ian Grum and Quinn Harron on their respective legs.

Split Comparison:

Among the other top performers was Ruslan Gaziev, who swept sprint freestyle races. He opened with a victory in the 200 freestyle, where he was the only swimmer in the field to crack 1:50 with a time of 1:49.61. He went on to win the 50 (22.75) and 100 (49.25), again being the only athlete to dip below 50-seconds in the 100. Gaziev has already been selected to represent Canada at the World Championships later this month and was part of a crew of Canadians who stopped in LA for the weekend before heading for training camps in Asia.

Nick Mahabir also had a strong showing, as he collected victories in both breaststroke events. The Cal commit hit a season best time of 2:13.53 to clear the field in the 200 breast by almost two seconds, while in the 100 he touched first in 1:01.67 to win by half a second.

Winning the longer freestyle races was Jose Cano from Yale. He hit a season best time of 3:55.03 en route to winning the 400 freestyle, then closed out the meet with a victory in the 800 free (8:12.60).

The women’s breaststroke events were among the deepest of the meet. Kaitlyn Dobler clocked a winning time of 1:06.64 in the 100, putting her about a second shy of what she swam at U.S. Nationals a week prior. Rachel Nicol from the University of Calgary got her hand on the wall first in the 200 breast in a season best time of 2:27.14, while Isabelle Odgers took 2nd at 2:27.31. Odgers’ performance marked a personal best time by a few tenths, with her previous best being done at Nationals. 

Claire Tuggle was a double-winner, leading the way in the 400 and 800 freestyle. Tuggle logged a season best time of 4:15.01 in the 400 free, while in the 800 she posted an 8:51.25 to top the field by over three seconds. Tuggle also recorded a season best time of 2:01.52 in the 200 free to take runner-up behind Canada’s Rebecca Smith (1:59.50). 

This May, Tuggle announced that she will be transferring to USC this fall. She spent her freshman year at the University of Virginia, where she placed as high as 4th at ACCs in the 500 free. 

The other double-event winner for the women was Teia Salvino. The Alabama commit out-touched Justina Kozan in the 100 backstroke to win by a hundredth (1:02.15), while in the 200 back stopped the clock at 2:15.97. Both swims marked new personal best times.