FHSAA CLASS 1A STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Nov. 3-4, 2023
- Florida Aquatics Swimming & Training (FAST)
- Ocala, Florida
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results on MeetMobile: “2023 FHSAA Swimming & Diving Championship-1A”
Kaii Winkler capped off his high school swimming career in epic fashion on Saturday with his second overall national high school record of the 2023 FHSAA Class 1A State Championships in the 100-yard freestyle.
Winkler led off South Florida HEAT’s 400 free relay with a time of 42.14, taking down David Nolan‘s previous standard of 42.34 that had stood for 12 years since 2011.
Splits Comparison
| Kaii Winkler, 2023 | David Nolan, 2011 | |
| 50 free | 20.29 | 20.55 |
| 100 free | 42.14 | 42.34 |
Remarkably, it wasn’t even a lifetime best for the 17-year-old Winkler, an NC State commit who has been as fast as 41.94 in March.
Winkler also broke the national high school record in the 200 free with a personal-best 1:32.68 earlier in the session, lowering Cal freshman Aaron Shackell‘s previous mark of 1:32.85 from February. He added another state title in the 100 fly (46.33) while also leading off South Florida HEAT’s 200 free relay in 19.59.
Just about four months ago, Winkler suffered fractures in his left wrist and right elbow after he was hit by a car on his way home from morning practice in late June — right before the 2023 U.S. National Championships.
Video?
I read this as a 12 year old beat a high school record and i thought….. how is a 12 year old in high school? 😂
National HS record is 41.23. Should do a revised list solely based on times done while in high school, not necessarily high school sanctioned meets.
ryan hoffer swam that at jr nationals not a hs meet
disregard that i misread the comment smh
Sometimes injuries give a boost of gratefulness that result in intense motivation. Great job!
where is this HS located?
HEAT stands for Home Education Athletic Teams. HEAT is an organization in Florida that pulls together home schooled kids for athletic competition in the state.
so they don’t practice together?
Some of them are on the same club teams.
Pretty much bull shoot if you ask me
Its easy to get around the recruiting if the kids are homeschooled. Homeschooled kids should compete for their zoned school. But then that might make things fair.
Each state has their own individual competition rules. Some don’t have high school practices at all, some aren’t allowed to go to club instead of high school, and others don’t allow club coaches at all. Varies greatly, and obviously states that cater to club swimming have better state times, unless the club coach doesn’t know how to build a team.
so they really aren’t a high school team in the most basic sense. They are club swimmers who maybe practice together if they are in the same club and homeschooled, with multiple coaches, practicing at multiple pools and combine for relays under a banner of HS program. All good at the end I suppose, but they do not practice as a team during HS season in a HS pool. Vive la difference.
Back in the early/mid 90s when I was an age grouper, one of the teams I swam for was a HEAT-styled team, though not in Florida. I was home schooled at the time and it was the only HEAT-style team for our part of the state.
I wasn’t in high school while we were on that team, so it was a moot point, but I don’t remember if the state allowed high schoolers on our team to participate at high school meets.
We moved to a different state shortly after that and I know the state we moved to didn’t allow home schoolers to participate in high school meets, and high schools in the area didn’t allow home schoolers… Read more »
the fact that this was still over a second away from Hoffer’s 41.23 is insane to me
That record was legendary
The next Popovici?
yea but hopefully Winkler won’t choke at international competition and fall short of what everyone expects.
Please don’t jinx Kaii too
Wow.
LMFAO
what are u talking about lmao at Kai’s current age, Popovici was a month away from winning both the 100 and 200 free at worlds
He is clearly super talented and there are similarities, but Popovici was a 2x world champion, WR holder in the 100 and textile WR holder in the 200 at the same age. By all measures, he is in a league of his own as a junior. Let’s see what the future holds.
We will have to see if Popovici ever even gets back there. He was a Galaxy away from that level. Might be a lightning in a bottle scenario tbh
Let’s hope his future is better than David Nolan’s turned out from this point.