2023 Winter Juniors – East: Swims You Might Have Missed On Day 3

2023 SPEEDO WINTER JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS – EAST

• December 6-9, 2023
• McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion, Columbus, OH
• Prelims: 9:00 am (EST)/ Finals: 5:00 pm (EST)
  • Wednesday finals (relays only): 6:00 pm (EST)
• SCY (25 yards)
• Meet Central (USA Swimming)
• How To Watch
• Psych Sheet
• Live Results (Also available on MeetMobile)
• Day 1 Finals Live Recap
• Day 2 Prelims Live Recap
• Day 2 Finals Live Recap
• Day 3 Prelims Live Recap
• Day 3 Finals Live Recap

The third day of the 2023 Speedo Winter Juniors Championships (East) are in the books. The winning performances this evening were impressive, but this article will focus on some swims by non-winners that are also worthy of mention.

A time you might have missed that won’t actually count was a 19.64 leadoff leg from Spencer Nicholas of the Nashville Aquatic Club in the team’s 200 free relay. That team finished in 1:20.09, which would have tied them for 3rd place, but was disqualified. Per USA Swimming rules, leadoff legs of disqualified relays can count – so long as that leg was finished legally. His best time coming into the meet was 20.21 done in March; he bettered that in prelims of the 50 free on Thursday with a 20.04 to qualify 8th for the final, eventually scratching.

Quest Swimming’s Emerson Callis kicked things off with a big best time to win the B-final of the 400 IM. She stopped the clock at 4:12.96, taking over eight seconds off entry time from this past March. 14-year-old Ellie Clarke from Carmel also had a strong swim in the B-final, as she took 12th in a best time of 4:16.62. Clarke’s performance moves her to 60th all-time in the girls’ 13-14 age group.

In the 100 fly, 14-year-old Abby Chan from the Huntsville Swim Association moved up from being entered at 77th to placing 23rd tonight (54.77). She was slightly this faster this morning at 54.44, which put her over a second under her entry time.

Laker Swimming’s Addison Reese completed the 100 fly-200 free double with a victory in the C-final of 200. The Florida commit touched 1st in her heat at 1:47.86, good for a best time by about half a second. She was a 53.56 in the 100 fly, which is about half a second shy of what she posted at the Florida High School state meet.

Indiana recruit Mary Elizabeth Cespedes had a fantastic swim in the 1o0 breaststroke in prelims this morning. She recorded a 1:01.42 to move from 19th to 6th and take nearly a second off her best time from March. Cespedes was slightly slower tonight with a 1:02.07 for 8th.

15-year-old Virginia Hinds was the 4th-place finisher in the 100 backstroke with a time of 52.87. Hinds, who trains with All Star Aquatics, entered the meet as the 15th seed with a 53.97. She took a few tenths off that this morning (53.57), then dropped another seven-tenths this evening for over a second on the day.

On the boys’ side, Freddy Klein from SwimMAC opened with a victory in the B-final of the 400 IM. Klein, a Cal commit, shattered the 3:50-barrier for the first time with a 3:48.42, good for a best time by almost three seconds. Klein also had one of the fastest closing 100s of the entire field with a 50.96 on the freestyle leg.

Winning the C-final of the 400 IM also with a time of 3:48.42 was Klein’s teammate Max Nechydyuk. Nechydyuk’s swim took eight whole seconds off his previous best time (3:56.53), moving him from 28th to 17th overall.

There was an extremely tight race in the B-final of the 100 fly, with 15-year-old Antoine Destang and 18-year-old Matthew Klinge coming down to the touch. Klinge relied on early speed (21.47), while Destang put together a phenomenal back half (24.92) to get his hand on the wall 1st at 47.27, just 0.02 ahead of Klinge. Both swims established new personal best times.

The B-final of the 200 free also saw a good race between Thomas Powers-Hammond and Jack Haywood. Powers-Hammond led at the 100 by over half a second, while Haywood made an attempt to close the gap in the back half. Powers-Hammond hung on for a 1:36.67, while Haywood was just behind at 1:36.91. Haywood took over two seconds off his best time, while Powers-Hammond lowered his by half a second.

16-year-old Jason Zhao won the 200 freestyle title earlier in the session, but returned later to take 9th in the 100 breast. He recorded a 53.64 this evening, which comes in over a second and a half under his best time entering the meet from March (55.27).

Rounding out the top individual swims of the day was Crash Ackerly‘s performance in the 100 backstroke. Ackerly, a Yale commit, entered the meet as the 17th seed with a best time of 48.79. He lowered that to 48.26 this morning, then clocked a 47.90 tonight to take 7th. A similar progression came from Virginia recruit Thomas Mercer, who knocked over a second off on the day to ultimately take 9th (47.71).