Video is courtesy of USA Swimming:
Girls’ 200 Yard IM – FINALS – 2013 US Winter Junior Nationals – as reported by SwimSwam / Braden Keith
Lest we go more than a few minutes without a record of some sort being broken, SOCAL Aquatics’ Ella Eastin won the girls’ 200 yard IM in 1:56.02 – breaking the Meet Record of 1:56.53 set by Kathleen Baker last year.
Eastin’s swim put a real charge into the crowd in Greensboro. She was only 3rd going into the final turn, behind leader and eventual second-place finisher Meaghan Raab from the Hershey Aquatic Club. Even though Raab is a great freestyler, Eastin still bested her split on that final leg by over a second (26.88-28.20) for the victory.
Raab still took home silver in 1:56.92, which is a second better than she’d been coming into the meet, and Clara Smiddy from the AK Sharks in Florida was 3rd in 1:47.82.
Katherine Drabot of Ozaukee Aquatics was 3rd in 1:58.23; she too had a great closing freestyle kick, though her backstroke leg left her a sizable hole to make up. Mount Pleasant’s Megan Kingsley was 5th in 1:48.34, and PASA’s Ally Howe was 6th in 1:58.46.
Raab, Kingsley, and 7th-place finisher Kylie Stewart are all headed to Georgia in the fall; Smiddy is going to Michigan and Howe is going to Stanford.
aaannnddd she drops the medal