Nation’s Capital Swim Club showed up in full force to the Virginia Long Course State Championships, piling up the wins over the three-day event.
NCAP stars like Katie Ledecy, Janet Hu, Andrew Seliskar, Isabella Rongione, Carsten Vissering and Katie Mack all won events for their club. In addition, college stars like Chuck Katis and Andrew Gemmell made appearances for the club, using veteran savvy to pick up more wins.
In the age group events, 14-year-old Timothy Wu was impressive, racking up 7 wins over the three days.
We’ve broken down the meet day-by-day below.
Day 1 – Friday
NCAP won 8 of 10 events to kick things off Friday night, foreshadowing what would be a dominant weekend for the club.
An early one came from new Nation’s Capital addition Isabella Rongione, who went 4:14.97 to run away with the girls 400 free. Rongione, who used to compete for The Fish, won by 8 and a half seconds over teammate Megan Byrnes.
Olympian and newly-turned pro Andrew Gemmell won the boys event for NCAP, just eking out a win over his teammate Andrew Seliskar. Gemmell, who recently wrapped up his NCAA career with Georgia, went 4:00.46, a tenth ahead of the high school star Seliskar’s 4:00.62.
Nation’s Capital also won the boys 13-14 edition of the event, with Timothy Wu blasting a 4:12.74 to win by nearly 12 seconds.
Michelle Owens was able to keep a win away from NCAP in the girls 13-14 400 free. Owens put The Fish on the board in the meet’s first event with a 4:26.78.
The other win for The Fish was in the girls 11-12 400 free. Madelyn Donohoe and Sofie Davis combined to go 1-2, with Donohoe winning in 4:30.98.
Ryan Catron won the boys 400 for the 11-12s, touching out Nick Spicer 4:41.50 to 4:41.76.
In the girls 400 IM, Stanford commit Janet Hu put up the fastest time of the field. Hu went 4:55.34 to win easily. Byrnes was once again second, cracking five minutes at 4:59.51.
Seliskar returned to win the boys event. The 17-year-old, one of the brightest young talents in USA Swimming at the moment, was 4:27.03 in running away with the win. (The remainder of the field started finishing at 4:42, with the next three athletes all going 4:42s on the night).
For the 13-14s, Jasmine Hellmer kept the NCAP win streak alive. Her 5:08.69 denied Owens her second straight win. Owens was 5:10.09 coming off of that 400 free win.
On the boys side, Kyle Barker put up a 4:54.38, three tenths up on his teammate Spencer Rowe.
Day 2 – Saturday
International superstar Katie Ledecky made her first appearance of the meet on Saturday, winning the 200 fly to kick off the meet. The now 17-year-old Ledecky went 2:15.62 in her first meet since announcing her verbal commitment to Stanford.
Georgia Bulldog alum Andrew Gemmell picked up another win in the men’s event. His 2:06.10 bettered the field by about a second.
Meanwhile in the 13-14s, Jasmine Hellmer took her second win of the weekend in 2:22.25, while 13-year-old Steven Thalblum won the boys event with a 2:19.60.
Janet Hu was back on day 2, winning the girls 100 back with a 1:03.34. Her NCAP counterpart Andrew Seliskar got another win of his own in the boys race, going 57.68.
13-year-old Katie Mack won the girls 13-14 division, going 1:06.01 to top new teammate Isabella Rongione. Kyle Barker won his second close race in as many days. His 1:05.18 was exactly one tenth up on Anno Kong of The Fish for the boys win.
Mack came back to win the next event in her age group, the 50 free. Her 27.78 was good enough to beat Hellmer for the win by half a second.
The boys 13-14 race went to Timothy Wu. He rolled to a 25.62, with the rest of the field six tenths back.
Two of NCAP’s best went head-to-head in the women’s open 50 free. It was future Stanford teammates Janet Hu and Katie Ledecky leading the way – Hu, a graduating high school senior, topped her younger teammate 26.22 to 26.56.
For the boys, it was 16-year-old James Jones who picked up the win for NCAP. He was just on the edge of a 23-second race, going 24.05 to knock off Paul O’Hara’s 24.15. Also in that race were John Shebat (24.45) and Andrew Seliskar (24.62) who finished third and fourth.
13-year-old Sinead Eksteen went 2:50.83 to win the girls 13-14 200 breast. The boys race again went to Timothy Wu, who won his second-straight event with flying colors. His 2:30.97 torched the field by 6 seconds.
For the open age group, it was 14-year-old Holly Jansen who won despite her youth. Jansen was 2:41.93 for an easy win for the host Potomac Marlins.
On the boys side,Cal Golden Bear Chuck Katis picked up the win in 2:21.88. Katis, who grew up in Virginia, appears to have returned home for the summer after helping Berkeley to a national title in his first year with the program.
The final event was the 200 free. Isabella Rongione took the girls 13-14 event with a 2:05.49, followed by previous event-winners Michelle Owens (2:08.78), Jasmine Hellmer (2:10.81) and Katie Mack (2:11.60). For the boys, Timothy Wu won yet again, putting up a 2:00.83 for another dominating victory.
The girls open race was a rematch of the 50 free, but this time Olympian Katie Ledecky wouldn’t be denied. Ledecky went 1:58.30 to crush the field, with 50 free winner Janet Hu second, back at 2:06.12.
Andrew Seliskar won the boys race, going 1:54.09 to top Andrew Gemmell‘s 1:57.22.
Day 3 – Sunday
The first race of the final session was a barn-burner, coming down to hundredths. Emily Landeryou topped Gabrielle Zhang 1:04.92 to 1:04.99 for the girls 13-14 100 fly. The boys race was a bit more spread out, with Brandon Hamblin going 1:01.60 to win.
Janet Hu was back at it in the open 100 fly, getting another big win. Her 1:00.76 is a strong early-season time. In the boys race, Andrew Seliksar kept up his busy schedule for the weekend, going 55.20 for yet another win.
Michelle Owens of The Fish got another win in the girls 13-14 200 backstroke. Owens was 2:24.72. Another repeat winner, Kyle Barker went 2:22.20 for the boys event.
Megan Byrnes and Annie Boone battled for the girls open 200 back. The NCAP teammates went down to the wire, with Byrnes going 2:19.59 to Boone’s 2:19.79. Katie Mack was third.
Seliskar won another one in the boys race. The 17-year-old was 2:04.55 to stay unbeaten on the day.
Owens came back to pace the 200 IM in 2:25.88 to take her second consecutive 13-14 race. Timothy Wu picked up where he left off after a three-win Saturday, going 2:16.06 for the win.
Janet Hu doubled up, adding the open 200 IM to her 100 fly title with a 2:19.24. 200 back winner Megan Byrnes was second in 2:23.94.
For the boys, Carsten Vissering got his first win of the weekend. The 17-year-old from NCAP went 2:11.22 to top John Shebat.
Another close race in the girls 13-14 100 breast – Claire Wolff beat Sydney Harrington 1:19.46 to 1:19.80. Wu once again won the boys race in 1:10.55.
200 breast winner Holly Jansen made it a sweep in the open 100 breast. The 14-year-old was 1:15.33 for the win, just sneaking in ahead of Natalie Purnell‘s 1:15.57.
Vissering made it two in a row for the boys, going an impressive 1:02.26, not far off a lifetime-best. That beat the field by over 7 seconds.
Finally, the meet wrapped up with the 100 frees. Katie Mack took another one with a 59.81 to blow away the girls 13-14 heat, a time that would have been second in the open heat later on. Putting the cap on an impressive weekend, Timothy Wu pulled in win #7 with a 54.90 in the boys age group heat.
A tight 4-way battle in the girls open race ended up in a Kylie Jordan win for NCAP. The 16-year-old went 59.28. In hot pursuit were three more teammates who all cracked a minute: Annie Boone (59.69), Andi Mack (59.84) and Megan Byrnes (59.96).
NCAP 17-year-old Luke Thorsell closed out the meet with the boys 100 free win. He went 53.81 to win by nearly a second.
I think one of the most exciting times at this meet was Janet Hu’s 1:00.76. I feel like she could be a surprise to make the national team or even the pan pac team. I believe she trains with Seliskar, so one has to believe there is time to drop when taper comes.
Ok. I’m looking at my crystal ball. 🙂
I see a 59 low in the 100 fly and a 25 low in the 50 free.
The national team? Yes, she can do it.
The Pan Pacs team? No, I don’t think so. It’s too early in my opinion.
She’s a beast in yards but she still has everything to prove in long course.
Hopefully she will show us next summer her big talent in the big pool too.
1.02.26 in the 100 breast for the young Carsten Vissering unrested is a very promising performance before the summer.
We can expect a sub 1.01 in the next months.
He’s really the next great American breaststroker in my opinion.
Thetroublewithx- It isn’t much of a Championship meet. Nobody rests for Virginia States. It is viewed as a very early season LC meet (most people’s first LC meet of the year), but it is prelims/finals for the older swimmers so that’s why the name of the meet is Virginia State “Championships”. In PVS, there is a Maryland States (mostly RMSC) and Virginia States (mostly NCAP) meet in May. PVS includes teams in MD, VA, and DC. The VA Lsc includes some farther out VA area (not as close to DC). The main PVS LC Championship meet that swimmers gear up for is Senior Champs in mid July (unless swimmers are competing at Junior Nats/Senior Nats/etc).
Kind of a weird name for the meet, as it initially sounds like it’s the actual long course season championship meet for the Virginia LSC. But, looking at Meet Mobile, most of the teams that participated were either from Potomac Valley LSC or Maryland LSC. And it’s a bit early for long course championship meets anyway isn’t?
It’s amazing that all of these swimmers are on the same team – Ledecky, Hu, Gemmell, Vissering, Rongione, Seliskar, etc.
This summer, I am interested in seeing
-if Katie Ledecky can break more world records
-if Andrew Seliskar can make the Pan Pacific Team
-how Andrew Gemmell does in Open Water this summer (and if he does pool swimming as well)
-how Hu, Vissering, and Rongione perform at Junior team meets or if any of them can even make a national team squad
You do understand that they are on the same team by association only as NCAP is an association of nine different sites in southern Maryland, D.C. and northern Virginia corridor.
Imagine if all the Atlanta area teams including Dynamo, the Rays and Swim Atlanta swam under one association.
With that said the swimming in Potomac Valley LSC is very impressive when you also consider Rockville-Montgomery or Machine Aquatics?