Baylor Swimmer Ellie Waldrep Breaks 2 National High School Records (SCM)

2019 Springhill Suites Elite High School Meet

• November 16th, 2019
• Hosted by The Baylor School, Chattanooga, Tennessee
• 25m (SCM) format
• Full Results

The Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tennessee drew in 3 elite high school programs from across the east coast for a short course meters meet this weekend. The pool was set in short course meters, which allowed the teams a chance to take a run at National High School Records.

All the teams at the Spring Hill Invite. Courtesy: Brian Gill

The participating teams were the hosts Baylor School, which are the owners of 41 Tennessee state titles in swimming & diving; the McDonogh School in Maryland; and Cardinal Gibbons High School in North Carolina.

If the goal was National Records, the game was successful as Baylor School junior Ellie Waldrep undercut a pair of Independent School marks on the day.

The first came in the 200 IM, where she swam a 2:16.88. That broke one of the oldest records on the book – a 2:19.17 that was set by Katherine Bell of Westminster Schools (GA) in 2004. McDonogh’s Meghan Lee was also faster than the old record via a 2nd-place time of 2:17.99. Both swimmers are verbally committed to Auburn.

The overall high school record in short course meters was set earlier this year by Kaitie McClintock in 2:15.94.

Waldrep, who is committed to Auburn, has bests of 2:21.34 in long course meters and 2:06.05 in short course yards. She’s the 10th-ranked recruit in the high school class of 2021. Lee has bests of 2:20.81 in long course and 2:03.46 in yards – she’ll arrive at Auburn a year before Waldrep, in the fall of 2020.

Race Video:

In the 100 backstroke, Waldrep broke another record, swimming a 59.87. That improves upon the old record of 1:00.85, which was done by another Baylor School swimmer, Arden Pitman, in 2008. Pittman was on hand at the meet to see her record broken. Waldrep’s time in the 100 back is also faster than the overall high school record, which previously belonged to Pitman as well. The public school record remains a 1:01.82 set in 2011 by Madison Hahn.

Lee as 2nd in that race as well, swimming 1:01.89.

Race Video:

The meet was scored as a double-dual, with each team’s results being pulled out into a hypothetical dual meet against their opponents, though all swimmers raced together. The McDonogh boys went 2-0 on the day, with Baylor winning the 2nd-place tie-breaker over Cardinal Gibbons.

On the girls’ side, Baylor led the way with a 2-0 finish, while McDonogh topped Cardinal Gibbons for 2nd place.

Team Scores

Boys

• McDonogh 126 – Cardinal Gibbons – 44
• McDonogh 108.50 – Baylor 61.50
• Baylor School 113 – Cardinal Gibbons – 57

Girls

• Baylor 89 – McDonogh 81
• Baylor 122 – Cardinal Gibbons 48
• McDonogh 124 – Cardinal Gibbons 46