Amy Bilquist and the girls of the Carmel Swim Club ripped up the record book at the Nashville Aquatic Club’s Southern Premier meet over the weekend.
Bilquist, a high school senior and Cal commit, broke 4 individual records, while Carmel’s relays knocked off 3 meet records and won 4 of the 5 relay races.
Among Bilquist’s most notable times was a lifetime-best 1:53.28 in the 200 back. That lopped over three second off Bilquist’s personal best, and broke the meet record by more than a second.
Bilquist also cut three tenths off her 100 back lifetime-best, going 52.26 for the win, and was just off best times in the 50 free (22.22) and 100 free (48.58).
Carmel also shattered meet records in the 200 and 400 free relays, plus the 200 medley relay. Bilquist split 21.64 as she, Veronica Burchill, Claire Adams and Kendall Smith went 1:30.12 in the 200 free relay, breaking the record by almost three seconds.
Adams, Alex Clarke, Burchill and Bilquist went 1:40.32 to win the 200 medley, getting a 25.55 from Adams on backstroke and a 21.87 from Bilquist on the end. Finally, Burchill, Adams, Trude Rothrock and Bilquist went 3:17.60 to win the 400 free relay, with Adams splitting 48.71 to lead the way.
The other relay meet record to go down was the 400 medley, which went to Lakeside in 3:39.85. They beat Carmel by two tenths as both teams got under the previous record. Lakeside was led by a big 1:01.59 breaststroke split from Kennedy Lohman as well as a 52.59 fly leg from Asia Seidt.
The other big individual winner was Nashville Aquatic Club’s Tatum Wade, who took three events, all in new meet records. Wade won the 200 free (1:45.81), 200 fly (1:58.34) and 200 IM (1:57.53), topping Bilquist in the IM along the way.
Other girls meet records in the open age group fell to Newburgh Sea Creature Lilly King in both breaststrokes (1:00.75 in the 100 and 2:11.82 in the 200), Nashville Aquatic Club’s Elizabeth Stinson in the 500 free (4:45.14) and SwimAtlanta’s Haley McInery in the 100 fly (53.83).
The boys side saw less of an assault on the meet record books, though Western Kentucky junior Russ Bryant knocked down two by himself. Bryant bettered his lifetime-best with a 1:37.03 to win the 200 free, and dropped a whopping four and a half seconds in the 500 to go 4:21.59.
Nearly all of the freestyle events saw meet records shattered, with SwimAtlanta’s Cody Bekemeyer, a South Carolina commit, taking down the 1650 mark in 15:03.69 and the University of Kentucky’s Eric Bruck doing the same in the 50 free with a 20.24.
SwimAtlanta’s Thomas Nguyen broke the final boys meet record in the open division by going 48.20 in the 100 back.
In non-record-breaking swims, Kentucky’s George Greenhalgh swept the 100 and 200 breaststrokes, while Dynamo’s Cash DeLoache took the 100 and 200 flys.
Also doubling was Lakeside’s Heyward Harrison, who took the 200 back and 200 IM.
A few more notable swimmers:
Note: live results were incomplete in a few events. This recap is based on the available results.
- In the 10&Under girls, Georgia Coastal’s Alexandra Wayner took 6 individual wins, setting new meet records in 5 events, including dominating wins in the 100 free (58.86) and 50 free (26.72).
- Meanwhile in the younger boys division, Isaiah Dulin of the Nashville Aquatic Club won 6 individual races, including meet records in the 50 fly (30.14) and 100 fly (1:08.96).
- The 11-12 girls saw Nashville’s Kallie Chelsvig go on a tear, winning a meet-high 7 races and breaking meet records in all 7. Chelsvig was especially tough through the IMs (1:00.14 in the 100, 2:09.31 in the 200) and butterfly races (25.96 in the 50, 56.10 in the 100).
- The home team also dominated the 11-12 boys, with Siaka Weidenbaum winning 4 races and breaking 3 meet records, including the 50 back (27.00) and 50 fly (25.93) in the final session.
- In the 13-14 girls, Gulliver Swim Club’s Andrea Santander swept the free races from the 50 up to the 500, breaking a meet record with a 51.54 in the 100, and also won the 400 IM in 4:26.32.
- The 13-14 boys saw Triton Swimming’s Will Tarvestad match Chelsvig’s total with 7 wins. That included meet records in the 100 free (47.41) and 200 free (1:43.58).
Bilquist is a great swimmer… but she’s inhuman on relays. I cannot recall a time where she hasn’t been a LOT faster on relays than her flat start bests…
Amy Bilquist had also laid down a 47.67 anchor on that 400 medley relay. Not too bad after having competed in the 100 back & 100 free earlier that evening.
Her CSC teammates Claire Adams swam the fastest back leg in the field, Veronica Burchill the 2nd fastest fly too. However Alex Clarke’s 1:05.78 breast split (slowest in the field) left the team in too much of a hole for even Amy to overcome.
Very solid performances from Carmel, Lakeside and all for a club meet at this time of the year. Good job all around!
I’m more and more impressed by Amy Bilquist’s backstroke.
She’s a tall girl built for that stroke.