Claire Curzan, 15, Downs 15-16 U.S. NAG Record in 50 Free with a 21.77

2019 SPEEDO WINTER JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS – EAST

• December 11th-14th, 2019
• Georgia Tech Campus Recreation Center, Atlanta, Georgia
• SCY (25y) Course
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Winning the event tonight in Atlanta at the 2019 Speedo Winter Junior Championships – East, Claire Curzan has broken the 15-16 U.S. National Age Group record in the 50 freestyle. Her lifetime best of 21.77 tonight surpasses the old mark of 21.82 set at this meet a year ago by Gretchen Walsh.

Curzan, who trains with the TAC Titans in North Carolina, missed the U.S. Open last week due to being sick. She looks to be back in top form now, though, kicking off her meet with an NAG record.

TOP U.S. 15-16 PERFORMERS, WOMEN’S 50 FREE, ALL-TIME

1. Claire Curzan – 21.77 (2019)
2. Gretchen Walsh – 21.82 (2018)
3. Torri Huske – 21.95 (2019)
4. Simone Manuel/Kate Douglass – 22.04 (2013/2016)
5. –
6. Alex Walsh – 22.08 (2018)

This was only Curzan’s second sub-22 performance ever. Her other time under 22 was a 21.89 from March of this year, which stands at the current 13-14 NAG record. She was the first in 13-14 U.S. history to ever break 22 seconds, doing so with that 21.89 from March, which came just a week after she went a 22.01 to come one-hundredth off of Walsh’s former 13-14 NAG of 22.00.

Curzan only joined the 15-16 age group this summer. With about a year and a half left in the age group, her time would come in at #7 in 17-18 rankings, where Manuel holds the NAG at 21.32, a time done at the 2015 NCAA Championships in her freshman year at Stanford.

In overall 18& under American history, only Manuel (17), Douglass (17), and Weitzeil (18) have been faster at a meet before getting to college. Several women have been 18 years old and rank higher than Curzan when it comes to 17-18 history, lest her being #7 if projected into that age category, but they hit those times after having done at least a semester of collegiate training. Curzan is a high school sophomore.