Dolfin Swim of the Week: US Junior Boys Beat Pan Ams, WUGs in 4×200 Relay

Disclaimer: Dolfin Swim of the Week is not meant to be a conclusive selection of the best overall swim of the week, but rather one Featured Swim to be explored in deeper detail. The  Dolfin Swim is an opportunity to take a closer look at the context of one of the many fast swims this week, perhaps a swim that slipped through the cracks as others grabbed the headlines, or a race we didn’t get to examine as closely in the flood of weekly meets.

Team USA sent a slew of different teams to different competitions this summer: an ‘A’ team to World Championships, a ‘B’ team to World University Games and a ‘C’ team to Pan American Games, plus a junior team to the World Junior Championships.

Yet today, the junior team of boys turned out to be better than most of the senior groups. The American 4×200 free relay at World Juniors surged to gold, smashing the world junior record by 2.6 seconds and beating the times put up by any teams at both the World University Games and the Pan American Games.

Jake Magahey, Luca Urlando, Jake Mitchell and Carson Foster went 7:08.37 in that relay. That time blows out the U.S. relays at Pan Ams (7:14.82) and World University Games (7:09.77) and actually would have made the final at the senior World Championships.

Here’s a comparison to some of this summer’s top relays:

• US World Juniors team (Magahey, Urlando, Mitchell, Foster): 7:08.37 – gold
• US World University Games team (Farris, House, Julian, Apple): 7:09.77 – gold
• US Pan American Games team (Kibler, House, Pomajevich, Wieser): 7:14.82 – silver
• Brazil Pan American Games team (Melo, Scheffer, de Lucca, Correia): 7:10.66 – gold

Here’s how the junior team’s individual splits lined up with the splits from Team USA’s other finals relays (finals splits only, no prelims included):

1. Blake Pieroni, World Champs – 1:44.98
2. Townley Haas, World Champs – 1:45.16
3. Andrew Seliskar, World Champs – 1:45.81 (leadoff)
4. Zach Apple, World Champs – 1:46.03
5. Carson Foster, World Juniors – 1:46.10
6. Zach Apple, Universiade – 1:46.16
7. Trenton Julian, Universiade – 1:46.99
8. Jake Mitchell, World Juniors – 1:47.03
9. Luca Urlando, World Juniors – 1:47.13
10. Drew Kibler, Pan Ams – 1:47.31 (leadoff)
11. Grant House, Universiade – 1:47.89
12. Jake Magahey, World Juniors – 1:48.11 (leadoff)
13. Grant House, Pan Ams – 1:48.31
14. Dean Farris, Universiade – 1:48.73 (leadoff)
15. Sam Pomajevich, Pan Ams – 1:49.34
16. Chris Wieser, Pan Ams – 1:49.86

With most of the key spots on Team USA’s relay still wide open heading into the 2020 Tokyo Olympic year, the four boys from this World Juniors relay could be charging toward Olympic berths while still in high school – all four are still rising high school seniors who should graduate just a month or so before U.S. Olympic Trials next year.

About Dolfin Swimwear

Dolfin Swimwear represents quality and value. We are committed to supplying our customers with a durable swim suit and an affordable price. We also will continue to be the innovaters for fun and unique practice/training suits which gives swimmers something to smile about…even during grueling workouts.

About Dolfin’s Tech Suit LightStrike

LightStrike^TM was developed after years of research in biomechanics, active drag analysis, fabric innovation, and compression analysis. This new FINA approved suit is supported by Dr. Genadijus Sokolovas, PhD in Biomechanics and former Performance Director with USA Swimming and Styku® 3D Biomapping Engineering.

Visit Dolfin to learn more.

Instagram @DolfinSwimwear

Twitter: @DolfinSwim

Facebook: DolfinSwimwear 

Dolfin is a SwimSwam partner.