Florida Virtual Championships – Site 1 (Sarasota)
- December 11-13, 2020
- Selby Aquatic Center, Sarasota, FL
- Short Course Yards (25 yards)
- Psych Sheets (PDF)
- Results on Meet Mobile: “2020 Florida Virtual Championships – Site 1”
- Live Stream (Sarasota Sharks Youtube Channel)
The Sarasota site of the Florida Virtual Championships posted even more lifetime bests tonight, contributing the results of its 18&Under swimmers to the USA Swimming 18&Under Winter Championships.
Among the young standouts was U.S. National Team member Emma Weyant of the Sarasota Sharks who clocked lifetime bests in every race that she swam today. Weyant, who decided to defer this year and join UVA’s class of 2025, started out the night by claiming 1st in the 200 free with her second lifetime best of the day, 1:45.28. This swim ranks her 66th out of the all-time fastest 17-18 year-olds in the event.
Weyant’s biggest swim came later when she won the 400IM, dropping another 1.35 seconds from prelims for a time of 4:04.48. With this swim, Weyant is now the 4th fastest all-time 17-18 year-old in the event, topping Olympic Medalist Elizabeth Beisel’s 17-18 age group time of 4:04.59. Before today, Weyant’s lifetime best was 4:07.63 from April of 2019. She won multiple events at the U.S. Open Championships last month including the 400 meter free and 400 meter IM.
Another young star was high school junior Liam Custer who dueled Ryan Lochte in the 200 free. 16-year-old Custer nearly out touched the Olympic medalist by finishing the race in a blistering 100 split of 48.47 compared to Lochte’s 48.78. This nearly canceled out the lead Lochte made by going out in 47.43 compared to Custer’s 47.75. Lochte touched 1st by .01 at 1:36.21, cutting 3 seconds from his prelims time than the 1:39.16, but remaining 4 seconds off of his best from the 2008 Winter Nationals. Florida alumni Grant Sanders finished in 3rd place at 1:36.73.
For Custer, this swim was a best time by just over 1 second and ranks him 25th out of the all-time fastest 15-16 year-olds in the event. He has been on a roll since the restart of swimming after the first coronavirus shutdown. In July, Custer posted the fastest 400IM in his high school class. Then in November, he earned his first Olympic Trial qualifying times at the U.S. Open by dropping 28 seconds in the 1500 free 14 seconds in the 800 free.
In the men’s 400 IM, Custer took on Sanders for a second time tonight. Custer had finished ahead of him in the 400 IM prelims race handily, as Sanders went into finals with a prelims time of 3:57.61. In finals, Sanders destroyed his prelims time by 10 seconds, touching 1st with a time of 3:46.95 and a 2.5 second lead. This time was 7 seconds off of his lifetime best which he swam at the 2020 SEC Championships in February. Custer added half a second to his prelims time which was right on his lifetime best.
Lochte finished 1st with a bigger lead in the 100 fly, touching the wall at 47.92 ahead of Stanford commit Hayden Kwan who finished in 2nd with a time of 48.43. Both swimmers shaved just over 1 second off of their prelims time, with Kwan coming the closest to his lifetime best, 48.31, from 2019.
In the men’s 100 breast, South Carolina post grad Nils Wich-Glasen took 1st place with a time of 54.08, shaving 1.4 seconds off of his prelims time and coming within 2.5 seconds of his best from 2017 SEC Championships. Texas A&M alumni Jonathan Tybur made it a 1-2 finish for Gator Swim Club, touching the wall at 55.97. 15-year-old William Heary was the top 18&Under finisher, placing 3rd with a time of 57.66. Tybur and Heary swam faster than this morning, but both missed their personal best times.
On the women’s side, 15-year-old Gracie Weyant defended her top seed rank in the 100 breast by dropping almost a full second from this morning, touching the wall at 1:03.06 and getting closer to the Summer Juniors qualifying time,1:01.51, that she swam last month.
University of Kentucky commit Jordan Agliano held on to her top seed rank in the 100 fly with a time of 54.24, one-third of a second off of her best time from the Florida FHSAA 4A Region 3 Championships in October. 16-year-olds Natalie Mannion and Lydia Hanlon tied for 2nd place at 54.57.This was Mannion’s second best time of the day, while Hanlon came within 1 second of her one-month-old best time.
Lochte didn’t make the headline?
Couple minor corrections: Emma Weyant took a deferral is not a UVA freshman yet. Ryan Lochte’s 1:36 in 200 yds was “4 seconds off his best from Summer Nats 2008”? Something doesn’t compute there.
I don’t believe that Emma is at UVA. Her club team should get the credit