Julia Bak Climbs All-Time Ranks, Ryan Held Sets Meet Record At Senior Met Winter Championships

2025 MR Senior Metro Winter Championships

• February 13-16, 2025
• East Meadow, N.Y.
• SCY (25 yards)
• Meet Central
• Results on Meet Mobile: “2025 MR TYR Senior Met Winter Championships”
• PDF Results: Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday
• Team Scores

Six meet records were broken and several age group swimmers had standout swims at the 2025 Senior Metro Winter Championships in mid-February in East Meadow.

A surprising entrant at the meet was two-time Olympic gold medalist Ryan Held, who set a new meet record in the men’s 50 freestyle, clocking 19.56 in the prelims before getting down to 19.46 in the final, lowering the eight-year-old mark of 19.60 set by Drew Modrov in 2017.

Held, 29, owns a best time of 18.56, set at the 2018 NCAA Championships. Prior to this meet, he had raced the 50 free in yards once this season, clocking 20.05 at the NYSA Holiday Classic in December.

Winning the overall High Point Award on the men’s side was Team Suffolk’s Noah Cakir, as the 17-year-old Indiana commit won three events and finished in the top four in three others while hitting one personal best and setting one meet record.

Cakir and Aiden Moy (17 at the time now 18) went under the eight-year-old meet record in the 200 IM, as Cakir clocked 1:46.00 for the victory and Moy touched 2nd in a PB of 1:46.81, dipping under Cody Miller‘s 2017 meet record of 1:47.04.

Cakir also won the 200 breast (1:57.80), 200 fly (1:47.02) and 400 IM (3:49.83), and set a PB of 48.14 in placing 4th in the 100 fly. He currently ranks 8th this season in the boys’ 17-18 age group this season in the 200 breast (1:54.45), 16th in the 400 IM (3:49.83) and 22nd in the 200 IM (1:45.27).

Moy, who represents Badger Swim Club, was also the runner-up in the 100 back (49.08), 100 fly (47.77) and 400 IM (3:52.31), setting best times across the board.

Also setting an individual meet record was Badger Swim Club’s Michael Geh, who clocked 47.83 in the 100 back to lower Martin Perecinsky‘s mark of 47.89 set last year.

Geh, 17, came into the meet with a best time of 48.40.

He also tied the meet record in the 200 back, going 1:44.64 to match Patrick Conaton‘s mark from 2014.

Geh now ranks 16th this season among 17-year-olds in the 200 back and 22nd in the 100 back, while he also ranks 30th in the 100 fly (47.90) and 34th in the 200 IM (1:49.44) after his performances at the meet.

On the women’s side of the pool, QNS Aquatic Club’s Julia Bak emerged as one of the top point scorers despite competing against a field primarily made up of swimmers aged between 15 and 18.

The 14-year-old claimed victories in the 50 free (22.78), 100 free (49.90) and 100 back (53.90), setting personal best times in all three while adding another PB in the 100 fly (54.52) where she was 9th.

Bak now ranks tied for 26th all-time in the girls’ 13-14 age group in the 50 free, tied for 63rd in the 100 free, and 45th in the 100 back.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

• Badger Swim Club’s Ryan McDonald, 17, set a best time to lead the prelims of the boys’ 100 breast (54.45) before re-lowering it in the final, clocking 53.98 to place 2nd to 24-year-old Raunak Khosla (53.89). McDonald’s swim ranks him 15th this season for 17-year-olds.
• Long Island Aquatic Club’s Ryan Baldwin won the boys’ 200 fly in a time of 1:46.92, ranking him 96th all-time in the boys’ 15-16 age group and 16th this season. The 16-year-old also clocked 48.85 in the 100 fly, which was a PB at the time. He has since lowered it to 48.68, ranking him tied for 50th this season for 15-16s.
• LIAC’s Sean Green, 17, ranked 2nd to Cakir in the boys’ High Point rankings after six top-three finishes, including wins in the 500 free (4:18.32) and 1000 free (9:05.43). Green set a PB of 4:16.78 in the 500 in December, which ranks him 5th this season among 17-year-old boys.
• Topping the girls’ High Point rankings was Phoenix Aquatic Club’s Carly Afanasewicz, 15, who won the 200 back (1:56.94), 100 fly (53.71), 200 IM (2:00.58) and 400 IM (4:14.15) and was also 2nd in the 100 free (50.45) and 4th in the 500 free (4:51.16). Afanaesewicz set best times in the 100 fly, 100 free and 500 free, with the 100 fly swim notably ranking her 7th this season among 15-year-old girls.
• Westchester Aquatic Club’s Ines Arnall was another top performer on the girls’ side, winning the 200 fly (1:59.78) and finishing as the runner-up in the 100 back (53.93) and 100 fly (54.44) to go along with a trio of best times from leading off the free relays (23.19/50.21/1:49.83). The 16-year-old has since improved her PB down to 53.30 in the 100 back, ranking her 12th in the girls’ 15-16 age group this season, while her prelim swim of 54.06 in the 100 fly from this meet ranks 35th this season. In the 200 fly, she’s re-lowered her PB to 1:58.92, ranking 21st in the age group this season.
• Three more meet records fell in the boys’ relays, two of which came from Badger Swim Club.
• In the boys’ 200 medley relay, Geh (22.13), McDonald (24.51), Moy (21.59) and Arda Suer (21.50) combined for a time of 1:30.13 to break the meet record of 1:30.24 set by Badger last year.
• In the 400 medley, Geh (48.31), McDonald (53.88), Moy (48.12) and Dan Bellach (46.55) clocked 3:16.86 to down the decade-old meet record of 3:16.91 set by NYAC in 2015.
• In the 200 free relay, New York Athletic Club’s Michael Kincheloe (21.15), Khosla (20.09), Coleman Kredich (20.40) and Max Walther (19.41) combined for a time of 1:21.05, breaking their meet record of 1:21.72 set in 2023.

Women’s Team Scores

1. Long Island Aquatic Club – 974.50
2. Westchester Aquatic Club – 533
3. Asphalt Green Unified Aquatics – 473
4. Badger Swim Club, Inc. – 419.50
5. Phoenix Aquatic Club USA LLC – 340
6. Condors Swim Club – 246
7. Hauppauge Swimming – 124
8. BGC-N. Westchester Marlins – 118

Men’s Team Scores

1. Long Island Aquatic Club – 719.50
2. Badger Swim Club, Inc. – 679.50
3. Asphalt Green Unified Aquatics – 554
4. Team Suffolk – 382
5. New York Athletic Club – 378
6. Three Village Swim Club – 175
7. Northern Dutchess Aquatic Club – 156
8. Phoenix Aquatic Club USA LLC – 134

Combined Team Scores

1. Long Island Aquatic Club – 1,694
2. Badger Swim Club, Inc. – 1,099
3. Asphalt Green Unified Aquatics – 1,027
4. Westchester Aquatic Club – 577
5. Team Suffolk – 480
6. Phoenix Aquatic Club USA LLC – 474
7. New York Athletic Club – 444
8. Condors Swim Club – 315