Katharine Berkoff Jumps to 9th in Age Group History at Washington Open

2018 Washington Open Swim Meet

• January 11th-14th, 2018
• Weyerhaeuser Kking County Aquatic Center, Federal Way, Washington
• Meet Site
• Live Results: Meet Mobile “2018 Washington Open”

Missoula Aquatic Club swimmer Katharine Berkoff climbed the ladder on Friday at the 2018 Washington Open and continued to build her own history book in the backstroke races. The 16-year old won the girls’ 200 yard back in 1:52.26, which jumped her from her previous rank as 18th-best in the age group’s history all the way to 9th, moving her ahead of backstroking legends like Missy Franklin and Elizabeth Beisel.

The younger of the two offspring of two-time Olympic gold medalist and underwater-dolphin-kicking pioneer David Berkoff, Katherine already has one Olympic Trials under her belt, having qualified to swim the 200 back in Omaha in 2016 when she was just 15 years old. Her best long course time of 2:13.86 puts her 56th in the same age group.

Berkoff also won the 50 free on Friday in 23.20, and split 53.51 to lead off Missoula’s 8th-place 400 medley relay.

Other Day 1 Winners:

• 15-year old Janelle Rudolph won the women’s 200 IM in 2:01.05, building off an early lead on the fly leg. That’s her best time by two-and-a-half seconds.
• Daniel Roy of the home team KING Aquatic Clubwon the men’s 200 IM in 1:49.76. Roy, the 14th-ranked recruit in the class of 2018, is committed to Stanford.
• Ty Coen touched 1st in the boys’ 200 back in 1:46.57. That’s a two-second (and 3 place) improvement on his seed time.
• Coop Deryk from the Truckee Tahoe Swim Team won the boys’ 50 free in 20.36. He’s headed to Florida State next fall.
• Sarah DiMeco won the girls’ 500 free in 4:51.65, out-racing the next-best competitor by 5 seconds.
• Luke Thornbrue from the Hillsboro Heat won the boys’ 500 free in 4:27.74. Hillsboro went 1-2 in the race, with Ethan Heasley placing 2nd in 4:28.75.