Lydia Hanlon, Levenia Sim, Ian Malone Shine at PCST Speedo Beach Blast

2020 SE PCST Speedo Beach Blast

• Panama City Beach Aquatic Center 
• Panama City Beach, FL
• Sept. 25-28, 2020
• SCY

Several teams from the Southeastern LSC competed at the 2020 PCST Beach Blast last weekend, hosted by the Panama City Swim Team.

At the meet, several swimmers posted impressive performances in spite of restrictions in place due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

On the women’s side, 15-year-old Lydia Hanlon of Area Tallahassee Aquatic Club and 14-year-old Levenia Sim of Tnt Swimming led the way, with each winning several events. 

The pair went head-to-head twice during the meet. In their first matchup, the 50 yard butterfly, Hanlon got to the wall first, posting a 24.75 for the victory. For Hanlon, the time marked her first outing under the 25-second barrier, erasing .5 off of her old time. Sim touched in second place, about .2 back in a time of 24.96. Despite this, Sim still beat the next-fastest 14-year-old by over 4 seconds. 

The pair also faced off in the 50 freestyle, where Hanlon out-touched Sim by .03, finishing in 23.81 to Sim’s 23.84. However, Sim’s older sister Letitia Sim ended up coming away with the victory, posting the top time of the night with a 23.63. 

Over the course of the weekend, Hanlon also racked up victories in the 200 freestyle (1:51.48), 100 backstroke (54.82), 100 butterfly (55.04), and 200 backstroke (2:01.60) in the 15&over age group, while Levenia Sim walked away with wins in the 100 backstroke (54.76), 100 breaststroke (1:05.83), 200 IM (2:09.20), 100 fly (55.88), and 200 backstroke (2:03.96) in the 13-14 age group. 

On the men’s side, Hanlon’s ATAC teammate Stuart Hidgon and Greater Pensacola Swim Clubs’s Ian Malone also put on a speed show at the meet. 

The 12-year-old Malone won 7 out of the 8 races he swam, with his only second place finish coming in the 50 breaststroke where he dropped over a second off of his best time. 

In Malone’s first event, the 200 IM, he posted a 2:03.99 to drop almost 5 seconds off of his previous best. With his performance, Malone now owns the fastest 12-year-old 200 IM in the country for the 2020-2021 season. Last year, his time would’ve come in as the 5th fastest in the country.

Malone also won the 50 freestyle (23.82), 100 butterfly (1:02.18), 50 butterfly (26.81), 50 backstroke (27.52), 100 IM (1:02.53), and 200 freestyle (1:52.47). 

Hidgon, 17, dominated the distance events, where he went 3-for-3 in individual victories. In arguably his best event, the 1000 freestyle, Hidgon touched in a time of 9:36.20, which ranks him 2nd in the country this season. 

In Hidgon’s other distance races, the 500 freestyle and 400 IM, he put up times of 4:42.53 and 4:13.60, respectively.