2023 Christiansburg Speedo Sectionals
- March 23-26, 2023
- Christiansburg, Virginia
- Short Course Yards (25 yards)
- Psych Sheet
- Meet Central
- Meet Results on Meet Mobile
The 2023 Speedo Sectionals Championships in Christiansburg, Virginia kicked off Thursday with a two-race distance day before the meat of the action begins on Friday.
In the boys’ 100 free, Mac Clark from Pittsburgh Elite Aquatics won in 9:12.57. That is a 13.59-second drop for the 15-year-old. His previous personal best was done in December of 2022, and in the aggregate he has dropped 20 seconds in the last 12 months.
The swim smashed the old 15-16 Allegheny Mountain LSC Record in the event that was set in 2009 by Matthew Scahefer at 9:21.65.
With three years to go in the 15-18 age group, Clark is now within four seconds of the 15-18 Allegheny Mountain LSC Record in the event. That record currently sits at a 9:08.89 done by C. Ludwick in 1981.
That record is the oldest LSC Record in a yards course in the Allegheny Mountain region by more than a decade.
Another 15-year-old, Ian Platts-Mills, was 2nd in 9:18.95, which is almost a four second drop for him.
The girls distance group swam the 1650 on Thursday, and Hayley Clark of the North Carolina Aquatic Club won in 16:36.38 to take her first-career Sectionals title.
Clark is a Princeton commit, and the distance freestyles have been a domain where Penn has dominated the Ivy League in recent seasons. Clark’s 14:36 would have been 8th at this year’s Ivy League Championships, just two seconds behind the team-leader Megan Rich, a freshman.
In fact, all three of Princeton’s scorers at Ivies last season in the mile will still be on the team when Clark arrives in the fall, so she’ll have a good, and rising, group to train with.
Way to go Mac!