2023 YMCA NATIONALS (SC)
- April 2-7, 2023
- Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, NC
- SCY (25 yards)
- Meet Central
- Live Stream
- Psych Sheet
- Day 1 Recap
The first prelims session of the 2023 YMCA Nationals took place this morning, featuring heats of the 200 back, 100 fly, and 200 breast.
Michigan recruit and Birmingham Family YMCA 18-year-old Ethan Schwab wasted no time this morning, hitting a new personal best of 1:56.92 in the men’s 200 breast. He clipped his previous best of 1:56.96, which he swam at the Winter Juniors East meet this past December. Additionally, Schwab has set himself up very well for tonight, as he was the only swimmer to go under 2:00 this morning. Schwab is a little bit of a better 200 breastroker than 100 breaststroker, and he just set a new personal best of 54.04 in the 100 breast at a Michigan high school state meet last month, so we’ll see what he has in store in the 200 breast tonight.
The men’s 200 back should be an exciting race tonight as well. This morning, Piedmont Family Y 17-year-old David King led the way with a huge swim of 1:43.73. It was a truly a massive performance for King, shattering his previous best of 1:45.50, which he had just set last month at the VA Senior Champs meet. On top of that, he led Daniel Diehl, who is probably the top American junior backstroker right now.
Diehl, who competes for YMCA of Cumberland, came in second this morning with a 1:43.97. Notably, that wasn’t a particularly fast swim for Diehl, whose lifetime best in the event is a 1:39.62, which he swam at Winter Juniors East in December. That being said, we can expect Diehl to turn in a significantly faster time tonight in finals.
This morning, Lynchburg Y 18-year-old Brendan Whitfield clocked a giant new personal best of 47.20 in the men’s 100 fly. He posted the top time of the morning by a little over a second, also taking 1.78 seconds off his previous best in the process. His previous best of 48.98 had stood for a while, as Whitfield set it back in March of 2021, when he was 16.
Blair Regional Y 16-year-old Leah Shackley was arguably the top performer of the morning, clocking the top time of prelims in both the women’s 200 back and 100 fly. She kicked things off with a 1:54.30 in the 200 back, leading the field by nearly two seconds. It was a solid morning swim for Shackley, whose personal best is a 1:53.45 from this past December.
Shackley then went on to swim a 52.65 in the women’s 100 fly, the very next event. Her performance was the only in the field this morning under 53 seconds. It also marked another strong morning swim from the 16-year-old, who has a lifetime best of 51.93, which she just swam about three weeks ago. We’ll get to see her work this double tonight in finals, which should be really exciting to watch.
Another massive performance came from Piedmont Family Y 15-year-old Sara Czirjak, who led prelims of the women’s 200 breast with a 2:13.91. The 15-year-old blew away her previous best of 2:16.02, which she just swam last month at the VA Senior Champs. Also of note, Czirjak’s personal best in the 100 breast is 1:03.24, and she took her 200 out in 1:04.02 this morning, so we’ll definitely be keeping an eye on her when the individual 100 breast rolls around later in the week.
Elkins West Virginia YMCA 18-year-old Cadence Vincent had a notable performance this morning as well. Vincent finished fourth in the women’s 200 back this morning, swimming a 1:57.31. With the swim, Vincent obliterated her lifetime best of 2:02.97, which she just swam one month ago to the day. She blew right through the 2:00 barrier, going straight from 2:02 to 1:57. Vincent has some great backstroke speed, boasting a personal best of 54.02 in the 100 back, so be on the lookout for her tonight.