Rex Maurer Swims 1:43.09 2Back, 1:45.78 2IM, And 3:46.29 4IM PBs At Road To Paris Meet

2023 Road To Paris Senior Meet

• January 14 to 16, 2023
• SCY prelims (25 yards)/LCM finals (50 meters)
• La Mirada, California
• Full Results Under “Combined_2023 Road to Paris Senior Meet” and “Combined_2023 Road to Paris Senior Meet-LCM” on MeetMobile

At the 2023 Road To Paris Senior Meet, a unique-formatted competition where prelims are swam in yards and finals are swam in meters, some of California’s top swimmers got racing in for multiple events. One of those swimmers was 18-year-old Stanford commit Rex Maurer, who won five events and set personal bests in four of them.

Maurer swam the 100 back, 200 back, 100 breast, 200 IM, and 200 back. He was first in prelims and finals for all of his races aside from the 100 breast (where he finished second in prelims and fourth in finals). In addition, he only swam prelims of the 200 IM.

Here are all of Maurer’s results:

• 100 breast
  • Prelims —  55.63 (previous PB: 59.36)
  • Finals — 1:07.78 (previous PB: 1:23.68)
• 400 IM
  • Prelims — 3:46.29 (previous PB: 3:57.20)
  • Finals — 4:22.51 (previous PB: 4:29.28)
• 100 back
  • Prelims — 48.22 (PB: 46.04)
  • Finals — 56.25 (previous PB: 58.41)
• 200 back
  • Prelims — 1:43.09 (previous PB: 1:46.95)
  • Finals — 2:02.12 (previous PB: 2:10.48)
• 200 IM
  • Prelims — 1:45.78 (previous PB: 1:50.82)

While Maurer is primarily a mid-distance freestyler, being the top-ranked 200, 500, and 1650 freestyle swimmer for the high school class of 2023, him dropping time in “off-events” at this meet indicate that he has huge potential in the backstroke and IM events as well. His 200 back and 200 IM times are now ranked sixth in his class for this season, while his 400 IM time is the second-fastest in his class overall. In addition, while he didn’t swim a PB in the 100 back at this meet, his best time of 46.03 from Winter Juniors is ranked third in his class.

Maurer’s growing abilities in the 100 and 200 back will benefit Stanford’s strong backstroke group, which includes the likes of NCAA scorer Leon McAllister, NCAA qualifier Aaron Sequeira, and top freshmen Hayden Kwan and Josh Zuchowski.

On the girls’ side of the meet, a big star was 16-year-old Teagan O’Dell, who swam the 100 fly, 200 free, 100 back, 200 fly, 200 back, and 200 IM. She won all of her prelims events except for the 100 fly (where she finished second), and won all of her finals races except for the 100 fly and 200 free (where she finished second). And while the only race she set a personal best in was the 200 fly, most of her yards times were not far off her personal bests that were primarily set a month ago at the 2022 Speedo Winter Juniors meet.

Here are all of O’Dell’s results:

• 100 fly
  • Prelims — 53.36 (PB: 52.97)
  • Finals — 1:02.76 (PB: 1:01.58)
• 200 free
  • Prelims — 1:44.98 (PB: 1:43.94)
  • Finals — 2:03.69 (PB: 2:00.84)
• 100 back
  • Prelims — 52.65 (PB: 51.86)
  • Finals — 1:01.98 (PB: 1:00.88)
• 200 fly
  • Prelims — 1:57.51 (previous PB: 2:00.33)
• 200 back
  • Prelims — 1:54.74 (PB: 1:51.00)
  • Finals — 2:12.71 (PB: 2:09.57)
• 200 IM
  • Prelims — 1:58.01 (PB: 1:55.15)

Also swimming at this meet was O’Dell’s club teammate, 14-year-old Kayla Han—the 13-14 NAG record holder in the 400-yard IM. She swam the 500/400 free, 200 free, 50 free, 100 free, and 200 IM, and set personal bests in both the 50 and 100 free. The sprint events can be considered “off” events for her, considering that her strengths primarily lie in mid-distance freestyle and IM.

Here are all of Han’s results:

• 500/400 free
  • Prelims — 4:48.70 (PB: 4:39.18)
  • Finals — 4:16.54 (PB: 4:13.22)
• 200 free
  • Prelims — 1:49.21 (PB: 1:47.93)
  • Finals — 2:03.12 (PB: 2:02.17)
• 100 free
  • Prelims — 51.40 (previous PB: 51.79)
  • Finals — 58.25 (PB: 57.76)
• 50 free
  • Prelims — 24.00 (previous PB: 25.15)
• 200 IM
  • Prelims — 2:01.79 (PB: 2:00.16)

Han’s time in the 100 free is ranked 17th this season amongst club swimmers in the 13-14 age group.