Shareef Elaydi Breaks 13-14 National Age Group Record in the 200 IM in Novato

2024 CALIFORNIA/NEVADA SECTIONALS

• February 29-March 3, 2024
• Novato, California
• Long Course Meters (50 meters), Prelims/Finals
• Day 1 Recap
• Day 2 Recap
• Day 3 Recap
• Live Results

A fifth US National Age Group Record in the 13-14 age group fell at the 2024 California/Nevada Sectionals in Novato, California, this time at the hands of Santa Clara Swim Club teenager Shareef Elaydi.

Elaydi cruised through prelims of the boys’ 200 IM in 2:10.72, qualifying 6th for the final, saving his energy to explode into a 2:03.73 in finals.

That knocked four-tenths of a second off the old record of 2:04.13 set by Olympian Michael Andrew in 2014.

While 50m splits are not available for Elaydi’s swim, he split 59.31 on the first 100 meters and 1:04.42 on the second 100 meters.

Prior to Andrew setting the record a decade ago, Michael Phelps held the mark in 2:06.50 from 2000. That means that the record has now been broken just twice in almost 24 years, though in the interim, six other swimmers have been under Phelps’ best time.

While Elaydi has been close to a number of National Age Group Records, this is his first individual mark. He does hold four 13-14 long course relay records, however.

Earlier in the meet, Elaydi won the 100 fly (55.60), and 200 fly (2:00.38). While the 100 fly wasn’t his lifetime best, the 200 fly now ranks him 3rd all-time in the age group in US history.

Elaydi ages up in June.

Another 14-year-old, Luka Mijatovic, was responsible for the other four National Age Group Records this week. He didn’t swim the 200 IM on Sunday, skipping the big head-to-head for this record with Elaydi, to focus on the 800 free.

Mijatovic swam 7:59.67 in that 800 free, for the first time this week missing his own National Age Group Record in a freestyle event. That was .03 seconds slower than the 7:59.64 that he did last summer, which at the time was nine seconds better than any other 13-14 American had ever been in the race.

That capped a meet that saw Mijatovic break four National Age Group Records:

• 1500 free on Thursday, clearing his own record in 15:26.73.
• 200 free on Friday, clearing his own record in 1:49.63 (and swimming faster than Ian Thorpe’s famous Australian age record).
• The 400 IM on Friday, swimming 4:24.20 to clear Michael Phelps’ record.
• 400 free on Saturday, swimming 3:51.18 to break his own record.

He ages up on April 22.

Other Day 4 Winners/Notables

• It was another big day for the Crow Canyon Sharks. That included a win in the 1500 free from 16-year-old Lillyana Caples, swimming 17:20.14. That’s a 3.77 seconds improvement on her pervious lifetime best from last May. 14-year-old Malia Groen from QuickSilver Swimming swam a best time as well: 17:41.65 for 2nd-place.
• Virginia commit Bailey Hartman got another win for Crow Canyon, winning the 200 back in 2:15.05. That was her fifth individual win of the meet to go with two relay wins.
• Her 13-year-old teammate Daniela Linares Danzos was 2nd in that race in 2:16.44, which improved her best time by 3.1 seconds.
• While this was an all-ages meet, 14-year-olds really had a field day. In addition to the above-mentioned swimmers, 14-year-old Stella Canoles won the 100 free on Sunday in 57.00, knocking 1.43 seconds off her own personal best. That moves her into the top 50 all-time among 13-14 Americans in the event. Another Crow Canyon Shark, Liberty Clark, was 2nd in 57.53.
• 17-year-old Finn Brophy from Neptune Swimming swam 51.12 in the 100 free, knocking seven-tenths off his personal best. That adds to his win in the 50 free (23.78) earlier in the meet. He’s committed to Hawaii for the fall.
• Diego Castaneda of the Terrapins used a fast back-half of his race to win the 200 back in 2:06.35. That’s a huge improvement on his best time of 2:11.23 coming into the meet. That long course drop (his last swim was at Junior Nationals in August) follows a big drop in the short course season, improving 1:47.8 to 1:45.8.
• Eunice Lee of the Santa Clara Swim Club won the girls’ 200 IM in 2:17.29, about four-and-a-half seconds better than the runner-up Raya Mellott from Crow Canyon.