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Sims and Grimes Swim Sub-4:30 500 Frees, Four Girls Faster Than 2022 NCAAs Winning Time

2022 SPEEDO WINTER JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS – WEST

NCAA swimmers better buckle up and watch out, because high schoolers have taken over the women’s 500 free.

Just an hour after Summer McIntosh set the swimming world on fire with a 4:27.53 500 free to become the second-fastest performer of all-time, Sandpipers of Nevada swimmers Bella Sims and Katie Grimes followed, putting up times of 4:28.64 and 4:29.53 respectively to etch their names as the #3 and #5-ranked swimmers in history.

Prior to today, Katie Ledecky and Leah Smith were the only two women to have broken the 4:30 barrier. McIntosh, Sims, and Grimes now up that number to five.

All-Time Top Performers, Women’s 500 Free:

  1. Katie Ledecky, Stanford — 4:24.06 (2017)
  2. Summer McIntosh, Sarasota Sharks — 4:27.53 (2022)
  3. Bella Sims, Sandpipers of Nevada — 4:28.64 (2022)
  4. Leah Smith, Virginia — 4:28.90 (2017)
  5. Katie Grimes, Sandpipers of Nevada — 4:29.53 (2022)
  6. Katie Hoff, North Baltimore Aquatic Club — 4:30.47 (2007)
  7. Dagny Knutson, A.S.K Swim — 4:31.18 (2009)
  8. Brooke Forde, Stanford — 4:31.34 (2019)
  9. Cierra Runge, Cal — 4:31.90 (2015)
  10. Allison Schmitt, North Baltimore Aquatic Club (2015)

Interestingly enough, with three juniors joining the all-time top rankings today, six of the now ten fastest performers in the history of the women’s 500 free set their best time at a non-NCAA competition.

With Sims being 17 and Grimes being 16, the two swimmers also made age group swimming history. Sims is now the second-fastest 17-18 performer of all-time, being just over a second off of Katie Ledecky‘s U.S. 17-18 National Age Group record time of 4:28.71. Grimes is the second-fastest American performer in the 15-16 age group and third-fastest overall, with her time just trailing Ledecky’s 15-16 U.S. NAG of 4:28.71 and McIntosh’s time from tonight.

At 2021 Winter Juniors, Sims and Grimes went times of 4:32.28 and 4:32.97 respectively.

But wait, it doesn’t stop there! In that same heat, 15-year-old Sandpiper Claire Weinstein swam a massive best time of 4:33.03, taking over five seconds off her personal best of 4:38.46 coming into today. 16-year-old Virginia commit Bailey Hartman finished fourth behind the Sandpipers with a 4:33.72, also improving a significant amount from her pre-meet best of 4:41.73. Weinstein and Hartman are now ranked as the fourth and fifth-fastest performers of all-time in the U.S. 15-16 girls’ age group.

All Time Top Performers, Girls’ 500 Free, 15-16 Age Group:

  1. Summer McIntosh, Sarasota Sharks — 4:27.53 (2022)
  2. Katie Ledecky, NCAP — 4:28.71 (2014)
  3. Katie Grimes, Sandpipers of Nevada — 4:29.53 (2022)
  4. Bella Sims, Sandpipers of Nevada — 4:32.13 (2021)
  5. Claire Weinstein, Sandpipers of Nevada — 4:33.03 (2022)
  6. Bailey Hartman, Crow Canyon Country Club Sharks — 4:33.72 (2022)

Notably, McIntosh, Sims, Grimes, and Weinstein were all faster than Lia Thomas‘s time of 4:33.24, which won her the 2022 NCAA title in the 500 free last year. In addition, the aforementioned four plus Hartmann were all faster than Alex Walsh‘s 4:38.34, which currently stands as the top time in the NCAA for the 2022-23 season.

Combined Women’s 500 Free Rankings For Club + NCAA, 2022-23 Season:

  1. Summer McIntosh, Sarasota Sharks — 4:27.53 (2022)
  2. Bella Sims, Sandpipers of Nevada — 4:28.64 (2022)
  3. Katie Grimes, Sandpipers of Nevada — 4:29.53 (2022)
  4. Claire Weinstein, Sandpipers of Nevada — 4:33.03 (2022)
  5. Bailey Hartman, Crow Canyon Country Club Sharks — 4:33.72 (2022)
  6. Alex Walsh, Virginia — 4:38.34
  7. Erica Sullivan, Texas — 4:39.26
  8. Mabel Zavaros, Florida/Katie Crom, Michigan — 4:39.28

And of course, here are the splits from McIntosh, Sims, Grimes, Weinstein, and Hartmann’s swims tonight:

Summer McIntosh, 2022 Winter Juniors Bella Sims, 2022 Winter Juniors Katie Grimes, 2022 Winter Juniors Claire Weinstein, 2022 Winter Juniors Bailey Hartman, 2022 Winter Juniors
50.94 50.15 52.17 52.92 52.69
53.51 54.13 54.75 55.66 55.31
53.94 55.03 54.65 55.46 55.41
54.73 55.49 54.66 55.33 55.44
54.40 53.84 53.30 53.66 54.87
4:27.52 4:28.64 4:29.53 4:33.03 4:33.72

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Asamans
1 year ago

Could you please send that article to all those anti trans activists?

patrick
1 year ago

Katie Hoff still at #6 15 years later🙌🏼

Keboblover222
1 year ago

Sand pretty slow imo

jeff
1 year ago

considering how weak the 500 free in the NCAA is right now, I would not be surprised if these remained the top 5 times for the rest of the 2022-2023 reason

Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
Reply to  jeff
1 year ago

Considering how weak the 200 free in the NCAA is right now, I would not be surprised if Bella Sims remained on top for the rest of the 2022-2023 NCAA Season:

Sims: 1:40.78
Ruck: 1:43.11

Tracy Kosinski
Reply to  Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
1 year ago

Unbelievable.

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Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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