Swims You May Have Missed on Day 1 of Summer Jrs: Turano Rips 8:40 800 FR for Trials Cut

2023 SUMMER JUNIOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

• July 31 – August 4, 2023
• Prelims 9AM, finals 5PM (Pacific Time)
• LCM (50 meters)
• William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center, Irvine, California, United States
• Meet Central
• Pre-Scratch Timelines
• Pre-Scratch Psych Sheet
• Girls meet preview
• Boys meet preview
• Live Results
• Live Stream
• Day 1 Prelims Live Recap | Day 1 Finals Live Recap

The first day of the 2023 Summer Junior Nationals in Irvine is now in the books. You can find our live recaps for both prelims and finals above. This post is dedicated to highlighting some of the swims that may have flown under our radar during our live recaps. They could be new cuts, huge personal bests, or even just a great race from a young swimmer.

Kicking off the list is Carmel Swim Club 16-year-old Andrew Shackell. By now, we’re all familiar with Aaron Shackell, who won the 200 fly in a new Championship Record last night, as well as Alex Shackell, who helped the U.S. to a silver medal in the women’s 4×200 free relay in Fukuoka last week, but Andrew Shackell had a pair of great races yesterday as well.

The 16-year-old came in 13th in prelims of the boys 200 fly, swimming a 2:01.88. The swim marked a new personal best for Shackell by over a second, easily clearing his seed time of 2:03.05. He would end up getting disqualified in finals of the 200 fly, but he bounced back, anchoring the Carmel ‘A’ 200 medley relay in 23.74, which is under his 50 free personal best of 23.89.

Scarlet Aquatics 15-year-old Kathleen Turano had a huge swim to finish 5th in the girls 800 free yesterday. Seeded with an 8:49.82, a time which she swam at the end of May, Turano blasted an 8:40.70. That swim not only marks a 9-second drop in the event, Turano also blew away the U.S. Olympic Trials cut, which stands at 8:45.79. She also swam a very consistent race, going 4:19.77 on the first 400m, then coming home in 4:20.93.

The boys 1500 free also saw Greater Des Moines Swimming Federation 17-year-old Jacob Pins rocket to a 6th-place finish with a 15:31.13. It was a massive swim for Pins, taking 16 seconds off his previous best of 15:47.49, which he swam in March of this year. Like Turano, Pins also blew away the U.S. Olympic Trials cut, which stands at 15:39.89.

Also in the boys 1500 free was King Aquatic Club 15-year-old Aiden Hammer, who made it onto the podium with a 15:33.69 for 8th. Hammer was entered with a 15:49.17, which he established at the Mel Zajac Jr International meet in June. At just 15 years old, Hammer is now ranked in a tie for 53rd all-time in the boys 15-16 age group among Americans. Moreover, Hammer also cleared the Olympic Trials cut in the event by 6 seconds.

Long Island Aquatic Club 16-year-old Sean Green has switched gears for this meet. We’re used to seeing Green as one of the top high school-age boys freestylers currently, however, he’s changed his event lineup for this meet, and is doing a lot more stroke events. Green swam the boys 200 fly yesterday, where he qualified for the ‘C’ final with a 2:02.47 in prelims. That swim was a big swim for green, taking a little over 2 seconds off his previous best of 2:04.53. He would be just off his time in finals, coming in 21st overall with a 2:02.75, but that time is still well under his previous best coming into the day.

One more boys 200 flyer. 15-year-old Rowan Cox out of Longhorn Aquatics had a huge swim in prelims, swimming a 2:02.75 to qualify for the ‘C’ final, It was a massive swim for Cox, who entered the day with a personal best of 2:06.05, which he swam the first weekend of July. Cox would then double down in finals, swimming a 2:02.25 to take another half-second off his personal best.

Similar to Green, Mission Viejo’s Teagan O’Dell is branching out a bit at this meet. O’Dell is one of the top high schoolers in the girls backstroke and IM events currently but raced the girls 100 breast yesterday. She qualified for the ‘B’ final, swimming a 1:11.17 in prelims. With that swim, O’Dell took half-a-second off her PB of 1:11.64, which she set last July. O’Dell then clipped that time in finals, taking 14th overall with a 1:11.06.

Seattle Metroplitan Aquatic Club 17-year-old Jack Skarda ripped a huge new personal best of 1:03.33 in prelims of the boys 100 breast yesterday, qualifying for the ‘C’ final. It was huge for Skarda, who was entered with a 1:05.72, which he swam just one week ago at the 2023 PN Senior Long Course Championships. Unfortunately, Skarda would go on to get DQ’d in finals of the 100 breast, however, he still dropped over 2 seconds in the event on the day.