That’s the last of it. With the exception of high school swimming in California, short-course season is officially over. That said, the weekend of April 4-6, 2014 produced several records and many, many fast swims with end-of-season championship meets like the National YMCA Short Course Championships and the Speedo Short Course Far Western Championships hosted by Morgan Hill Swim Club Makos. Here is the Daring (Baker’s) Dozen for the weekend of April 4-6, 2014.
Katrina Konopka, 16, Y-Spartaquatics Swim Club: 50y free (23.22) – Having broken Margo Geer’s national YMCA meet record in last year’s meet with 22.55, Konopka was at it again this year. She lowered her own mark to 22.46 in finals while successfully defending her title.
Constanze Moseley, 15, Roadrunner Aquatic: 100 free (49.15) – Moseley won the women’s 15-16 50y, 100y and 200y frees at Far Westerns. Her 100 time was a personal best by .15, and was 1.6 seconds faster than a year ago.
Zachary Molloy, 17, Ocean County YMCA: 200y free (1:35.66) – Molloy set the meet record while winning the men’s 200y free at YNats. His 1:35.66 was a personal best by a second and almost four seconds faster than at 2013 YNats.
Jared Graham, 14, Penguin Aquatics: 400m free (4:09.77) – Competing at the 2014 Canadian Swimming Trials, Graham dropped 7.5 seconds and finished 48th in the men’s 400m free. He was a full 18 seconds faster than in April 2013.
Brendan Lee, 11, Westchester Aquatic Club: 1000y free (10:50.99) – Lee dropped nearly five seconds in the 1000 at WEST’s Spring Splash Time Trials. Not only did he end the season with a best time, he moved up to sixth on the 2013-14 short course season Top Ten list for 11-year-old boys.
Caitlynn Moon, 18, Kishwaukee YMCA Dekalb County: 1650y free (16:26.56) – Moon went her best time by 13 seconds, finishing fourth in the mile at YNats. She was also fourth in the 500, three seconds faster than her seed time with 4:47.49. Before this meet she had never broken 4:50.
Benjamin Ho, 15, Peak Swimming: 100y back (48.61) – Ho won the men’s 15-16 50/100 free, 100 back and 200/400 IM at Far Westerns. He achieved lifetime bests in all but the 200 IM, where he was off by 0.44. Ho is now tied for second in the 100 back on the Top Ten list for 15-year-old boys this season.
Emily Slabe, 17, Countryside YMCA: 200y back (1:54.64) – Slabe took second in the 200 and won the 100 back at YNats, picking up a pair of best times along the way. She set a national meet record in the 100 back with 53.48. She was also under the old meet record of 1:54.76 in the 200 (but so was the event winner, Meghan Small, and so it was she who went home with the new record).
Savanna Faulconer, 15, Y-Spartaquatics Swim Club: 200y breast (2:11.90) – Faulconer broke 2:12 for the first time finishing second by .55 to Bethany Leap’s record-setting 2:11.35 at YNats. She also took second in the 400 IM and was a member of Middle Tyger’s record-setting 200- and 400-medley relay teams.
Lizzie Menzmer, 13, Arden Hills Swimming: 100 fly (54.88) – Menzmer won the girls’ 13-14 100 and 200 fly at Far Westerns. Her 100 time was a personal best by over a second, and 2.5 ahead of last year’s swim at the same meet. At 2:00.82 her 200 was seven seconds faster than last year, and earned her a qualification for Winter Nationals.
Winn Aung, 11, Redding Swim Team: 200y fly (2:00.81) – At Far Westerns Aung went his best time by six seconds, winning the boys’ 11-12 200 fly by 4.5. He also won the 100, 200, and 500 frees. Not only was his the top 200y fly for the 2013-14 season for 11-year-old boys, it was also tied for number two among 12-year-old boys, only .60 off the top time.
Meghan Small, 15, York YMCA: 200y IM (1:54.01) – Small broke her own meet record at YNats by 2.7 seconds, winning the 200 IM with a five-second margin. She also won the 200 free (1:47.15) and 200 back (1:54.01, lowering her own record by .75).
Harrison Lierz, 11, Jeffco Hurricanes: 400y IM (4:35.47) – Lierz took eleven seconds off his entry time between prelims and finals of the men’s 11-12 400 IM at Far Westerns. He ended up third and was the top 11-year-old in the event. His new personal best is 34 seconds faster than what he swam 15 months ago.
Special thanks to Lyle Campbell for his assistance in putting this list together.
I wanted to share news on another great swimmer: Taylor Schaffer, 10, Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics: Taylor broke the Pacific Swimming and Far Western Record in the 10&U 50y Breaststroke (32.43) Saturday night at the Far Western Age-Group Championships, clocking the nation’s second fastest time this year. She stepped to the blocks 5 minutes later to lead her team to a win and another Pacific Swimming Record-setting performance in the 200 Medley Relay (2:05.30). A diverse talent, Taylor was 2nd in the 200 Freestyle (2:07.14) and 100 Breaststroke (1:10.56), 3rd in the 100 IM (1:06.35) and 200 IM (2:23.50), and 4th in the 50 Free (27.21).
she is a magnificent creature created by her parents.
What about Jessi Snover?
Katie – what about her?
There are lots of great swims every week, and it would be impossible to list them all. We do welcome friends and family of swimmers to congratulate their favorite age group athletes in a positive way in the comments, however!
Asia Minnes 10yr old showed diversity with wins at Far Western meet.
100 BR 1:10.16
200 IM 2:16.79
500 free 5:27.97
50 back 29.09
100 back 1:02.78
Many of these swims out her in top 5 National times.
Best US age group swimmers of the week were in my opinion Courtney Harnish for the girls and Winn Aung for the boys.
14-year-old Courtney Harnish won 4 races at the YMCA short course nationals.
9.35 in the 1000 free
4.11 in the 400 IM
4.39 in the 500 free
16.09 in the 1650 free
11-year-old Winn Aung will crush several 11/12 NAG records in SCY and in LCM in the next months.
HIs 200 fly time is astonishing.
2.00.81! 😯
The NAG record is 1.57.62.
He turns 12 in July!
So he still has more than 1 full year and 3 months to break some records.
Don’t forget the NASA Showcase Classic for 14 & unders next week.
Nice! Will Michael Andrew be there?
More then likely. If I was running it I would offer at least expenses and maybe a few bucks for appearance to add legitimacy to the meet with the meet wanting to eventually attain national status . US Swimming is dragging it’s feet where they should be having a National Age a Group Championship as the world of swimming has changed and the people will come. If not someone will beat them to it,
The great wisdom of five famous coaches dropped the Junior Nationals and a group picked it up and ran with it and look at the size of it, then US Swimming got.back in, those 5 were Schubert, Quick, Persley, Sterkle and Wood.
Interesting how… Read more »
Kevin T, he’s scheduled to swim there.
It will be his final meet as a 14-year-old kid.
He will turn 15 during the meet!
You can watch an interesting interview of Mr Andrew made recently at the NASA junior national championships.
Link here
https://new.livestream.com/floridaswimnetwork3/NASAjrnats
Then it will be time to focus on long course!
Winn Aung… SMASH. Holy cow. That’s moving.