Presenting our Weekly Wonders from June 28-30, 2019:
Eliza Brown, 15, Commonwealth Swimming (CS-NE): 400 IM, 4:57.82 – Fifteen-year-old Eliza Brown has already swum the 400 IM eight times in 2019. Her best time after the 2019 long course season was 4:58.78, but in January, she was 5:08.05 before dropping to 5:00.41 then 4:58.47 in March. Last weekend, she definitively improved on her 2018 time, going 4:57.82 at the Jeffrey S Mace Memorial Summer Sizzle Swim Meet. Brown also went a best time in the 100 free, 400 free, 200 breast and 200 IM.
Katie McCarthy, 14, Edina Swim Club (EDI-MS): 200 back, 2:23.88 – Then 13-year-old Katie McCarthy ended the 2018 long course season with a best time of 2:27.19 in the 200 back. In her first swim of the 2019 season, in May, she was 2:35.10. In her first swim of June, she improved to 2:34.32, then, last weekend, she went 2:25.78 then 2:23.88 later the same day; that time was good for a 2019 Futures cut. McCarthy went four other best times: in the 200 and 400 IM, 200 free, and 100 back.
Ben Meulemans, 16, Schroeder YMCA Swim Team (SSTY-WI): 100 free, 53.08 – Ben Meulemans closed the 2019 long course season with a best time of 55.75 in the 100 free. In May – his first attempt of the season – he went 54.02, but then in early June, was back up in the 54-mids. In his first swim last weekend, Meulemans went 54.05, and then later the same day, dropped almost an entire second to go 53.08 at the 2019 Western Great Lakes Open.
Seanna Muhitch, 12, Lakeside Aquatic Club (LAC-NT): 100 breast, 1:16.37 – In her second race of the 2019 long course season, 12-year-old Seanna Muhitch went 1:18.59, a nearly three-second drop from her 2018 best, in the 100 free. Two weeks later, she left that time in the dust as well. At the North Texas Long Course Age Group Meet, she went 1:17.44 and then 1:16.37 later in the day. At the same meet, she also went a best time in the 200 and 400 free as well as the 50, 100 and 200 breast, and the 200 IM.
Claire Weinstein, 12, Westchester Aquatic Club (WEST-MR): 1500 free, 17:37.38 – In almost exactly a year, Claire Weinstein has shaved roughly 54 seconds off her 1500 free time. She was 18:33.86 on July 1, 2018, then broke 18:00 in March of this year, going 17:58.98. Last weekend at the Jeffrey S Mace Memorial Summer Sizzle Swim Meet, she went 17:37.38, good for a 2019 Futures cut.
Shane McEliece, 13, Panama City Swim Team (PCST-SE): 200 IM, 2:19.06 – Shane McEliece entered the 2019 long course season with a 2:37.50 in the 200 IM, from May of 2018. In his first swim of 2019, he immediately knocked off more than 10 seconds, going 2:27.11 in mid-April. Later in the month, he was 2:24.31, and then in mid-May, 2:23.51. McEliece didn’t stop there, though: last weekend, he went 2:19.06 at the 2019 ATAC Invitational. He also hit best times in the 50 through 200 free, 100 back, 100 and 200 breast, and 100 and 200 fly.