Zoe Skirboll Wins Two Events On First Night of Richmond Sectionals

2021 Eastern Zone Long Course Super-Sectional Meet

• May 12-16, 2021
• Collegiate School Aquatic Center, Richmond, VA
• 50m
• Results on Meet Mobile as “2021 VBA EZ LC Speedo Championship Meet”

Action at the Richmond site of the 2021 Speedo Sections got underway today with prelims and finals of the 200 IM, 100 free, and 100 breast, along with timed finals of the women’s 800 free and men’s 1500 free.

Racer X Aquatics’ Zoe Skirboll led the field with two wins tonight. In the 200 IM, she was nearly two seconds behind Cheshire Y’s Alexandra Tyler at the halfway point, but outsplit Tyler 40.13 to 41.95 (breast) and 31.67 to 31.84 (free) to pull ahead and just get the touch at the wall, 2:17.22 to 2:17.33, with both women getting under the Olympic Trials Wave I cut. Skirboll, who’s wrapping up her junior year of high school and is committed to the Virginia Cavaliers, swam a personal best in the 200 IM by two seconds, and she also won the 100 breast in 1:10.40, lowering her personal best there by 0.06s.

Tide’s Emily Claesson, who’s committed to Virginia Tech, came out on top in the 100 free, winning in 56.20, also getting under the Wave I cut and lowering her lifetime best by nearly two seconds. Badger’s Hana Shimizu-Bowers won the 800 free with a 8:52.60, knocking a massive six seconds off of the Northwestern commit’s previous best time.

On the men’s side, the Virginia Cavaliers swept three of the four evens competed today. Sean Conway won the 200 IM with a time of 2:04.40; the rising junior already had a Wave II cut with his lifetime best of 2:02.33.

In the 100 free, current Cavalier Jack Wright came back on Texas alum (and former Virginia volunteer assistant coach) Austin Surhoff to win the 100 free, 51.24 to 51.48. Wright’s time tonight was just 0.01s off of his lifetime best from the summer of 2019. Meanwhile, Noah Nichols, who was one of the more unheralded freshmen to make a big impact this NCAA season, won the 100 breast with a 1:02.11, just a bit over half of a second away from his lifetime best of 1:01.54 from March.

16 year-old Bobby Dinunzio of Tide was the only non-UVA winner on the men’s side, as he won the 1500 with a 15:54.83, just about a second away from his lifetime best from last month.