15-Year Old Gianluca Urlando Swims 1:43 in 200y Back and 200y Fly

2018 COLLEGE STATION SECTIONALS

• March 1st-4th, 2018
• Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
• 25y (SCY) Course
• Results – Meet Mobile “2018 Speedo Sectionals Championship Series”

After a fast relay swim on day 1 of the meet, Metroplex Aquatics’ Jason Park won his first individual event of the race on Friday in the 200 back, swimming a 1:43.17. That swim is a lifetime best for Park by 2 seconds.

In the process, he beat out 15-year old Gianluca Urlando from the Davis Aquadarts, who finished 2nd in 1:43.37. That’s the best time by a 15-year old in the country this season, and ranks 3rd all-time for 15-year olds, just ahead of the 2016 Olympic champion Ryan Murphy.

That wasn’t Urlando’s only big swim of the day. He also won the 200 fly by over 3 seconds in 1:43.55. He already had the best time by a 15-year old in the country this season, but now is 3 seconds better than any other swimmer his age nationally. As far back as USA Swimming’s SWIMS database goes, it’s also the fastest 200 fly time by a 15-and-under by 2 seconds – Michael Phelps swam a 1:45.50 in 2001 shortly before breaking the World Record in the 200 LCM fly to rank 4th on that list.

Urlando is now just 1.45 seconds from Phelps’ 15-16 National Age Group Record in the event, and has more than a year to get there.

Katy Aquatics 15-year old Emma Sticklen had an equally-significant 200 fly at the same age, winning the women’s race in 1:54.88. That’s a new lifetime best by 3.01 seconds for her. Like Urlando’s swim, that’s the fastest time this season, and ranks 3rd all-time among 15-year olds.

Other Day 2 Winners:

• Alex Zettle became the meet’s first male double winner when he took the 500 free title in 4:19.01, winning by 4 seconds. He won the 1000 free on Thursday.
• Gabrielle Kopenski, who won the women’s 1000 on Thursday, joined him not long after with a 4:43.20 in the 500 free.
• Julia Cook of the Aggie Swim Club won the women’s 200 back in 1:53.19, almost 3 seconds clear of the field. She doubled her win total on the very next event, when she swam 47.82 in the 100 free, beating out a field that included French Olympian Beryl Gastaldello (48.21) and Mexican Olympian Lili Ibanez(48.22).
• Another Mexican swimmer, Daniel Ramirez, won the men’s 100 free in 43.24.
• Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics went 1-2 in the the women’s 400 free relay with times of 3:20.40 and 3:23.68 for their “A” and “B” relays, respectively. Sarah Snyder led the way with a 48.07 split on the 3rd leg of the “A”.
• The Lakeside Aquatic Club won the men’s 400 free relay in 3:01.13. KATY Aquatics took 2nd in 3:01.94, including a 43.93 leadoff from Kaloyan Bratanov. Like Kopenski, he too is swimming in his future home pool: he’s a class of 2018 Texas A&M commit.