2023 SPEEDO WINTER JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS – WEST
- December 6-9, 2023
- FMC Natatorium, Westmont, Illinois
- Prelims: 9:00 am (CST)/ Finals: 5:00 pm (CST)
- Wednesday finals (relays only): 6:00 pm (CST)
- SCY (25 yards)
- Meet Central (USA Swimming)
- How To Watch
- Psych Sheet
- Live Results or on Meet Mobile
When you’re good, sometimes the world has a way of evening things out.
Lakeside Aquatic Club swimmer Maximus Williamson broke the 17-18 National Age Group Record in the 200 yard free on Wednesday at the Winter Junior Championships – West. That swim came 300 miles away and less than an hour after Thomas Heilman took his 15-16 record in the same event in Columbus.
Williamson swam 1:32.00, which broke the 2017 Maxime Rooney record of 1:32.18. Rooney did that swim at the SEC Championships in his freshman year at Florida – and it would take him two-and-a-half more years, until the 2019 Minnesota Invite, to go faster.
Williamson’s time was his best since this meet last year, where he swam 1:33.07 (which was at the time the 15-16 national record).
Splits Comparison:
| Williamson | Rooney | HEILMAN | WILLIAMSON | |
| 2023 Winter Juniors – West | 2017 SECs | 2023 Winter Juniors |
2022 Winter Juniors
|
|
| 50 | 21.03 | 21.41 | 21.26 | 21.51 |
| 100 | 44.31 (23.28) | 44.63 (23.22) | 44.59 (23.33) | 45.05 (23.54) |
| 150 | 1:07.96 (23.65) | 1:08.32 (23.69) | 1:08.40 (23.81) | 1:09.19 (24.14) |
| 200 | 1:32.00 (24.04) | 1:32.18 (23.86) | 1:32.46 (24.06) | 1:33.07 (23.88) |
Like Heilman’s swim in Columbus, Williamson pushed his pace early and held on white-knuckles at the end for a new best time in the event.
Heilman (#1) and Williamson (#2) are the top two recruits in the high school class of 2025 and are both headed to the University of Virginia, part of one of the best classes in history.
Lakeside won that relay in 6:20.34, more than nine seconds ahead of runners-up Rose Bowl Aquatics. Besides WIlliamson, the relay included Cooper Lucas (1:33.57), Max Hatcher (1:36.91), and River Paulk (1:37.86).
All of those swimmers are either 17 or 18, meaning they broke both the 17-18 National Age Group Record (which wasn’t theirs) and the 15-18 National Age Group Record (which was) by several seconds. The same relay broke the 15-18 record last year, but because some members of that team were 16, that didn’t count as the 17-18 record.
Splits Comparison:
| Lakeside | Lakeside | Carmel | |
| 2022 Winter Juniors – Old 15-18 | 2023 Winter Juniors – New 15-18 |
2019 Winter Juniors – Old 17-18
|
|
| 1st leg | Maximus Williamson – 1:33.07 | Maximus Williamson – 1:32.00 | |
| 2nd leg | Cooper Lucas – 1:34.13 | Cooper Lucas – 1:33.57 | |
| 3rd leg | Max Hatcher – 1:37.44 | Max Hatcher – 1:36.91 | |
| 4th leg | River Paulk – 1:38.14 | River Paulk – 1:37.86 | |
| Total Time | 6:22.78 | 6:20.34 | 6:23.21 |
Every member of this year’s relay was faster than last year, with the full second drop from Williamson representing the biggest piece. Williamson and Lucas are the top two seeds in the 200 free later in the meet.
That relay swim also broke the Meet Record, which was the same as the prior 15-18 record.
Eons ago back in my age group days, having one person on a relay break 1:40 would’ve been spectacular…having all four way under 1:40 is frankly mind boggling, let alone a 1:32 flat!
Remember when the fastest 200 yard free was stuck at 1:31.2 for a decade? Now we got high schoolers going 1:32 flat…
I have a feeling that we are going to start seeing a lot more 1:29s in the next few years
The future of men’s 4×200 free looking extremely bright for USA
That’ll more likely depend on the 500 free kids
Agree. The SCY and LCM versions of the 200 are entirely different races. American men have made stout progress in yards, but no one has really been able to move past the 1:45 barrier in meters.
They do have 2 guys in the 1:44s…
Winkler prolly has a 1:43 ceiling
they know desorbo has some magic up his sleeve
They would’ve been the two fastest legs on UVA’s 800 free relay last year lmaoooo
And many other college teams…
not many other top 15 teams tbh
Williamson and Heilman are way too good for UVA tbh
For now
(By which I mean in a few years UVA will have a critical mass of talent and be a top men’s program too)
He really is him, hopefully this is a sign of things to come for the rest of the meet.
Bro both guys would be the top 2 freestyler’s at UVA right now pretty sure both are under the school record
They’re ushering in a new era for UVA men’s swimming. How they got both of them to commit, I have no idea.
Well, one of them grew up in Charlottesville, his mom is a UVA professor, and his brother is already on team. That probably had some influence. And that one helped influence the other. BTW, the incoming class in front of them had a phenomenal night as well: David King — another Cville product and teammate of Heilman’s split 1:34.00 on the same relay (as well as 21.8 backstroke) and Spencer Nicholas went a 19.9 butterfly split tonight.
I believe his mother is still the official UVA faculty liason to the athletic department.
Hopefully one of them recommits to ASU.
Amen to that!!!