AgonSwim Weekly Wonders of Age Group Swimming – 8/3/2016

It’s championship season and there are hundreds of swims we would like to be able to report, but it would take us a couple of weeks to write them all up, so here are the names we have selected to our list of Weekly Wonders for the weekend of July 29-31, 2016:

George Glover, 13, Bison Aquatic Club: 50m free (25.92) – Glover erased nearly 1 second from his personal best, which was only 2 weeks old, in winning the boys’ 13-14 50 free at the AAU Junior Olympic Games at Pearland Natatorium. He has now dropped 2.2 seconds in the sprint free over the last year. Glover also won the 100/200/400/1500 free, 200 back, 100/200 fly, and 200/400 IM, and finished the weekend with new times in the 50/100/200/1500 free, 200 back, 100 fly, and 200 IM.

Zachary Washburn, 12, Manta Ray Aquatics: 100m free (57.99) – Swimming at the Inland Empire Long Course Championships hosted by Tri-City Channel Cats, Washburn destroyed his best 100 free time of 1:00.00, going 57.99 and jumping up to the 6th-fastest performance of the season for 12-year-old boys. Washburn also notched PBs in the 200/400 free, 100 back, 50 breast, 50/100 fly, and 200 IM during the meet.

Mitchell Stoddard, 15, College Area Swim Team: 200m free (1:56.19) – Stoddard won the high point award for 15-18 boys at the San Diego Imperial LSC Long Course Junior Olympics. He won the 200 free with a best time by 2.3 seconds, a 6.5-second improvement over the same meet last year. In addition, he was runner-up in the 400/800/1500 free, and left the meet with new times in the 100/200/400/800/1500 free and 200 back.

Justina Kozan, 12, Brea Aquatics: 200m free (2:05.63) – Kozan broke the Southern California Swimming record in the girls’ 11-12 200 free when she won the event at the SCS Summer Junior Olympics hosted by Riverside Aquatics Association. She posted the number 1 time in the country for the season, and now leads 12-year-old girls in the 100/200 free and 100 fly. She finished the weekend with best times in the 50/100/200 free, 50/100 fly, and 200 IM.

Amy Tang, 13, Pacific Dragons Swim Team: 100m back (1:04.30) – Tang sliced another 4/10 off her week-old personal best in the 100 back, winning the girls’ 13-14 event at the Pacific Northwest Swimming 14-and-under Long Course Championships at King County Aquatics Center. Tang achieved her first Summer Juniors cut with the swim, and is now 2 seconds faster in the event than she had been last summer. Tang finished the weekend with new PBs in the 50/100 free, 50/100/200 back, and 200 IM.

Bailey Grinter, 17, Edwardsville YMCA: 100m back (1:02.91) – Grinter broke 1:03 for the first time with her third-place finish in the women’s 100 back at the YMCA National Long Course Championships in Indianapolis. She also went a best time in the 50 back when she won the event by .28 with 29.42. The previous weekend she had earned new times in the 100 free and 200 back.

Lorelai Page, 11, Cougar Aquatic Team: 200m back (2:26.78) – Competing at the New Jersey Long Course Junior Olympics, Page won the girls’ 11-12 200 back with a best time by 4.2 seconds and jumped to the top of the national list of 11-year-old girls in the event for the season. Page has now swum the 200 back four times in her life, all in a six-week period, and is now 9.2 seconds faster than when she started. The weekend produced new PBs for Page in the 50/100/400/800/1500 free and 200 back.

Grace Frericks, 12, Black Hawk Area Swim Team: 200m back (2:25.95) – Frericks won the girls’ 11-12 50/100/200 free and 50/100/200 back and was runner-up in the 50/100 fly and 200 IM at the Iowa Swimming Long Course Championships. She dropped 12.7 seconds in the 200 back, and now ranks #11 in the country for 12-year-old girls this year.

Jacob Bening, 14, River City Aquatics: 200m back (2:10.88) – Bening took 1.6 seconds off his 10-day-old time in the 200 back when he won the boys’ 13-14 event at the Ozark Long Course Championships hosted by Saluki Swim Club. He is now 5 seconds faster than he was at this time last year. Bening also won the 100 back and 100 fly, and finished the weekend with new times in the 50/100/200 free, 200 back, 100 fly, and 200 IM.

Lindsey Hosch, 12, Elite Swim Program: 100m breast (1:16.11) – Competing at the Long Course Texas Age Group Championships, Hosch won the girls’ 11-12 50/100 breast, both with best times. She dropped .7 in the former and 2.7 in the latter and now stands at #8 in the country for 12-year-old girls in the 50 breast and #10 in both the 100 and 200 breasts. Hosch finished the weekend with new PBs in the 50 free, 50 fly, and 200 IM in addition to the three breast events.

Majester Abdul-Jalil, 16, Tri-County YMCA Wild Waves: 200m breast (2:22.15) – Abdul-Jalil knocked out a 2:22.15 in prelims to qualify second for finals in the men’s 200 breast at YMCA National Long Course Championships. It was his fourth lifetime best, and second-fastest of the season by just 3/100. Earlier in the month he had gone best times in the 50/200 free and 200/400 IM.

Andrei Minakov, 14, Terrapins Swim Team: 100m fly (54.96) – Minakov won the boys’ 13-14 200 fly at Far Westerns hosted by Terrapins with a best time by .6. He is 2.7 seconds faster than he was a year ago, and currently ranks #1 in the country in the event, and that by 1.5 seconds. Minakov also holds top-10 times in the 50/100/200/400 free.

Anna Havens Rice, 14, Team Greenville: 200m IM (2:18.64) – Rice won the high point award for 13-14 girls at the Aquatica Summer Splash hosted by YMCA of Central Florida thanks to her performances in the 50/400 free, 200 breast, 200 fly, and 200/400 IM. In the 200 IM she dropped 2 seconds and earned a 2016 Olympic Trials cut; she has now improved 4.5 seconds since last summer. In the 400 IM Rice improved by 1.8 seconds and picked up her first Winter Juniors cut.

Bailey Ratzburg, 11, J-Hawk Aquatic Club: 400m IM (5:17.43) – In her third 400 IM in as many months, Ratzburg notched a best time by 15 seconds and vaulted to #3 on the national list for 11-year-old girls for the season. Ratzburg was swimming at the 12 & Under Wisconsin State Championships, where she won the girls’ 11-12 50/100/200 breast in addition to the 400 IM. She finished the weekend with new PBs in the 50/800 free, 50/100/200 breast and 200/400 IM.

Reminder: The Weekly Wonders column is a celebration of age-group swimming, where new champions are made every day. Anyone can look up the top swims of the week. That’s not what we’re doing here. If we were only reporting on the week’s top swims we would feature the same handful of athletes every Wednesday. Instead, this is an opportunity to introduce the swimming community to athletes who have made great strides in the context of their own particular swimming worlds. By association, it also celebrates their coaches and their teams. The Weekly Wonders column, therefore, amounts to a pat on the back for a job well done, and hopefully encourages swimmers of all levels to continue to reach from within to get to that next level.

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