Alex Walsh took down a national age group record set by none other than Missy Franklin back in 2010. Tonight, Walsh won the 200 IM at 2015 Speedo Junior Winter Championships-East, posting a 1:56.20, to beat Franklin’s earlier record of 1:57.70 by a second and a half.
Check out her splits from the swim:
- Fly: 25.93
- Back: 28.81
- Breast: 34.15
- Free: 27.31
Walsh’s closest competitor was Gator Swim Club’s Isabel Ivey, who finished second in 1:57.04.
Walsh currently holds national age group records in the short course 11-12 200 back, 200 breast, and 100 IM, and she is a member of the long course relay record-holder in the 13-14 400 medley alongside teammates Ella Nelson, Kallie Chelsvig, and Lauren Hurt. This is her first individual 13-14 record.
This event was probably Walsh’s best bet at an age group record, but given how she has been swimming this weekend, Kathleen Baker‘s 100 back record of 52.87 may be within her reach. Walsh’s seed time for tomorrow is a 54.34.
Walsh’s sister Gretchen threatened the 11-12 50 free age group record in prelims this morning, but missed it by .3 seconds.
Walsh swims for the Nashville Aquatic Club, and is coached by John Morse.
Wow, Unbelievably fast swimming. 14 years old and doing times like she’s doing is mind boggling to me. Congratulations to her and all the other amazing kids swimming at the junior meets. I was also amazed by Ryan Hoffer’s 50 free (19.06) in the west section. He swam all of 20 yards of his 50 free, with the rest done underwater. Just amazing. I’m just blown away by these kids.
Beegees, aka BoboGigiSuperfan before, can continue to make fun of me as long as he wants.
The fact is he most of the time repeats what I’ve said a few years ago makes me smile.
Yes, I have predicted that both Walsh sisters would be future swimming stars. But not in 2011. It was in December 2013 after watching Tom Dolan Invitational.
Congrats to Alex Walsh. Big star in the making.
Shades of another female IM wunderkind from Nashville Aquatic Club. Tracy Caulkins, anyone?
Incidentally, John Morse (Alex Walsh’s coach) was teammates with Tracy at the University of Florida in the early 1980s.
As I have predicted in 2011, Alex Walsh is going to be a superstar!
And Ivey is also not far behind. Both have massive massive potentials and beasts in both short and long course.