2022 SPEEDO WINTER JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS – WEST
- December 7-10, 2022
- Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center, Austin, Texas
- Short Course Yards (25 yards), Prelims/Finals
- Prelims at 10 a.m. ET, Finals at 6 p.m. ET
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheet
- Storylines to Watch
- Live Results
- Live Stream
- Day 4 Finals Live Recap
Bella Sims led off the Sandpipers of Nevada’s 400-yard freestyle relay team with an otherworldly 47.16 split, setting the tone for a new 15-18 NAG record of 3:13.15 that smashed the previous mark by more than a second and a half.
16-year-old Katie Grimes (48.70), 18-year-old Macky Hodges (48.59), and 15-year-old Claire Weinstein (48.70) rounded out the winning quartet, which took down Santa Margarita’s previous mark of 3:14.80 from May.
All-Time Rankings, 15-18 Girls’ 400 Free Relay
- 3:13.15, Sandpipers of Nevada (2022)
- 3:14.80, Santa Margarita (2022)
- 3:15.38, Carmel Swim Club (2015)
As the comparative splits below show, Sims did most of the damage to the old 15-18 NAG relay record on her ferocious opening leg. The 17-year-old went more than two seconds faster than the leadoff split from Santa Margarita’s former record, which belonged to Hodges (49.18), now her current club teammate.
Despite leading off the quartet with no swinging start, Sims was still more than a second and a half faster than anyone on her team, clocking the fifth-fastest 100 free time ever among 17- and 18-year-old girls. She shaved over a second off her previous-best 100 free time of 48.52 from last year’s Winter Juniors.
“That was crazy,” Sims said. “I did not expect to go that fast. But you never know what’s going to happen, I guess.”
All-Time Rankings, 17-18 Girls’ 100 Free
- Simone Manuel, 46.09 (2015)
- Abbey Weitzeil, 46.29 (2014)
- Taylor Ruck, 46.76 (2019)
- Gretchen Walsh, 46.98 (2020)
- Bella Sims, 47.16 (2022)
Grimes, coming off a grueling triple that included a 1650 free win in a new meet record (15:26.17), split 48.70 to slightly out-duel Teia Salvino‘s second leg for Margarita (49.20). Although she had the quickest of Sandpipers’ three swinging splits, Hodges was almost a second slower than Teagan O’Dell’s split of 47.75 for Santa Margarita. Weinstein was just a few one-hundredths of a second off of Justina Kozan‘s anchor split (48.67) from the CIF State Championship this past season.
Comparative Splits, 15-18 Girls’ 400 Free Relay NAG Records
| Sandpipers – 2022 Winter Junior Championships | Santa Margarita – 2022 CIF State Championships Finals | |||
| 1st 100 | Bella Sims | 47.16 | Macky Hodges | 49.18 |
| 2nd 100 | Katie Grimes | 48.70 | Teia Salvino | 49.20 |
| 3rd 100 | Macky Hodges | 48.59 | Teagan O’Dell | 47.75 |
| 4th 100 | Claire Weinstein | 48.70 | Justina Kozan | 48.67 |
| Final Time | 3:13.15 | 3:14.80 |
For Sims, it was the icing on the cake of an incredible meet where she swept all six of her individual events (500 free, 200 IM, 200 free, 100 back, 200 back, and 200 fly). It was also her eighth — yes, eighth — meet record after setting seven marks previously in the 500 free, 200 IM, 100 back, 200 back, 200 fly, 200 free relay, and 800 free relay.
Sims’ highlight reel was lengthy, including top-10 age-group performances in both the 200 back and 200 fly Saturday to go along with the second-fastest 200 free split ever (1:40.78) in her age group during the Sandpipers’ 800 free relay victory on Wednesday. She also blasted a 22.84 fly split for Sandpipers’ winning 200 medley squad and threw down a 51.36 fly for the first-place 400 medley relay quartet.
Her unbelievably versatile performance this week begs the question: could Sims be the best recruit we’ve ever seen?
Best recruit ever?
Tough to beat Cynthia Woodhead
https://www.woodswimming.org/aa/1982/1982-NISCA-All-American.pdf
Good walk down memory lane on that list. Thanks!
No female athlete accrued more accolades before swimming a competitive lap in college:
Summer Olympics: 5 G, 1 S, 0 B
World Championships: 9 G, 0 S, 0 B
Pan Pacs: 5 G, 0 S, 0 B
World Records (LCM): 13
Wow what a meet for Sims! The virtual race between her and Macintosh was awesome
15:48 down to 47.1. Can swim 50 free to the 10K. I can’t get over this. 22.1/47.1/1:40.7/4:28.6/9:31/15:48 FR; 50.5/1:48.3 BK; 52.2/1:51.0 FL; 1:52.7/4:03.6 IM. Her versatility is nuts and I honestly think she could become one the best short course swimmers ever.
Interesting that Macky Hodges was on both the old and the new record relays.
This will come across like hate when it’s not-I loved her swims and her general style of swims this weekend. She might be one of the most versatile recruits we’ve seen, up there with Walsh. But she’s not the greatest. Smith, Curzan and Weitzel were all breaking American records in high school in sprint events that would make them the best leg on multiple relays at the collegiate level. A 21.2 50 is always going to be more valuable than a 4:28 500, simply due to format.
I’ll take a 1:54.60 relay split in the women’s 4 x 200 meter freestyle relay at the 2022 FINA World Aquatics Championships any day of the week. It’s not as fast as the relay split from the 17 year old Katie Ledecky at the 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships but it’s close.
usaswimming.org
Times
All-Time Relay Splits
Gender: Women
Course: LCM
Event: 200 FR
Show Details
Pretty true.
No hate here — thoughtful context & adds to the debate
Glory is attained at the World Championships and the Summer Olympics not the NCAA. Someone in USA Swimming needs to post the memo.
I was just going to come up with some sort of versatility argument, but that maybe only helps a ton with dual meet lineups. (Which is low on the list of priorities, all things considered.)
That said, even aside from that you can still make the argument she’s among the best recruits ever. (And that’s what the comments are all about! That apparently she reads, which, haaaay!! Comments are bad, don’t do it to yourself.)
Swimswam did an article on this a few years ago: https://staging2.swimswam.com/top-ncaa-womens-swimming-recruits-of-the-past-decade/
Assuming you move Curzan up to 2 or 1, where Sims lands between 3 and 7 is an interesting debate. I’d tend to think that Alex Walsh is a little low on that list and Ledecky is a little high, but it’s an interesting debate between 3 thru 7.
For anyone who wishes to continue said debate, a VERY important note is that Sims times from this weekend do NOT apply within the framework of that article. Only swims from before this June would apply.
Imo Curran is the best recruit and Bella is the best short course high school swimming oat
Is Bella gonna do the IM and challenge Macintosh? What’s her breast stroke like compared to her?
4:43.46 does not cut it in the W 400 IM.
https://www.swimcloud.com/swimmer/667183/
Leah Hayes (DOB 21 Oct 2005) has a better personal best time (4:39.65) in the W 400 IM.
https://www.swimcloud.com/swimmer/898871/
Are you throwing dirt on Emma Weyant’s swimming career?
Who said anything about throwing dirt on Emma Weyants swimming career? I don’t appreciate you and your Wikipedia reference putting words in my mouth!
I was just simply implying what Bella Sims breast stroke is compared to Macintosh because she was faster on the fly and back while Macintosh was a bit faster on free
Who said Bella Sims could beat Emma Weyant or Leah Hayes in the women’s 400 meter individual medley? Emma Weyant was the silver medalist in the women’s 400 meter individual medley from the Tokyo 2021 Olympics.
Summer McIntosh was the gold medalist in the women’s 200 meter butterfly from the 2023 FINA World Aquatics Championships.
Did i Miss The 2023 FINA World Aquatics championship??? i didnt know it happen yet.
Congrats Sandpipers, their athletes and their coaches…world class!
A likely scenario is the Sandpipers of Nevada will qualify three of the six swimmers on the women’s 4 x 200 meter freestyle relay for the 2023 FINA World Aquatics Championships while the NCAA will place none:
Ledecky, Katie
Gemmell, Erin (DOB 02 Dec 2004)
Sims, Bella
Weinstein, Claire
Grimes, Katie
Smith, Leah
Hodges
Seriously?
W 200 FR (SCY)
O’Dell, Teagan – 1:43.94
Hodges, Macky – 1:45.69
I don’t think ledecky will officially qualify for the 200 free relay (if I were her just put up a 1:54 high in the prelims just to show coach she should be in the finals at worlds on the relay then let sims and gemmell try and get the top 2 individual spots) Weinstein, smith, flickenger and Walsh for relay spots (grimes will already be on the team but either 400 Im or 1500 what ever comes first) or his would be the ideal situation
Katie Ledecky will swim the women’s 200 meter freestyle at the USA Swimming International Team Trials to officially secure a spot on the relay.
She doesn’t need to if they know she can do it. Why waste a spot on someone who isn’t going to swim the individual 200 free. Leave room for the young stars like Sims, Grimes, Hodges, Weinstein, Gemmell, etc
She is is easily the best recruit we have ever seen. Top time in her class in 100 all the way through 1650 free, 100/200 back, 200 fly, 200/400 IM. In addition, still a 200 free relay contributor with a 22.1 in 50 free. The range of elite events is unlike anything we have ever seen. You could make an argument Alex Walsh is more versatile now, but coming out of HS, it’s not even close.
Agreed. I still think Alex Walsh is more versatile now with her breaststroke capabilities, but time-wise and across events it’s Bella. She’s the fastest swimmer in the nation in 5 of her events now, and within the top for her others as well.
I wonder if she would have been able to grab the top 100 fly time in the class if she swam it here.