Katharine Berkoff Wins 200 Free with PB on Day 2 at Mt. Hood Sectionals

2019 Speedo Sectionals – Mt. Hood

• July 18-21, 2019
• Hood Aquatics Center, Mt. Hood, OR
• Meet information
• Psych sheet
• Results (Meet Mobile): ‘2019 Speedo Sectionals – Mt Hood’

NC State commit Katharine Berkoff of Missoula Aquatic Club kicked off Day 2 of the Mt. Hood Speedo Sectional Meet with a personal best in the 200 free. Entered with a seed time of 2:03.93, she went 2:03.09 in finals to win by just over a second. Berkoff is now 1.4 seconds off the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials cut of 2:01.69. Lily Gardner, 16, of Tualatin Hills Swim Club, was runner-up with 2:04.12, beating Bronco Swim Club’s Hayley Hill (2:04.61) who improved her PB by 1.3 seconds. Berkoff was a Declared False Start in the 100 back where she had been top seed with 59.59.

Notre Dame commit Jack Hoagland of Charger Aquatics was nearly a full second faster than his seed time in winning the men’s 200 free final over Cole Giandinoto (1:53.46) and Benjamin Waterman (1:53.58) from Utah Utes, Hugo Sykes of University of Denver Hilltoppers (1:53.78), and Kevin Jackson of King Aquatic Club (1:53.94). Hoagland’s previous PB was from last summer’s Speedo Junior Nationals. Hoagland dropped half a second in the next event, placing third in the 400 IM with 4:30.63. The Utes’ Jackson Cunningham won the race with a dominant 4:26.39, slashing 3.1 seconds off his seed time and coming within .40 of the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials standard. Jacob Hand from Charger Aquatics was runner-up with a best-by-5.2 time of 4:30.20.

Other event winners:

• 15-year-old Mia Rankin of Phoenix Swim Club slashed 2.3 seconds off her seed time to win the women’s 400 IM by 5.36 seconds with 4:53.19. That puts her within 1.4 seconds of the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials cut of 4:51.79.
• Second-seeded Mara Newman, who is headed to Wisconsin in the fall after a year at UCLA, won the women’s 100 back in 1:03.15. She was about 8/10 off her seed time of 1:02.32 which she swam last summer winning the B final of the 100 back at Speedo Junior Nationals. Second, third, and fourth places were separated by only .15 as Elevation Athletics’ Katelyn Lewicki (1:03.75), Utah Utes’ Emma Lawless (1:03.86), and Phoenix’s Kaitlyn McCoy (1:03.90) came to the wall together, all with lifetime bests.
• Phoenix Swim Club’s Meguru Hotta of Japan was the winner in the men’s 100 back. He dropped .37 from his seed time to touch out Gavin Olson of Foothills Swim Team for the win, 56.35 to 56.66. Olson’s time was a .74-second improvement over his entry time and .07 off the 2020 Trials cut.
• University of Denver Hilltoppers’ women’s and men’s 400 free relays were both victorious. The women’s quartet of Aysia Leckie (58.98), Andi Johnston (59.30), Anna Shaw (59.52), and Jenna Smith (57.78) combined for a winning time of 3:54.58, beating Bainbridge Island Swim Club by over 3 seconds. The men were just as dominant, going 3:27.21 to Charger Aquatics’ 3:29.66. Hugo Sykes, Darragh Mahns, Robin Kuebler, and Fischer Basham contributed to the effort.

Team Scores

Women

1. Tualatin Hills Swim Club – 597
2. University of Denver Hilltoppers – 518
3. Scottsdale Aquatic Club – 406
4. Phoenix Swim Club – 400
5. Elevation Athletics – 349
6. Bronco Swim Club – 245
7. The Dolphins Portland Swimming – 215
8. Lakes Oswego Swim Club / Bainbridge Island Swim Club – 190
9. –
10. Foothills Swim Team – 189

Men

1. University of Denver Hilltoppers – 675
2. Phoenix Swim Club – 427
3. Elevation Athletics – 371
4. Charger Aquatics – 330
5. Tualatin Hills Swim Club – 299
6. Mesa Aquatics Club – 277
7. Swim Utah – 267
8. Scottsdale Aquatic Club – 247
9. Rio Salado Swim Club – 145
10. Fort Collins Area Swim Team – 140