Mackenzie McConagha Bounces Back With 1:02.08 100 Meter Back in Virginia

2021 PVS LC Senior Championships

• July 14-18, 2021
• Claude Moore Recreation Center, Sterling, VA
• Long Course Meters (50 Meters)
• Meet Central
• Results on Meet Mobile: “2021 PVS LC Senior Championships”

Mackenzie McConagha of Nation’s Capital Swim Club won the 100 back at the PVS Long Course Senior Championships with a time of 1:02.08, crushing the 1:05.02 she posted at the U.S. Olympic Trials Wave I in June. The Wisconsin commit took nearly .4 off her lifetime best time from April.

McConagha also swam:

• 1100 fly – 1:02.33
• 100 free – 58.12 
• 50 free – 27.01 

She posted a total of three lifetime best times over the weekend including in the 100 free where she took more than a second off her best time going into the meet. She then broke her lifetime best 50 free time by about .9. Both of those lifetime best times were from January.

McConagha came within 2 seconds of her lifetime best 100 fly time from May.

16-year-old Camille Spink of Nation’s Capital also clocked a lifetime best 100 back time, taking about .2 off her previous best time from June to place 2nd behind Conagha. She finished with a time of 1:03.27.

Spink competed at both the U.S. Olympic Trials Wave I and Wave II in the 100 meter free. Her lifetime best is a 55.25 from Wave I which ranks her #13 out of the all-time fastest 15-16 year-olds in the event. She came within .32 of that at Wave II. On Thursday, she posted a 56.62 to win the race.

Spink went on to place 5th in the 100 fly (1:03.06), taking about 2.8 seconds off her previous best time from May, and 2nd in the 200 breast by dropping more than 6 seconds from her lifetime best time from 2019. She also swam her second-ever 800 free logged in the USA Swimming database, going from her best time of 9:56 from 2018 to a 9:11.30 to earn 2nd place.

Spink swam a 2:21.23 200 IM, about 2 seconds off her lifetime best from June.

Another Nation’s Capital 16-year-old highlighted the meet and it was  Eleanor Sun who won the 200 IM (2:18.83) and the 200 breast (2:37.05). Both were lifetime best times by about a second.

Rockville Montgomery Swim Club’s Adriano Arioti won the 200 back (2:08.81), about half a second off his lifetime best time from June. 15-year-old Arioti also placed 12th in the 100 breast (1:07.81) by taking about 1.5 seconds off his best time from May.

Michael Zhang of The FISH swept both breaststroke events, touching the wall in 1st place at 2:21.36 in the 200 and 1:05.19 in the 100. Zhang took about 1.6 seconds off his previous best 200 breast time and about .4 off his previous best 100 breast time, both of which were from this season. He went on to snag 2nd place in the 400 IM by dropping about 9 seconds from his lifetime best time from 2019 for a final time of 4:38.83.

Other Highlights

• Aris Runnels of Nation’s Capital was within .72 of the 100 back time she swam at the U.S. Olympic Trials Wave I, touching the wall in 3rd with a time of  1:03.95.
• 16-year-old Erin Gemmell of Nation’s Capital won the 200 back prelims race (2:16.90), taking 3 seconds off her lifetime best time from 2019.
• Gemmell also swam a lifetime best 100 back (1:04.86) and came within .7 of her best 100 fly time with a time of (1:02.29).
• 16-year-old J.T. Ewing of The FISH raced the 100 free twice on Thursday but decided he wanted to give it one more go. Going into this meet his best time was 58.65 from 2018 and he lowered it in prelims (53.63) and finals (52.27). Ewing went for his 100 split during the 200 free final and dropped a 52.15 to drop a total of 6.5 seconds. 
• Landon Gentry of Nation’s Capital, a Virginia Tech commit, won the 200 fly (2:03.15), within about 4 seconds of his lifetime best from 2020. He swam a 1:59.85 in the event at the U.S. Olympic Trials Wave II.