2019 Kevin B. Perry Sr. Invitational
- October 31st-November 3rd, 2019
- La Mirada Splash Aquatic Center, La Mirada, California
- SCY (25y) Prelims/LCM (50m) finals
- SCY Results (Prelims)
- LCM Results (Finals)
In a weekend where old records have been broken across the country, another ‘oldest’ went down on Sunday at the Kevin B. Perry Senior Invitational in Southern California.
Named for the former California swim coach, who died in 2008 when he was 56-years old after a battle with cancer, the annual meet is one of the highlights of the non-championship schedule in one of swimming’s global hotbeds.
While most of the participants at this meet are American high school students, quite a few internationals and pros make their way into the pool, including from the pro groups based out of Team Elite in San Diego, the Trojan Swim Club at USC, and the Mission Viejo Nadadores.
A new congregation of world-class distance has begun to coalesce at Team Santa Monica as well – home of the United States’ top male open water swimmer (and one of the top 2 pool distance swimmers, depending on your evaluation), Jordan Wilimovsky. That includes Israeli 21-year old Matan Roditi, who has broken his country’s oldest long course National Record this weekend.
Roditi swam a 15:17.98 in the long course 1500 meter final, which shaved .33 seconds off the old Israeli Record of 15:18.31 that was set by Shilo Ayalon at the 2002 European Championships. Roditi’s previous personal best was a 15;22.49 from Summer Nationals. He’s the Israeli champion in both the 800 and 1500 free and in the 1okm open water swim. He finished 5th in the 10km race at the 2018 European Championships and 20th at the World Championships. He’ll be racing at the Tokyo Olympic qualifier with intent upon earning a spot at the Olympic Games – based on his finishing position at Worlds, he should be in position to do so if he can repeat that performance.
The oldest senior record in any course is the women’s 1500 short course meter freestyle, which Adi Bichman swam in 17:10.29 in January of 1999, while the oldest long course record is the men’s 200 breaststroke, which Tom Be’eri swam in 2:11.44 at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008.
The distance group overall, and especially the Team Santa Monica training group, was the highlight of the meet – including a 1-2-4 finish in the men’s 1500. That was led by the aforementioned Wilimovsky in 15:12.18. Team Santa Monica also picked up wins in the women’s 800 free (14-year old Mattea Sokolow in 9:07.85) and the women’s 1500 free (25-year old Katy Campbell in 16:53.85).
Other Highlight Swims:
- Michael Brinegar, who is sitting out the 2019-2020 NCAA season for Indiana, is back training in Mission Viejo and swam an 8:53.62 in the men’s 1000 yard free. That’s the 3rd-best time of his career.
- 15-ear old Justina Kozan, who last year at this meet swam best times in 6 events, had another good performance this weekend. She won the 200 free (1:48.69y/2:02.06m), 200 fly (1:59.50y/2:12.86m), 200 IM (2:00.33y/2:15.58m), and 400 IM (4:12.18y/4:46.03m). The 400 IM and 200 fly times are nation-leaders early in the 2019-2020 season, and her 400 IM swims (in both yards and meters) were new personal bests.
- 16-year old Rancho San Dieguito swimmer Mia Kragh won the women’s 100 fly in 1:00.66. That knocked nearly a second off her lifetime best and gave her a first Olympic Trials cut.
- 23-year old UCSB post-grad Mason Tittle improved his Olympic Trials cut in the 50 free, winning in a new best time of 22.86. He also won the 100 free in 50.33, ahead of South African international Calvyn Justus (50.73).
- 15-year old Ronald Dalmacio, who holds several National Age Group Records from his younger races, won the men’s 200 back in 2:06.45.
- 20-year old Kazakhstani Mussin Adilbek won both the 100 fly (52.82) and 200 fly (2:00.76), with that time in the 100 coming within 4-tenths of his National Record set in June of this year. He’s competing under the Trojan banner of the USC pro/post-grad program. Adilbek is the defending Asian Games bronze medalist in the 50 fly.
- While swims from really young swimmers can get a little lost in a meet with this much depth, 12-year old Devon Silberman had a breakthrough swim in the 200 yard breaststroke. She swam 2:25.80, which dropped over 4 seconds from her previous lifetime best (done just 3 weeks ago). That makes for a total of almost 8 seconds of improvement already this season,