Here are the Weekly Wonders for the weekend of January 12-14, 2018:
Lexi Duchsherer, 14, AquaStorm: 50y free (24.19) – Duchsherer won the girls’ 13-14 50/100/200 free, 100 fly, and 200 IM at the 2018 AquaStorm Category 5 Swim Meet. She was 6/10 off her PB in the 50 free, a time she achieved while winning both the 50/100 free as a freshman at the 2017 NDHSAA Girls’ State Swimming & Diving Championships in November. Duchsherer nonetheless set the meet record in the both the 50 free and 100 free, and in the former she was 3/10 ahead of her pace from last January. Duchsherer left the meet with PBs in the 200 free and 100 fly.
Kayde Cross, 14, Parkway Swim Club: 100y free (47.67) – Cross won the boys’ 13-14 100 free at the 2018 CFAC MLK Invitational #5941 hosted by Edwardsville YMCA Breakers. He improved his 2-month-old PB by 3/10 and was 3.5 seconds faster than he’d been at this time last year. He also won the 50/200/500 free, 100/200 back, and 200 IM, and earned new times in the 50/100/200/500 free.
Josie Hood, 12, Swim Omaha: 200y free (1:57.99) – Hood had a big meet while competing for Midwestern Swimming at the 2018 Midwest All-Star Meet hosted by Aquatic Club of Elkhorn. She posted her first sub-2:00 in the 200 free, winning the 11-12 event by 3.3 seconds, and was 8.14 seconds faster than she’d been at this same meet in 2017. Hood finished the weekend with PBs in the 50/100/200/500 free, 100 back, and 100 IM.
Katharine Berkoff, 16, Missoula Aquatic Club: 100y back (51.94) – Just a month after breaking the pool record in the 100 back at Winter Juniors West, Berkoff shaved another .01 off her best time at the 42nd Annual Washington Open. She won the women’s 100 back with 51.94, going 1.4 seconds faster than she’d been at the same meet last year. She also won the 50 free, 100 free, 200 free, and 200 back, and placed third in the 100 fly, and finished the weekend 6-for-6 with best times in all her individual events.
Jonathan Archer, 17, Coeur D’Alene Area Swim Team: 100y back (50.18) – Also competing at the 42nd Washington Open, Archer broke 51 in prelims, then again in finals, to finish third in the men’s 100 back. He notched his first two Winter Juniors cuts in the event and was 3.3 seconds faster than he’d been at the 2017 version of this meet. Archer also earned a new PB in the 100 free.
Charlotte Hook, 13, TAC Titans: 200y back (1:59.79) – Hook won the girls’ 13-14 200 back at the 2018 TAC Titans Polar Plunge, breaking the 2-minute barrier for the first time. The only 13-14 girl with a sub-2 time, she dropped 1.3 seconds and was 4.7 seconds faster than she had been at this time last year. Hook also earned PBs in the 100 free and 100 breast during the weekend.
David Walton, 13, Glens Falls Family YMCA: 200y back (2:00.41) – Competing at the 2018 Chris Goody IMX Challenge, Walton took 3.7 seconds off his previous best time and won the single-age 200 back by over 27 seconds. His was the fastest 200 back of all the boys swimming at the meet. Walton also won the boys’ 13 500 free, 200 breast, 200 fly, and 400 IM, earning new best times in all but the 500 free.
Gabrielle Ivey, 14, Biloxi Elite Swim Team: 200y back (2:04.48) – Ivey dropped 4.9 seconds to win the girls’ 13-14 200 back by .08 at the 2018 Ralph Crocker Classic at Auburn University. That makes her 9.9 seconds faster than in January of 2017. Ivey also improved her PBs in the 100 free and 200 IM with her second- and fourth-place respective finishes. She was also an A-finalist in the 50/200 free and 100 back.
Michael Horkan, 15, Wyckoff YMCA: 200y back (1:54.76) – Horkan improved by 7/10 and was 3.5 seconds faster than he’d been a year ago when he placed fifth in the boys’ open 200 back at Winterfest 2018 hosted by SPY Swimming. He won the consolation of the 100 fly with a best time, and he finished top-8 in the 100 back, 200 fly, and 200 IM.
Jaydon Cunningham, 14, Voltage Aquatics: 100y breast (59.68) – Seeded with an October 2017 PB of 1:03.69, Cunningham qualified for the C final in the 100 breast at 42nd Annual Washington Open with 1:00.15. He then broke 1 minute for the first time in finals, where he placed 19th and swam 4.1 seconds faster than his pace from a year ago. Cunningham finished the meet with new times in the 50/100/500 free, 100 back, 100/200 breast, 100 fly, and 200 IM.
John Key, 13, Radford Aquatic Swim Team: 200y breast (2:17.99) – Key won the boys’ 13-14 200 breast by .42 at the Syntal Capital Partners Invitational 2018 hosted by City of Midlands Aquatics. It was his best performance by 1 second, and 5.5 seconds ahead of last year’s pace. Key also won the 500 free and 200 back and was runner-up in the 100 back and 100 breast. He finished the weekend with PBs in the 50/500 free, 100/200 back, and 100/200 breast.
Tim Stollings, 17, Tri-County YMCA Wild Waves: 100y fly (50.44) – Stollings posted his first two sub-51s en route to winning the men’s 15-and-over 100 fly at the 2018 SGSA January Jump Start. It was his best time by 7/10 and 1.8 seconds faster than last year at this time. Stollings also notched PBs in the 50/100 free 50/100 breast and 200 fly.
Reminder: The Weekly Wonders column is a celebration of age-group swimming, where new champions are made every day. Anyone can look up the top swims of the week. That’s not what we’re doing here. If we were only reporting on the week’s top swims we would feature the same handful of athletes every Wednesday. Instead, this is an opportunity to introduce the swimming community to athletes who have made great strides in the context of their own particular swimming worlds. By association, it also celebrates their coaches and their teams. The Weekly Wonders column, therefore, amounts to a pat on the back for a job well done, and hopefully encourages swimmers of all levels to continue to reach from within to get to that next level.
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