After two fantastic weeks of high school state championship meets the last two weekends, things don’t slow this upcoming weekend.
The highest-profile meet on the radar is probably the Illinois girls’ meet, which Karl Ortegon did a huge preview of here.
Also on the schedule this coming weekend, though, is the New York Girls, which is slotted to be one of the best meets we’ve seen out of that state in years.
As Mike Murray, the head coach of the Victor Swim Club and the Niagara Swimming Zone Team head coach, pointed out to me today, the girls’ 200 IM could be the fastest race in state high school history.
“If you look at events like the 200 IM, this competition is poised to be the fastest girls race in state history. Not since Julia Smit have we seen athletes like these in the same event. The top 8 in the 200 IM are all junior national qualifiers in one event or another, making the fastest field in the history of the meet.”
The excitement and buzz around swimming in New York is growing. There’s been a very interesting, if strained, relationship between club and high school swimming in that state, based on conversations we’ve had with several of the state’s coaches, but this year there’s beginning to be just a buzz and an electricity surrounding the possibilities from swimmers like sophomores Beatrix Thompson and Makayla Sargent, plus freshman Kristen Romano, the top three seeds in that 200 IM. It’s a fun evolution to watch, and one more reminder that fast swimming cures many ails.
I wouldn’t say that it would be the fastest race in state history but it will be a good race. Look back at past years, alongside Julia Smit, there was Sara Giberson, the Norberg twins, Annie Zhu, and Olivia Chan to come out of NY high school swimming. NY State has already been producing fast swimmers way before.
I agree. There seems to be a good amount of depth this year (in all events), but 2:03s are not 1:58s.
Exaggerating & RIM; if you take a closer look at NYS Girls Championship History, the 200 IM event this year has by far the fastest seed times going into the meet. No one is saying Smit’s record is going to be broken, however, the fact that the top 3 seeds are all 10th grade or younger and the top 10 times are all accomplished Club athletes in their own right….spells the most competitive IM event in State History. We’ll have to wait and see, but its certainly not an exaggeration!