It’s record-breaking season, folks.
With high school and college championship season upon us, short course yards records have already been going down, and there’s probably plenty more to come in the next few weeks.
Tonight, Phoebe Bacon, a senior at Stone Ridge School in Bethesda, Maryland, broke her own national high school record in the 100 back today at the DC “Metros” Championships with a 50.89, making her the first girl to dip under 51 in high school competition.
Coming into this season, the record had stood at 51.53, held by Olivia Smoliga. That mark has now been broken three times, as Bacon went 51.32 two weeks ago at the Independent School League championships, then Claire Curzan nearly broke Bacon’s mark with a 51.38 just yesterday at the NCHSAA 4A championships. Smoliga’s mark still stands as the public school record.
Bacon’s time tonight was just off her personal best of 50.70, which came in December at the NCAP invitational. Bacon will be heading to the University of Wisconsin next year, where she will swim for head coach Yuri Suguiyama, who previously coached at Nation’s Capital, Bacon’s club team. Wisconsin senior Beata Nelson currently holds the American and U.S. Open Records in the 100 yard backstroke.
Stay tuned for a full recap of Metros, along with plenty of other high school championship meets.
I think all of the true “OG’s” can appreciate that she is wearing Swedish Goggles 🙂
Swedes are still a big thing in Maryland for some reason. No idea why
News travels slow in Murlan
Maybe, but the swimming’s fast.
Y’all sleeping on Alex Walsh hoo broke the record today
BOOM!!! #Wahoowa
Hi. We have a separate article about TISCA and walsh’s state record. No one is sleeping on her 🙂 She had just missed the old National Record though. Bacon had it at 51.32 from January.
I believe ALLY HOWE previously held the Independent High School Record…Smoliga held the public and overall record.
Bacon had set the independent and overall record last month. Howe may have held it before that, I’ll have to check. Smoliga still has the public record though.
Do other HS sports have separate public and “independent” records? Seems goofy to me or is there a good reason?
There is a good reason in relays. In individuals? Probably just an anachronism that made sense in some prior life when NISCA started keeping records in the early years. Maybe a relic of a time when private schools had really good coaches and public schools didn’t and the club system wasn’t as robust where everyone had access to great coaching? Just a guess.
Thanks! The “relic of a time” explanation rings true, especially when you have separate organizing bodies that likely don’t want to give up control. Plenty of examples of that in life.
Curious, what’s the good reason for relays?
That an independent school can pull together all-star relays, whereas a public school is bound by its geographic area, historically. That’s not a perfect limiting factor, as we obviously see kids move to attend a public school from time to time, but at least there’s a substantial geographic boundary.
Of course, the private school teams will (and have in the comments) argue that it’s tougher on private schools because of the cost, because of the entrance standards, but regardless of which you think is “tougher” too assemble, there’s a clear distinction in my mind when it comes to assembling a group of fast 4.
So much backstroke talent
Beata Nelson isn’t an alum of Wisconsin yet
Momentary brain fart, thanks.