Rising High School Senior Zuri Ferguson Swims 1:01.62 In the 100 Backstroke

2024 New England Swimming Long Course Senior Championships

• July 11-14, 2024
• Brown University Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center, Providence, Rhode Island
• Long Course Meters (50m)
• Meet Results

Zuri Ferguson of the Bluefish Swim Club, a University of Florida commit, swam new lifetime bests in the 100 back and 100 fly, while 13-year-old Cullen Cashman from the South Shore Mill Pond YMCA posted some of the best times in age group history at the New England LSC Championships.

Ferguson, a rising high school senior, won just one event at the meet, but it was a big one. She swam 1:01.62 in the 100 meter backstroke, which cleared her previous best of 1:02.00 from this meet last year. While the 2024 US Olympic Trials have passed, that time puts the 17-year-old under the standard for the first time.

She now moves within a second of Olympian Elizabeth Beisel‘s 17-18 LSC Record of 1:00.77, and a year left to break that mark. Ferguson now ranks among the top 100 in 17-18 history in that event, even in the younger half of that age group.

Ferguson also swam a best time in the 100 fly (1:04.28) to win the B Final. The A Final was won by Anna Boemer of SOLO Aquatics in 1:00.95 – she just finished her freshman season at Michigan.

Ferguson will represent Trinidad & Tobago at the Paris Olympic Games where she will swim the 100 back as a universality entrant.

On the boys’ side, the most impressive performer didn’t win a race – but contended with swimmers years older than him.

13-year-old Cullen Cashman swam 1:07.48 in the 100 breast for 12th place and 2:28.21 en route to an 8th place finish in the 200 breast. Those times rank him 2nd and 3rd, respectively, in the country among 13-year-olds this season.

Other Meet Highlights:

• Skylar Knowlton of Phoenix Swimming won 6 events including four individual events at the meet. Among those wins were personal bests in the 100 free (58.29), 200 free (2:03.09), and 200 fly (2:14.94). Those times in the 100 free and 200 free were also best times by almost half-a-second. Knowlton is committed to Indiana for fall 2025.
• Quinn White was 2nd to Knowlton in the 100 free, but had the fastest time of the weekend when she led off the 400 free relay in a best time of 57.36. She also finished 2nd in the 100 back (and swam 1:02.37 in prelims), won the 200 back (2:12.65), and won the 200 IM in 2:19.30, a personal best time.
• 14-year-old Jonathan Feole-Haughey finished 2nd in the 100 back in 57.76, making him the top-finishing junior of the meet. That is the fastest time in the country by a 14-year-old this season and moves him up into 11th place in the all-time rankings, tied with Olympic gold medalist and World Record breaker Ryan Murphy.