Sarah Rodrigues Breaks Through With 2:13.89 200 Back At Jeffrey Mace Summer Sizzle

2022 Jeffrey Mace Memorial Summer Sizzle

• June 24 – June 27, 2022
• Sinny Werblin Receation Center
• Piscataway, NJ
• Long Course Meters
• Results via Meet Mobile: EEX Jeffrey S Mace Memorial Summer Sizzle XXX

Collegiate and age group swimmers took to the cool in Piscataway, NJ over the weekend for the 2022 Jeffrey Mace Memorial Summer Sizzle.

Natalie Mannion and Sarah Rodrigues had a head-to-head battle in the women’s 200 backstroke at the meet with the 18-year old Mannion coming out on top with a 2:13.89. While that wasn’t close to a best time for the Stanford commit Mannion, just a tenth behind her was 15-year-old Sarah Rodrigues, who had a breakthrough meet for the North Jersey Bluestreaks YMCA.

Rodrigues had a best time in this event of 2:14.87 from back in August 2021 at Richmond Futures. Mannion’s best time is a 2:10.81 from earlier in 2022.

Sarah Rodrigues didn’t stop at the 200 backstroke though as she took gold in the 100 backstroke with a 1:03.00, out-swimming Mannion’s 1:03.23. Annaliesa Moesch was in the mix in the event as well and hit a 1:03.80 for the bronze medal while Liza Whitmire dipped under 1:04 with a 1:03.99 for fourth.

That 100 backstroke swim was also a new best time for 15-year-old Rodrigues. In the 50 freestyle, Rodrigues swam a 27.74 in the 50 freestyle for 8th place in the final. Prior to this meet her PB was a 27.89 and she got down to a 27.69 in the prelims before adding a bit in the final.

Rodrigues’ other swims at the meet included a 2:23.85 200 butterfly, a 2:08.71 200 freestyle (both of which were best times), a 2:27.01 200 IM, and a 1:04.80 100 butterfly. In total, she swam personal bests in six different races throughout the meet.

Roman Jones, a rising senior and Cal commit, posted several long course best times as well en route to winning three individual events. In the 50 free, he swam a 23.17 in finals, in the 100 back, he swam 56.98 in finals, and in the 100 fly, he swam 54.55 in finals. The 50 free improved on his previous best times of 23.58 and the 100 back improved on his previous best time of 57.51.

Jones is the #8 recruit in the high school class of 2023. His 50 free time just-missed the Meet Record of 23.04 that was set by David Curtiss in 2019. His times in the 100 fly broke James Huang’s Meet Record of 54.81.

14-year-old Annam Olasewere was also impressive at this meet, delivering a 56.97 in the 100 freestyle to win the event against several swimmers ranging from 15-18. Olasewere dropped nearly half a second from prelims to finals to get under 57 seconds for the first time in this event. Prior to this meet she held a PB of 57.92 from May 2022.

Olasewere of Chelsea Piers Aquatic Club had a big breakthrough in this event in 2021 when she got under a minute for the first time, swimming a 58.79 at the Eastern Senior Zone Championships. Since then she has progressed steadily, ultimately reaching the 56.97 she used to win the event here. Kennedi Dobson swam a 57.62 for the silver medal in the 100 freestyle and Catherine Meisner was third overall with a 57.69.

Dobson settled for silver in the 100 freestyle but managed to get on top of both the 200 and 400 freestyle podiums. In the 200 she delivered a 2:03.37 best time, improving upon her 2:04.60 from May 2022 at the PTAC Tiger Challenge. Her winning time in the 400 freestyle was a 4:19.95, which is also a new personal best.

Other notable performances on the women’s side of this meet included the 2:18.75 that Anna Moesch used to win the 200 IM and the 1:01.75 that Liza Whitmire used to win the 100 fly.

On the men’s side, Raunak Khosla of Princeton was the winningest entrant and picked up gold in six different events. His top swims were in the 200 IM and 100 breaststrokes, which he won with a 2:03.04 and 1:02.77, respectively. In both events, he was a bit slower than his lifetime bests of 1:59.83 and 1:01.45 from the Olympic Trials in 2021. He also won the 200 butterfly (2:02.58), the 200 breast (2:18.04), the 400 IM (4:28.36), and the 50 breast (29.14).

Billy Swartwout came out on top in the 200 backstroke with a swim of 2:03.78 to win the event by several seconds. Brett Feyerick was second with a 2:08.08 and Parker Lenoce rounded out the top 3 in a 2:10.98. Swartwout, who swims collegiately at Princeton was just off his best time of 2:02.17 from the Indianapolis Pro Swim in May 2021.

In terms of juniors, David Sapozhnikov had a strong 100 butterfly at the meet when he swam a 59.13. He got under a minute first in the prelims with a 59.63 before nearly cracking 59 during finals.