Stanford Futures: 14-year-old Minakov Clips 100 Fly Best with 54.93

STANFORD FUTURES CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Dates: August 4th-7th, 2016
• Location Stanford, California (Stanford University)
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14-year-old up-and-coming star Andrei Minakov clocked a 54.93 in the men’s 100 fly this morning at the Futures Championships at Stanford University, clipping his personal best that sits at #3 all-time in the 13-14 age group.  Minakov has been on a tear over the past month, dropping from 57.62 to 55.59 at the CC Arena Grand Challenge on July 8th to move from 50th all-time to 3rd, and then bettering his time again this past weekend at Far Westerns (54.96).

Now at 54.93, Minakov sits behind only Michael Andrew (54.59) and Justin Lynch (54.80) on the 13-14 list.  With a spring birthday sometime between early March and mid-June (assuming USA Swimming is correct), tonight may be one of Minakov’s last chances at the record.

Other highlights from Friday morning’s prelim session:

• 15-year-old Rachel Rhee (2:03.50) and future Cal Bear Maddie Murphy (2:03.73) both clocked personal bests to take the top two seeds in the women’s 200 free
• 19-year-old Hunter Padgett, who competes collegiately for the University of South Dakota, dropped over four seconds (1:57.66 to 1:53.62) to earn the middle lane tonight in the men’s 200 free
• Madison Ward of the Walnut Creek Aquabears (1:12.88) and Eric Tolman of Ripon Aquatics (1:04.35) are the top seeds in the women’s and men’s 100 breaststroke
• Stanford All-American Nicole Stafford (1:01.02) cut more than a half-second off her 100 fly best.  She’ll be seeded first tonight
• 16-year-olds Samantha Shelton (4:56.33) and Jackson Cunningham (4:28.50) are the top 400 IM seeds tonight
• The men’s Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics contingent had a solid morning.  Incoming collegiate swimmers Benjamin Ho (Stanford),  Joe Molinari (Arizona State), and Albert Gwo (Cal) will all have second swims tonight

Tonight’s finals session begins at 6 PM Pacific time.