2018 WASHINGTON OPEN SWIM MEET
- January 11th-14th, 2018
- Weyerhaeuser Kking County Aquatic Center, Federal Way, Washington
- Meet Site
- Live Results: Meet Mobile “2018 Washington Open”
Tyler Lu of the KING Aquatic Club broke a National Age Group on Saturday – the 3rd day of the 2018 Washington Open. In the last individual event of the day, he swam a 3:51.54 in the 400 IM, which pipped Michael Andrew‘s 3:52.08 set in 2014.
While Lu has 3 National Age Group Records as part of relays, this marks his first individual record. The record came after a 12-second drop among the day: his best time coming into the day with a lifetime best of 4:03.62 a month ago, dropped it to 4:01.17 in prelims, and then dropped it nearly another 10 seconds in finals. Lu’s time, if done in a few months (he ages up in March), would rank him 31st all-time even in the 15-16 age group.
Below are some split comparisons. The difference between Lu’s record and Michael Andrew‘s old record is pacing – while Lu was behind pace on the fly leg, he out-split Andrew on the other 3 legs.
| Tyler Lu | Tyler Lu | Michael Andrew | |
| Old Best | NAG Record | Old Record | |
| Fly | 57.02 | 53.96 | 51.94 |
| Back | 59.37 | 57.35 | 58.40 |
| Breast | 1:09.81 | 1:06.19 | 1:06.32 |
| Free | 57.42 | 54.04 | 55.42 |
| Total | 4:03.62 | 3:51.54 | 3:52.08 |
Incidentally, Andrew’s record-breaking swim knocked 2 seconds from his old personal best. His count is now down to 22 NAG Records: 10 in long course and 12 in short course.
Other Saturday Results from Federal Way
- Coop Deryk won his 2nd event of the meet – taking the 100 fly in 48.28 to go with his Friday win in the 50 free.
- 14-year old Amy Tang from the Pacific Dragons Swim Team won the girls’ 100 fly in 54.18. That’s the 4th-best time so far this season in her age group nationally.
- Katharine Berkoff followed up her electric 200 back from Friday with a 1:48.17 in the 200 free – which put her 2 seconds clear of the field. Her previous best time was 1:49.04 done at Winter Juniors in December.
- Van Mathias won the boys’ 100 free in 1:38.00, beating out Luke Thornbrue (1:38.34).
- Sarah Nicholls won the girls’ 100 breast in 1:02.27. She trailed Ellie Jew at the halfway mark, but was 6-tenths better on the back-half to win.
- Sarah DiMeco won the girls’ 400 IM in 4:19.72, which adds to her 500 free win of 4:51.65.
I re-watched the amazing video posted on YouTube by his dad, Ruobo Lu, around 10x. Tyler is a god legend swimmer. He probably only looks to weigh less than 130 lbs. and stands at around 5’8″. To see a small swimmer like this swim so fast, that means if he packed on some muscle and strength in the next couple years, we could see a potential future NCAA/American/US Open record holder in the 400 IM, beating Chase Kalisz’s times.
Ahhhhh no way!!!! Let’s change the way we all train now
Wow, that’s a serious case of post-pool hair! Is this King Aquatic Club or DON King Aquatic Club? 😉
Lol
Is no one gonna say anything about a 12 second drop? How is that even possible? Even for a 14 year old that is rare especially at this level. Had he just not done the race in a while? Did he taper for a January meet even tho he got a March birthday? USRPT? Juicin? Just got a girlfriend and is stoked on life? Momma makin him sleep in the garage unless he breaks a NAG?
My thoughts exactly. It would be awesome to bypass 4:00 to nearly the 3:40s!!!!
First tapered swim since he grew? Taller/stronger?
He just came off a few great weeks of Holiday training, hasn’t swam the event in a while, no real taper, happened to go 4:35 in the 500 the night before so the writing was on the wall. Great job by Tyler and Coach Tommy Cunningham.
14 year old boys usually see huge drops, in my experience. Getting taller, gaining muscle, really feeling the effects of rest, etc. If it was an 18 year old dropping 12 seconds that might be a bit more surprising, but even then, it’s the 400 IM.. That’s one of the events where resting and suiting up seem to help out a lot, so 12 seconds isn’t that unexpected.
He had just swam the 4:03 at a taper meet a month ago, so the time was not old and I doubt he grew enough in one month to account for a 12 second drop. Based on his other results from this meet I’m guessing he’s at least partially rested which isn’t much of a stretch since it is a fairly competitive meet. Must have had monster holiday training.
That would be correct. Us, King Aquatic Club had a challenging holiday training
Back to when MA lasted longer than a 100
*50
Great kid, great swim. Go King.
MA’s fly split was 51.94
A+ hair A+ swim.