Speedo Winter Juniors West: Maximus Williamson Helps Lakeside Scare 800 Free Record
Maximus Williamson was the only holdover from the quartet that set a Speedo Winter Juniors record last year. Turns out, they’re still pretty fast thanks largely to Williamson.
Williamson went 1:32.28 off the front of the boys 800 free relay as the Lakeside Aquatic Club squad started Speedo Winter Juniors West Wednesday with a win in 6:22.48.
That time is a little over two seconds shy of what Lakeside did last year. But three-quarters of that team is gone. Williamson, who holds the 17-18 national age-group record in the 200 free, led the way with Maxwell Stanislaus, Aubrey Jaya and Luke Garrett to win by more than four seconds.
Sandpipers of Nevada finished second in 6:26.65 with Gabriel Manteufel, Noah Mudadu (1:35.94), Caleb Kattau and Luke Ellis. Irvine Novaquatics and Aquajets Swim Team also cracked 6:30, with Derek Hitchens and Henry Webb, respectively, turning in 1:35 splits.
Four relays opened the four-day meet at the University of Texas in Austin Wednesday night.
Waterloo Swimming won the boys 200 medley relay with a time of 1:28.87 that edged Aquajets by .08 seconds. Aaron Gordon (21.71), Steven Ma, Raphael Wang (21.61) and Andres Brooks comprised that quartet. With Webb swimming 19.97 on the end, Aquajets nearly rallied to win.
Texas Ford Aquatics (1:29.15) edged Lakeside by .01 for third, despite Williamson leading off in 21.58 for the latter.
Bellevue Club pulled a slight upset with a time drop of more than two seconds to win in 7:08.01 and upend top seed Crow Canyon Swim Club in the girls 800 free relay. Alexa McDevitt, Heather White, Gracyn Kehoe and Sophia Sunwoo led an impeccably balanced side for Bellevue, all four splits within 1.55 seconds of each other.
Liberty Clark led off for Crow Canyon in 1:46.23, 0.18 slower than McDevitt had been. The Sharks went 7:12.30, edging out Academy Bullets Swim Club by .14 seconds for the silver medal. Teagan O’Dell’s 1:42.27 off the front helped Mission Viejo finish fourth, while Alyssa Ton turned in a 1:45.37 for sixth-place Irvine Novaquatics.
Beach Cities Swimming took home gold in a tightly contested 200 medley relay. Gabi Brito brought it home in 21.90 for a time of 1:37.26 that was more than a second up on Crow Canyon. Delaney Herr, Bella Brito and Eryn Arnold rounded out the Beach Cities squad. Clark brought Crow Canyon home in 21.50 as it clocked in at 1:38.40 for silver. Bellevue was third in 1:38.43.