ORLANDO, Florida, March 20. CURL Burke's Katie Ledecky shocked the crowd at the NCSA Junior Nationals with a stunning time in the women's 1650-yard freestyle in Orlando, Fla. The meet is being broadcast LIVE via pay per view by SwimmingWorld.TV. For more on ordering the stream, click here.
Ledecky clocked a time of 15:40.38 tonight that would have placed third at the NCAA Division I Women's Championships, behind only a pair of times that surpasses Janet Evans' 22-year-old NCAA record. North Carolina's Stephanie Peacock won the NCAA title in 15:38.79, while Georgia's Wendy Trott took second in 15:38.94. Southern California's Haley Anderson finished third in 15:43.44.
Ledecky now stands sixth all time behind Peacock (third), Trott (fourth) and Evans (fifth) as well as Katie Hoff (15:24.35) and Kate Ziegler (15:29.15). Additionally, Ledecky downed the U.S. National Age Group Record in the 15-16 division previously held by Ziegler with a 15:40.89 since 2005.
Ledecky also downed the 1000-yard free National Age Group Record in the event with a 1000 split of 9:25.07. That effort beat the 9:25.51 also set by Ziegler in 2005. The swim pushed her to third all time in the event, behind only Hoff (9:10.77) and Ziegler (9:18.35), and ahead of Chloe Sutton (9:26.58).
Tonight, Megan Rankin finished second in 16:10.09, while Waukesha's Jessica Wolf earned third in 16:30.05.
Rockville Montgomery's James Powell captured the men's 1000 free title in 8:57.28, while Tampa Bay's Christopher Swanson placed second in 9:03.50. Burkwood's Rodney Fentress finished third in 9:04.07.
In relay competition, the Aquajets won the women's 200 medley relay in 1:40.31, while New Trier earned the men's 200 medley relay title in 1:30.60.
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