Carmel’s Aaron Shackell Lowers National High School Record in 200 Freestyle
At Indiana’s Boys High School State Championship meet in Indianapolis, Carmel senior Aaron Shackell swam a lifetime best by two seconds in the 200-yard freestyle prelims Friday night to knock off the national high school record in the event. Shackell swam a time of 1:32.85, crushing his previous best time of 1:34.88 set last month while taking the top seed in the event by five seconds.
In the process, Shackell knocked off the National High School record of 1:32.99 (public school and overall) set by Carson Foster in 2019, and he also broke the state record of 1:33.30 that Drew Kibler, another future Texas Longhorn who placed fourth in the 200-meter free at last year’s World Championships.
Shackell has been best known on the national stage for his prowess in the 200 butterfly, including Junior Pan Pacs gold in the 200-meter fly last summer, but his freestyle is starting to stand out as well. Shackell will attend Cal-Berkeley next fall, and his improvement in the 200 free makes him a strong bet to provide an instant boost to Cal’s relays, at the very least.
Shackell’s Splits:
1 Aaron Shackell 12 CAR 1:35.66 1:32.85*
21.46 44.81 (23.35)
1:08.75 (23.94) 1:32.85 (24.10)
Prior to his 200 free, Shackell swam a 20.88 butterfly split on Carmel’s 200 medley relay, the quickest in the field by more than a second. Later on, Shackell finished with the top qualifying time in the 500 free, touching in 4:19.19 to edge out teammate Gregg Enoch (4:19.44). At the end of the session, he split 46.55 on Carmel’s 400 free relay.
In the final Saturday, Shackell won the 200 free by more than 4.5 seconds but ended up swimming slower than his new national mark. He touched in 1:33.68. He also split 20.46 on the butterfly leg of Carmel’s 200 medley relay, joining Sean Sullivan, Brandon Malicki and Michael Gorey to record a time of 1:27.83 in a 1.6-second win.