16-year-old Liam Custer of the Sarasota YMCA Sharks destroyed the national age group record in the 1650 on Sunday night in Sarasota, Florida at the Florida Virtual Championships with a 14:37.86, lowering the old record of 14:45.40 set in 2014 by Nitro’s Sean Grieshop. Custer, currently a junior at Riverview High School in Sarasota, also took a huge chunk off his best time of 15:36.07 from when he was 14 at the 2019 YMCA Nationals.
Custer is now the youngest swimmer to break 14:40 in the 1650 and his time tonight would rank him third currently in Division I behind Georgia’s Jake Magahey (14:33.78) and Florida’s Bobby Finke (14:34.27) as Custer has not decided yet where he is going to college.
“Overall, my recruiting experience has been very positive as I feel I’ve been able to establish some strong relationships with coaches through our phone and video interactions,” Custer told Swimming World back in August about the virtual recruiting process. “Some coaches have provided virtual tours using FaceTime while walking around campus and showing me their school, and I’ve also been on zoom sessions and able to interact with other recruits as well as current swim team members.
“However, I think not being able to schedule official visits has created a real challenge for my class to make such an important decision without being able to visit the school in person – to actually meet the coaches and teammates, see the academic and swimming facilities, and have that feeling that you know this is the right school for you.”
Custer finished ahead of Highlander’s Joshua Brown at 15:31.30.
All-Time Rankings Boys 1650 Freestyle (15-16 age group)
- 14:37.86, Liam Custer, 2020
- 14:45.40, Sean Grieshop, 2014
- 14:51.81, Matthew Hirschberger, 2014
- 14:52.39, Jeff Kostoff, 1982
- 14:52.85, Jake Magahey, 2017
18 & under virtual championships leaderboard:
- Liam Custer, Sarasota Sharks, 14:37.86
- James Plage, Unattached, 15:03.32
- Jay Baker, North Carolina Aquatic Club, 15:21.45
- Philip Moldovanu, Wahoo’s of Wellington, 15:23.27
- Patrick Sleater, Unattached, 15:24.92
- Alec Enyeart, Tsunami Swim Team of KC, 15:30.62
- Joshua Brown, Highlander, 15:31.30
- Joaquin Vargas, Azura Florida Aquatics, 15:32.73
Also on the night, Sarasota’s Emma Weyant won the 200 back with a 1:54.69 ahead of new teammate Natalie Mannion (1:55.95) while Hayden Kwan won the men’s race at 1:44.93 ahead of Custer at 1:47.36.
Gracie Weyant also won the 200 breast at 2:13.03.