Speedo Winter Juniors West: Teagan O’Dell, Maximus Williamson Win Two Events Apiece
High school seniors Teagan O’Dell and Maximus Williamson continued to impress at their final Winter Juniors meet, with both swimmers capturing first place in their respective 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke races Friday evening in Austin.
O’Dell, the Mission Viejo swimmer who already won the 200 IM Thursday, took down Pikes Peak’s Madi Mintenko for the win in the 200 free. O’Dell jumped on the race early, opening up a lead of more than a second by the halfway point, and she held strong down the stretch to touch in 1:42.46, her best time by eight tenths. The 200 free is not considered one of O’Dell’s best events, but the time would have placed fifth at last year’s NCAA Championships. Mintenko took second in 1:43.52, with Flying Fish’s Ella Cosgrove taking third.
Later on, O’Dell cruised to a time of 50.70 in the 100 back, beating the field by three-quarters of a second while surpassing her previous best time by almost seven tenths. Schroeder YMCA’s Alana Berlin placed second, and Longhorn’s Grace Rabb was third in 52.89. Finally, O’Dell concluded her evening with a 22.14 leadoff led on Mission Viejo’s second-place 200 free relay. After finishing second behind Jada Duncan in the individual event, O’Dell matched Duncan’s winning time from one day earlier in her relay leadoff.
Williamson’s wins came in similarly dominant fashion, although he did not swim best times. In the 200 free, he clocked 1:32.24, quicker than his 1:32.38 relay leadoff leg from Wednesday but well off the Juniors meet record of 1:31.37 he set last year. Williamson’s Lakeside Aquatic Club teammate Maxwell Stanislaus took second in 1:34.97, followed by Irvine Novaquatics’ Derek Hitchens.
Williamson had to work hard to hold off Flatiron Swim’s Gavin Keough in the 100 back, with Williamson coming in ahead by seven hundredths, 46.70 to 46.77. Hornet’s Luke Vatev rebounded from a disqualification in the 200 free to come in third in 47.09.
Finally, Williamson split 18.84 on the third leg of his team’s winning 200 free relay, almost a second quicker than anyone else in the field. Stanislaus went 19.79, making him the only other swimmer to go sub-19.9, with Riccardo Osio and Luke Garrett providing the bookends of a team that clocked 1:19.34, beating out Quicksilver (1:20.12) and Scottsdale (1:21.58).
In the women’s 400 IM, La Mirada Armada’s Kayla Han picked up a comfortable win in 4:04.44. The 16-year-old who reached the 400-meter free final at the U.S. Olympic Trials, lowered a second from her best time while beating CSP Tideriders’ Sydney Schoeck (4:09.17) and Rabb (4:11.55).
Prior to her runnerup finish in the 100 back, Berlin won the 100 butterfly in 51.46, a brilliant 27.14 back half enough to overtake Mintenko (51.56) by a tenth at the finish. Third place went to 14-year-old Gabi Brito from Beach Cities, who swam a time of 51.85. Piper Enge, now competing for the University of Texas, raced in her new home pool and won the 100 breaststroke in 58.45, with Beach Cities’ Bella Brito (59.09), Irvine Novaquatics’ Bianca Nwaizu (59.73) and Rabb (59.90) also breaking the 1:00-barrier.
In the 200 free relay, the Bellevue Swim Club team of Sophia Sunwoo, Kamryn Meskill, Heather White and Gracyn Kehoe took the win in 1:29.84, coming out eight hundredths ahead of the O’Dell-led Mission Viejo team (1:29.92). Lakeside Aquatic Club came in third (1:30.72).
On the men’s side, Sandpipers’ Luke Ellis dominated the 400 IM. Ellis the field by more than two seconds by the halfway point, and after he surrendered almost the entire advantage on breaststroke, he pulled ahead on the freestyle leg to clock 3:42.94, beating Fox Valley’s Tyler Bardak (3:45.47) and Cougar’s Jake McCoy (3:47.43).
Longhorn’s Rowan Cox cruised to a time of 45.74 to win the 100 fly, topping Alejandro Michelena (49.42) and Santa Clara’s Shareef Elaydi (46.78). Bend Swim Club’s Campbell McKean won his second event of the week in the 100 breast, adding to his 200 IM win with a time of 51.72. Texas Ford’s Jack Armour (51.86) and Madison’s Finnley Conklin (53.54) rounded out the top-three.