Teagan O’Dell Blasts National High School Record in 200 IM At California Champs
A week after giving the record a push on a pair of occasions, Santa Margarita’s Teagan O’Dell broke the national high school record in the 200-yard individual medley on Saturday. Competing at the Caliofnria Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Championships, O’Dell popped a performance of 1:53.38 to clear the 2021 record of Torri Huske (1:53.73).
Last week, while racing at the CIF-Southern Section Champs, O’Dell twice clocked in the 1:54 range in the 200 medley. In her latest opportunity, the sophomore made sure to etch her name into the scholastic record books. O’Dell covered her opening butterfly leg in 25.38 and followed with a backstroke split of 26.94. A 33.61 effort for the breaststroke sent O’Dell into the freestyle leg within reach of Huske’s standard, and she easily dipped under the mark, as she closed in 27.45.
It is the second national record for O’Dell this season, as she was part of Santa Margarita’s 200 freestyle relay that posted a time of 1:29.61 during a dual meet in March. As Santa Margarita won the 200 free relay on Saturday, O’Dell led off in 22.40 and helped her squad to a time of 1:30.90, which was more than two seconds faster than the 1:33.12 of runnerup Monte Vista.
She was also the victory in the 100 backstroke, going 50.96 to set a state record.
O’Dell was a member of the team that represented the United States at last year’s Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Hawaii.