YMCA Nationals: Anna Moesch Shines on Relays to Open Meet
Top swimmers representing YMCA teams across the country are racing this week in Greensboro, N.C., at YMCA Nationals, and one of the top 18-and-under sprinters in the country has already made an impact at the meet despite not winning any individual events yet. Anna Moesch, the bronze medalist in the 100-meter freestyle at last year’s World Junior Championships plus a three-time relay medalist, has posted quick splits on a pair of relays to begin the meet.
In the girls’ 800 free relay Tuesday evening, Moesch helped Greater Somerset County YMCA take the win in the 800 free relay with a 1:44.32 split on the third leg. Moesch joined teammates Colleen Bull, Erica Maltsev and Emily Thompson in the winning effort, with the team clocking a final time of 7:14.15. A day later, Greater Somerset took second in the 200 free relay with Moesch splitting 21.23 on the anchor leg.
For some comparison, only five swimmers beat that split at the recent NCAA Women’s Championships, and Moesch’s split was identical to University of Virginia star Alex Walsh. Moesch is heading to Charlottesville next fall to join the Cavaliers, and she will make an immediate impact with the four-time defending national champions.
The first individual win of the meet went to 15-year-old Kirsten Dietschweiler of Oshkosh, who clocked a time of 10:06.91 in the girls’ 1000 free to win by more than four seconds. The boys’ equivalent event went to Powel Crosley’s Nathan Spetz in 9:15.95. Ridley Area’s team of Shane Eckler, Tristan Ronayne, Jonathan Hoole and Jake Kennedy topped the boys’ 800 free relay in 6:39.04.
Wednesday’s action featured a full slate of individual events plus the finals of the 200 medley relay. For the girls’ meet, Upper Main Line’s Devyn Sargent topped the 200 backstroke (1:54.63) before Thompson dominated the 100 butterfly in 51.47, with Moesch taking third (52.84). York’s Molly Yacoviello swam a time of 2:10.87 to win the 200 breaststroke while the 200 medley relay went to Schroeder’s team of Maggie Dickinson, Amy Hu, Alana Berlin and Anne Dickinson in 1:39.26. Berlin, second in the 100 fly earlier in the night, clocked 22.97 on the fly leg.
For the boys, ME Lyons’ Hayden Meyers clocked 1:43.66 to win the 200 back before Greater Somerset’s Garrett Gould swam a time of 47.29 in a 100 fly victory. Triangle Area’s John Taylor held off Birmingham’s Angus MacDonald and Jackson’s Luke Vickers in an extremely tight 200 breast final, where the top-three swimmers were separated by less than three tenths. Taylor clocked 1:57.72, ahead of MacDonald’s 1:57.94 and Vickers’ 1:57.99.
Schroeder completed a sweep of the 200 medley relays as Brody LePine, Jack Paull, Sam Lorenz and Jack Sullivan clocked 1:28.85 to win the boys’ event.
Greater Somerset County has the early lead in the girls’ team race with 136.5 points, although Schroeder (129) and Upper Main Line (125.5) are just behind, with York (110) not out of the mix. Schroeder is the top boys’ team at 113 points, with Greater Somerset just two-and-a-half points behind (110.5) and Ridley (101) and Birmingham (99) in the mix.