Did You Crack Your Zone’s New Top 20?

Photo Courtesy: Jeremy Brevard - USA TODAY Sports Images

Each week, USA Swimming releases their top 20 zone times. Swimming World will provide a unique analysis of one specific zone each week and a general recap of the remaining zones. Here, you’ll find the zones’ strengths, top athletes, and top times.

USA Swimming Central Zone

Girls: Kate Morris of the B.R. Ryall Swim Team catapulted herself to the top of numerous events in the 11-year old girls division. She now leads the zone in the 50, 100, and 800-meter free as well as the 50-meter back. Lija Gaikis popped off a 29.85 to top all 50-meter flyers in the age group. Melinda Zhang (200-meter fly) was the lone newcomer to the top of the 12-year old girls list.

The top of the 13 and 14-year old girls remained unchanged across the board, but a few new names sprinkled themselves into the top ten. Olivia Calegan now heads the 15-year old’s 100-meter breast with a top zone time of 1:11.81.

The apex of the remaining girls’ age groups did not change either. In fact, nearly all their top ten lists remain virtually intact. The only major shift in power points for the Central Zone girls came in the 11-year old fly.

Boys: The Central Zone saw a handful of changes to the top of the 12-year old boys division. Hayden Zheng (50, 100, and 200-meter breast), Michael Linnihan (100-meter free), and Paul Racanelli (50-mter free) have added their names to the list, which is already colored with Dylan Moffat and Emilio Perez’s names.

The Central Zone does have the nation’s top 13-year old IMer in Carson Foster from the Cincinnati Marlins.

Outside of the 12-year old boys, nothing has changed in the top slots of the Central Zone. Not much has changed in the power point standings either, except for the 300-point jump in the 11-year old’s 200-meter IM.

USA Swimming Eastern Zone

Girls: Three 12-year old girls clocked new Eastern Zone bests this past weekend. Briana Gellineau of Long Island Aquatic Club busted out a 2:10.38 in the 200-meter free, while Vanessa Chong from Laguardia Aquatic Club added her 1:06.47 to the top of the list, and Hadley DeBruyn now sits atop the 200-meter IM with a 2:29.23.

Outside of these three girls, no other new names were added to the tops of the lists. Some of that can be attested to the sheer strength at the top of age groups from swimmers like Olympian Katie Ledecky.

The 11 and 12-year old girls had large gains in their total power points. Combined, both age groups added nearly 6000 power points. The remaining age groups a slight amount to their already impressive numbers.

Boys: There were plenty of changes throughout the boys’ top times. Nikita Zuev and Danny Kim now top the 11-year old boys’ 100 and 200-meter fly, respectively. Joey Tepper, 12, busted out top times in the 400, 800, and 1500-meter free.

In the 13-year old boys division, Destin Lasco clocked top times in the 200-meter back and 200-meter IM. In the next age group, Cristian Bell doubled up on the backstroke events with his 1:01.02 in the 100-meter back and 2:12.04 in the 200-meter back.

The Eastern Zone boys followed suit of the girls and catapulted up in the 11 and 12-year old power point totals. The 11-year old boys have now eclipsed the 140,000-mark in the power point standings, a telling feat in the age group.

USA Swimming Western Zone

Girls: Kamehameha Swim Club’s Grace Monahan jetted up to first in the zone in the 11-year old girls 50-meter fly. Outside of her and 14-year old Miranda Heckman in the 1500-meter free, the Western Zone hasn’t altered at the very top.

The Western Zone girls did see nice jumps in power points in the 13 and 18-year old girls division. Aside from those two age groups, everything else remained the status quo.

Boys: Lleyton Plattel of Pleasanton Seahawks moved to the top spot in the 12-year old boys’ 800-meter free with his 9:13.66. Outside of Plattel, there were no other changes to the Western Zone’s number one spots.

Swimmers like Kevin Win Kyi (11), Tyler Lu (12), and Christopher Jhong (15) swam their way into the top three in their respective age groups.

The 11 and 12-year old boys divisions added 1000+ power points to their age groups, while the 13-year old boys chimed in with another 500 points.

USA Swimming Southern Zone

Girls: Natalie Cox (Sunkist Swim Team) hit the breaststroke trifecta in the Southern Zone this past weekend by topping the zone in the 11-year old girls’ 200-meter breast. Sara Stotler (11) of Spartan Aquatic Club also claimed another top time in 200-meter IM with her 2:38.46. She also moved into second in the 200-meter free rankings.

There were no changes at the top of any groups aged 12 to 16. Only a handful of new names managed to crack the top three, which indicates the bar has been set fairly high in the Southern Zone.

One of the top recruiting prospects in Florida, Kahra Williams of Gator Swim Club, now sits atop the 17-year old girls’ 1500-meter free. Her teammate and soon-to-be Florida Gator Hannah Burns is first in the 18-year old girls 1500-meter free.

All girls’ divisions saw jumps in overall power points, with the 11-year old girls leading the way with a nearly 8000-point increase from last week.

Boys: Cox’s teammate Noah Derrick, 11, now holds the zone’s fastest time in the 200-meter fly at 2:40.84. Justice Hunt of Texas Ford Aquatics also swam his way to the top of the 11-year old boys’ rankings with his 19:43.94 1500-meter free.

Similar to the Southern Zone girls, the new week yielded no new top times in any age group.

Derrick’s efforts also contributed to the largest leap in power points (over 1000) of any age group in the Southern Zone.

LINKS:

http://www.szoneswim.com/TabGeneric.jsp?_tabid_=155843&team=szlsc

http://www.centralzones.org/TabGeneric.jsp?_tabid_=155924&team=cenzone

http://www.easternzoneswimming.org/records.html

http://www.westernzoneswimming.org/TabGeneric.jsp?_tabid_=155849&team=wzone

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