North Baltimore Christmas Invite: Michael Phelps, Elizabeth Pelton Each Win Two More; North Baltimore Girls’ 800 Free Relay Breaks National Age Group Record

By David Rieder

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland, December 11. NORTH Baltimore superstars Michael Phelps and Elizabeth Pelton doubled up with wins for the second straight night of action at the U.S. Naval Academy. Neither swam best times at the short course yards meet, but all their times posted are solid benchmarks in the lead-up to next summer's World Championships in Shanghai. Later on, Pelton joined three North Baltimore teammates to break the National Age Group record for the 15-18 girls' 800 free relay.

Phelps first won the boys' 50 free in 20.12. Phelps narrowly missed his personal best time of 20.07 in a race in which he rarely competes. His NBAC teammate Jes Stephens took second in 21.58, followed by GPAC's Brett Pedersen (21.87). Later, he cruised in the 100 back in 46.68. No one else broke 50, as CCA's Jacob Siar grabbed second in 50.48, while GPAC's Dillon McHugh ended up third in 52.00.

On the girls' side, Pelton won the same two events as Phelps. She posted a 23.27, defeating Germantown's Meagan Dollard (23.75) and MAC's Hanne Borgersen (24.09). In the 100 back, Pelton won easily in 52.72. She swam faster on Friday when she led off NBAC's winning 400 medley relay in 52.08. Teammate Natalie Beale took second tonight in 56.18, while Germantown's Taylor Sneed earned third-place honors in 56.35.

NBAC's Todd Patrick bolted ahead of the field from the start of the boys' 400 IM, and he never relinquished the lead, clocking 3:45.00 for the win. Teammate Drew Cosgarea pulled away from Brendan Morris to take second, posting a 3:49.85, to Morris' 3:52.75. Cosgarea returned later to edge Germantown's Arthur Frayler for the win in the 500 free. Cosgarea checked in at 4:23.09, while Frayler, the winner of the 100 free on Friday, placed second in 4:23.32. QDD's Gregory Stoffa took third in 4:33.42.

NBAC's Willa Wang overtook PAAC's Madison Burns in the final 100 yards to earn the win in the girls' 400 IM. Wang won in 4:13.94, ahead of Burns' 4:14.83, while NBAC's Camryne Morris grabbed third in 4:21.93. Morris took the win in the 500 free later in the session, clocking a 4:43.45. Morris held off PAAC's Gillian Ryan, who took second in 4:44.00. Wang returned to place third in 4:47.68.

Swimmers from NBAC went 1-2 in the girls' 200 breast, with Stephanie O'Toole winning in 2:15.66, while teammate Jordan Surhoff touched out CCA's Kelsey Holmgaard for second, 2:18.05 to 2:18.27. In the boys' 200 breast, CCA's Alex Vance won the only non-NBAC win of the night, touching in 2:00.82. NBAC's Chase Kalisz and Brendan Morris rounded out the top three with times of 2:01.82 and 2:04.95, respectively.

North Baltimore swept the 800 free relays to conclude the session, with the girls breaking a National Age Group record. Pelton, Wang, Natalie Beale, and Camryne Morris won the girls' relay in 7:13.03, beating the 7:13.98 posted by Palo Alto Stanford (Alicia Grima, Jasmine Tosky, Julia Ama, Madeline Schaefer) earlier this year. Notably, Pelton swam the lead-off 200 free in 1:45.37, matching her winning time in the event from Friday. Cosgarea, Kalisz, Jack Pollack, and Stephens claimed the boys' relay in 6:51.61.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use