Rylee Erisman Blasts Relay Splits of 21.64, 1:41.86 as Junior Nationals Open in Indianapolis and Austin
Over the past several months, teenage sprinter Rylee Erisman has elevated her career to become one of the top sprinters in the United States. She won eight medals, five of them gold, at the World Junior Championships this summer, a performance that included a 52.79 clocking in the 100 freestyle. Erisman then took down the national high school record in the 100-yard freestyle, a mark previously belonging to Gretchen Walsh, and she then announced she would be finishing high school early to begin her college career at Cal-Berkeley in the fall of 2026.
And in her first major competition since that declaration, Erisman has quickly returned to her typical speedy ways. Racing at USA Swimming’s Junior Nationals-East meet in Indianapolis, Erisman fired off a fair of elite relay splits for Laker Swim on night one. Erisman anchored Laker’s 200 medley relay in 21.64, more than a half-second quicker than any other swimmer at either the Indy meet or the West meet in Austin, Texas.
Shortly thereafter, Erisman brought Laker’s 800 free relay home in 1:41.86, moving her team from well off the pace into second place at the finish. That time was more than 1.5 seconds ahead of her career-best mark of 1:43.51 in the individual event. Of note, the 15-16 National Age Group record in the 200 free is 1:42.03, a mark set by Katie Ledecky 12 years ago, and Erisman will have a chance to surpass that time this week. And even though Erisman has not yet begun her college career, her time would have been the fifth-best split in the event at last year’s NCAA Championships.
In those Indy relays, Mecklenburg Swim Association’s team of Karina Plaza, Eliza Wallace, Taylor Klein and Maddy Boland picked up the medley relay win in 1:37.29, with the TAC Titans taking second (1:38.40) and SwimMAC Carolina placing third (1:39.14). The TAC Titans’ Finola Whelehan, Reina Liu, Carolin He and Sloane Whelehan got the win in the 800 free relay in 7:09.42, followed by Erisman’s Laker team (7:10.46) and Bolles School (7:16.61). Further down in the rankings, Audrey Derivaux led off for the Jersey Wahoos in 7:19.21.
On the boys’ side, Central Ohio’s team of Jack Mahaffey, Jake Lloyd, Caden Mahl and Austin Carpenter took the win in the 200 medley relay in 1:27.11, just edging out the Blazing Barracudas (1:27.27) and Bolles (1:27.29). Bolles won the 800 free relay in 6:26.74 behind George Dovellos, Liam Carrington, Camp Hartman and Noah Stotler, with Carmel (6:31.35) and Mecklenburg Swim Association (6:31.88) rounding out the top-three.
There was one individual event contested on day one of the meet, the 1000 free. Elizabeth Eichbrecht won the girls’ race in 9:39.02, edging out St. Petersburg’s Brinkleigh Hansen (9:39.64), with Fishers Area’s Emily Wolf placing third (9:42.65). The boys race went to Colin Jacobs (8:48.22) ahead of Bolles’ William Shoesmith (8:57.36) and Carmel’s Trent Allen (8:58.65).
As competition began with the same events at the Austin meet, CSP Tideriders’ Sydney Schoeck won the girls’ 1000 free in 9:32.29, with La Mirada Armada’s Kayla Han (9:36.80) and Corvallis’ Zayda Miehl (9:41.16) completing the top-three. For the boys’ event, Tsumani Swim Team’s Ellis Crisci was the winner in 8:54.70 ahead of COR’s Evan Gluck (8:56.62) and Ladera Oaks’ Michael Powell (9:00.55).
The lone meet record of the night fell in the boys’ 200 medley relay in Austin. The honor belonged to Waterloo Swimming’s team of Benjamin Jaggers, Max Laine, Austin Ross and Julian Rusk with a time of 1:26.96. That beat the Juniors West record of 1:27.11 set by Scottsdale Aquatic Club in 2016. Quicksilver Swimming placed second (1:27.66) and Lakeside Aquatic Club third (1:28.48).
Lakeside was the winning team in the 800 free relay. Maxwell Stanislaus split 1:34.23 on the second leg, and his teammates Aiden Tokarski, William Zhang and Able Temiz contributed to a time of 6:29.54. That was enough to beat out Irvine Novaquatics (6:31.72) and Quicksilver (6:33.17).
For the girls’ relays, Beach Cities’ team of Gabi Brito, Andi Taylor, Eryn Arnold and Sora Koike clocked 1:38.76 for the medley relay win, beating out Bellevue (1:39.66) and Lakeside (1:40.09). Empire KC Swim’s team of Lanie Tietjen, Kinley Baber, Clara Seemann and Lucy Velte topped the 800 free relay in 7:15.71, winning an exciting race over Bellevue (7:15.84) by 0.13. Edina Swim Club placed third (7:16.31).