Teagan O’Dell Falls Just Short of National High School Record at CIF-SS Championships
One of the top high school swimmers in the country nearly knocked off a national high school record Saturday when Teagan O’Dell of Santa Margarita Catholic High School came up just shy of her own record in the 200 IM. At the CIF-Southern Section Championships, O’Dell won the 200 IM in 1:53.63, the second-fastest time in high school history behind her own national record 1:53.38 she swam at last year’s California State Championships.
As a sophomore at Santa Margarita, O’Dell beat the previous national high school record of 1:53.73 established by Torri Huske in 2021, several months before Huske qualified for her first Olympic team. O’Dell, who is committed to swim at Cal beginning in the fall of 2025, has already begun accumulating international experience as she won gold in the 200 backstroke plus a pair of relay medals at last year’s World Junior Championships plus a pair of relay medals.
O’Dell completed her junior-year CIF meet by taking the win in the 100 butterfly in 52.12 (after going 51.99 in prelims). O’Dell led off Santa Margarita’s first-place 200 medley relay in 24.42, teaming with Eileen Song, Chloe Stinson and Gracyn Aquino to win in 1:40.07. O’Dell also led off in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 48.37, with Audrey Lee, Victoria Mori and Aquino contributing to a 3:20.57 victory.
During her already-accomplished high school swimming career, O’Dell has also been part of national-high-school-record-setting relays, and she was honored as Swimming World’s National High School Swimmer of the Year last season.