{"id":534883,"date":"2023-08-04T18:55:08","date_gmt":"2023-08-05T01:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=534883"},"modified":"2023-08-04T19:13:32","modified_gmt":"2023-08-05T02:13:32","slug":"luka-mijatovic-crushes-13-14-800-free-nag-record-for-first-junior-nationals-win-relay-records-for-carmel-aquajets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/luka-mijatovic-crushes-13-14-800-free-nag-record-for-first-junior-nationals-win-relay-records-for-carmel-aquajets\/","title":{"rendered":"Luka Mijatovic Crushes 13-14 800 Free NAG Record for First Junior Nationals Win; Relay Records for Carmel, Aquajets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luka Mijatovic Crushes 13-14 800 Free NAG Record for First Junior Nationals Win; Relay Records for Carmel, Aquajets<\/strong><\/p>\n

A stunning, record-setting summer for Pleasanton Seahawks 14-year-old Luka Mijatovic<\/strong>\u00a0successfully rolled into Irvine, Calif., as Mijatovic broke the National Age Group record in the 1500 freestyle<\/a>, the oldest mark standing, before lowering his own NAG marks in the 400 free<\/a> and 200 free<\/a>. Mijatovic placed third in the 1500 and 400-meter races, but he saved the best for last in the 800 free.<\/p>\n

Over 16 laps, Mijatovic’s result was his fourth record of the week and the first Junior Nationals victory of his career. Mijatovic raced NOVA of Virginia’s\u00a0Nathan Szobata<\/strong> and King Aquatic Club’s\u00a0Aiden Hammer<\/strong> but never surrendered the lead. In fact, from the 200-meter mark onward, no one got within one second.<\/p>\n

And with a blazing final 50, Mijatovic swam a time of 7:59.64, knocking 2.80 seconds off his previous NAG record from U.S. Nationals and becoming the first-ever swimmer at Junior Nationals to break 8:00. Szobota placed second in 8:01.36, lowering the previous mark of 8:01.63 set by\u00a0Johannes Calloni<\/strong> in 2017. Hammer grabbed third in 8:03.70.<\/p>\n

Later on, the meet finished with with a pair of 15-18 National Age Group records in the 400 medley relay. First up, Carmel took down the mark in the girls’ relay, with the team of\u00a0Berit Berglund<\/strong>,\u00a0Molly Sweeney<\/strong>,\u00a0Alex Shackell<\/strong> and\u00a0Lynsey Bowen<\/strong> clocking 4:06.18, six tenths quicker than the previous NAG and meet mark of 4:06.87 set by Elmbrook last year. Crow Canyon placed second in 4:07.21, just off the previous record, led by Bailey Hartman’s<\/strong> 58.72 fly split.<\/p>\n

Shackell just returned from the World Championships, but her relay swims over the past few days at Juniors have been special<\/a>, including a 54.08 100 free leadoff Thursday. She continued that pattern with a 57.51 butterfly split. That was slightly quicker than her flat-start best time of 57.59 set in June at U.S. Nationals, and she was less than a half-second off the 57.06 that\u00a0Gretchen Walsh<\/strong> split on the U.S. women’s 400 medley relay that won gold at Worlds.<\/p>\n

The Aquajets got the job done in the boys’ relay with\u00a0Luke Logue<\/strong>,\u00a0Charlie Egeland<\/strong>,\u00a0Drew Ploof<\/strong> and\u00a0Henry Webb<\/strong> combining for a time of 3:42.14, beating the 15-18 NAG record set by TAC Titans earlier this year and the Coronado Swim Association’s meet record of 3:42.85 set last year. The Bolles team finishedin 3:42.90, just off the previous record, as\u00a0Kayden Lancaster<\/strong> anchored in 49.97.<\/p>\n

Pikes Peak’s\u00a0Caroline Bricker<\/strong> got the win in the girls’ 200 IM despite impressive backstroke and freestyle splits from Mission Viejo’s Teagan O’Dell<\/strong>, the winner of the 100 back Thursday. Bricker went up by more than one second on breaststroke and held strong as O’Dell closed in 30.50. Bricker touched in 2:13.18, with O’Dell getting second in 2:13.90. NOVA of Virginia’s\u00a0Elle Scott<\/strong> grabbed third in 2:14.72.<\/p>\n

Spokane Waves’\u00a0Michael Hochwalt<\/strong> raced in a tight battle with Tualatin Hills’\u00a0Diego Nosack<\/strong> in the boys’ 200 IM, with Hochwalt touching in 2:01.25 and Nosack coming in four tenths back in 2:01.65. Cooper Lucas<\/strong>, part of two National-Age-Group-record setting swims for Lakeside Aquatic Club, closed well to take third in 2:02.29.<\/p>\n

Kayla Han<\/strong> won for the second time this week after previously topping the 400 IM. In the girls’ 1500 free, Han trailed Scarlet’s\u00a0Kate Hurst<\/strong> for the majority of the race, with Hurt remaining two hundredths ahead at the 1250-meter mark, but the 15-year-old from La Mirada Armada shined on laps 26 through 29 to take over. Han finished in 16:16.94 to cut 10 seconds off her best time, while Hurst also dropped 10 seconds as she finished in 16:18.55. Gold Medal Swim’s\u00a0Paige Downey<\/strong> finished third in 16:32.05, taking a whopping 18 seconds off her previous best.<\/p>\n

An exciting finish in the girls’ 50 free saw the top five finishers touch within a tenth of each other. Lake Country’s Hailey Tierney<\/strong> edged out Foxjets’\u00a0Caroline Larsen<\/strong> by three hundredths, 25.35 to 25.38, while Club Wolverine’s\u00a0Lucy Mehraban<\/strong> and Carmel’s\u00a0Shackell tied for third in 25.40. Nitro’s Trinity Hong<\/strong> was just behind in 25.44. Shackell, who posted the quickest time of the day with her 25.26 in prelims, was racing in her only individual event of the meet.<\/p>\n

The boys’ 50 free was a similar story, with six swimmers touching within 12-hundredths.\u00a0Rose Bowl’s\u00a0Jonathan Gim<\/strong> got the win in 22.75, five hundredths clear of Verona Area’s\u00a0Jack Madoch<\/strong> (22.80). Jersey Wahoos’\u00a0Henry McFadden<\/strong>, also just back from the World Championships after handling relay duty in Fukuoka, was third (22.81), just ahead of Bolles’\u00a0Andy Kravchenko<\/strong> (22.85), Lakeside’s\u00a0Maximus Williamson\u00a0<\/strong>(22.87) and Nation’s Capital’s\u00a0Josh Howat<\/strong> (22.87).<\/p>\n

The Carmel Swim Club finished atop the girls’ and overall team rankings at Juniors while SwimMAC Carolina won the boys’ competition.<\/p>\n