Cassidy dominates at Super Sectionals
Cassidy Bayer competing in butterfly during a summer league meet for Mount Vernon Park. (Photo provided by Tom Bayer)
12-year-old Cassidy Bayer of the CUBU swim club lowered the 11-12 national age group records in the women’s 100-meter and 200-meter butterfly events this weekend at the 2012 Eastern Zone “Super Sectional” Championship meet in Buffalo, New York. She headlined a strong CUBU squad that swept the men’s, women’s, and combined team competition by wide margins doubling up second place Machine Aquatics’ — also from the Potomac Valley — score in the combined.
In her first event, the women’s 100 butterfly, Bayer took first in the “A” final with a time of minute 1.75 seconds, breaking her own national record, set on June 13th, by .56 seconds to become the first 11-12 girl under 1:02. The record was previously held by world record holder Dana Vollmer and had stood since 2001.
“She’s a remarkable young swimmer,” said Bayer’s CUBU coach Paul Makin who did not attend the meet in Buffalo in order to coach Bayer’s summer league teammates at NVSL All Stars. “We had a plan going up there, and she executed.”
The next day, Bayer eclipsed her own mark in the 200 butterfly by another 2.63 seconds, again winning the “A” final, for her sixth national age group record setting swim of the summer — Bayer tied Dana Vollmer’s 2001 record in the 50 butterfly on July 19 to complete the butterfly sweep. Her time of 2:15.02 in the 200 fly is over four seconds faster than Courtney Kalisz’s previous national record, set in 2003, first broken by Bayer on June 24th.
Bayer was the youngest swimmer by four years in both finals that included both high school and collegiate swimmers.
According to Makin, Bayer will not be swimming any meets for the remainder of the season, concluding her 11-12 age group career.
Christopher Grimmett-Norris (CUBU) won the men’s 400 freestyle in 4:03.53 and the 200 butterfly in 2:03.85. He was also the runner-up in the 200 and 1,500 freestyle in 1:53.61 and 16:13.77, respectively. Ricky Munch (Machine Aqutics) won the men’s 100 breaststroke in 1:04.33.
Machine Aquatics won all three men’s relays, CUBU was second in each. CUBU’s women won the 400 medley relay.
Complete results
Janet Hu breaks own NVSL mark in backstroke
Mosby Woods' Janet Hu (C) at the start of the girls' 15-18 50-meter backstroke. Hu broke the league record during the race with a time of 28.21. (Photo by Bryan Flaherty/The Washington Post)
Mosby Woods‘ Janet Hu, 16, continued her impressive streak of record breaking performances on Saturday, lowering her own league record in the girls’ 15-18 50-meter backstroke at the 2012 NVSL All Star meet hosted by Waynewood.
Hu’s time of 28.21 seconds shaved .31 seconds off the record she set at divisionals a week prior and is nearly a full second faster than the previous record set last year by Reanna Dona. Hu also won the 15-18 50 freestyle in 26.50, missing her own record — also set at divisionals — by .23 seconds. Hu owns ten league records in the freestyle, backstroke, and butterfly events across every age group.
Hu’s record was a rare personal best on Saturday with time drops from divisional seeds few and far between for the league’s top swimmers, particularly in the senior age groups, which were missing standout club swimmers lost to the Eastern Zone “Super Sectional” meet taking place in Buffalo, New York. But the notoriously slow pool did not stop many of the day’s event winners from shaving time on their way to NVSL gold.
Wakefield Chapel‘s Madelyn Donohoe, 10, cut 1. 56 seconds from her seed time to win the girls 10 & under 100 individual medley in 1:19.19. She also took silver in the backstroke event as well.
In the boys’ 11-12 100 IM, John McClorey from Dunn Loring had an even bigger drop to win in 1:11.12, an improvement of 1.78 seconds.
On the girls’ side, McLean‘s Isabella Rongione bettered her time from divisionals to win the 11-12 100 IM by a commanding 2. 42 seconds. Equally impressive was Commonwealth‘s Hannah Baker in the 13-14 100 IM with a nearly three second win. Baker also won the girls’ 13-14 50 freestyle in 27.26 for a combined improvement of 1.92 seconds on the day.
Liam Redman of Sleepy Hollow Rec dropped .99 seconds off his seed time in the boys’ 8 & under 25 butterfly to claim first with a time of 17.51.
Swimming in her home pool, Reanna Dona, 17, posted a time of 28.55 from lane two in the girls’ 15-18 50 butterfly. She shaved 1.21 seconds off her divisional swim to move from third to first. Oakton‘s Laura Branton, 15, was equally strong with a time of 28.95, but it took a nearly eight tenths of a second drop just to maintain her second place seed. Dona also took silver behind Hu in the backstroke.
Myles Brown from Little Rocky Run earned gold in the boys’ 11-12 50 freestyle after dipping below the 28
second mark for the second time this season with a time of 27.94. For the girls, Jacqueline Clabeaux from Greenbriar came very close to breaking Cassidy Bayer’s 50 freestyle record for the second straight week. Last week, Clabeaux missed by .03 seconds. This week, she was a shade slower, .05 seconds off Bayer’s mark. Clabeaux was also first in the 50 butterfly event.
Winning the boys’ 13-14 50 freestyle in 24.92, Aidan Pastel from Village West became the third 14 & under boy in NVSL history to go under 25 seconds. The other two swimmers to best the mark are Little Rocky Run’s James Murphy, achieved earlier this season, and Cabell Perrot from High Point Pool who set the league record of 24.24 in 2007.
Hollin Meadows‘ Paul O’Hara inched closer to the boys’ 15-18 50 freestyle record with his winning time of 23.74. Stephen Scheren’s time of 23.32 set in 2005 at the Division 1 championship meet is proving to be one of the more unbeatable records as we reach the seven year anniversary. O’Hara also tied for first with Orange Hunt‘s Zachary Fountain in the 15-18 100 IM with times of 1:00.65. Fountain was the winner in the 50 breaststroke with a time of 30.82.
Tuckahoe‘s dynamic duo of 8 & unders, JT Ewing and DJ Leiss, went 1-2 in the 25 backstroke with nearly identical times of 19.19 and 19.21 with a combined drop of .77 seconds.
Sully Station‘s Elise Mozeleski posted a season’s best in the 9-10 50 backstroke, going under 36 seconds for the first time with a time of 35.68.
In his last chance at the league record, Kyle Tyrrell of Annandale came with .18 of Sean Fletcher’s 2010 record in the boys’ 15-18 50 backstroke, winning the event in 26.00 seconds.
Drew Harker from Donaldson Run won the boys’ 8 & under 25 breaststroke with a brilliant swim from lane six. His time of 22.46 was an 1.26 improvement from divisionals and is the league’s best time of the season. In the girls’ race, Ravensworth Farm‘s Emily Suris moved up from third to first with a 1.6 second drop. Suris was a double winner with a first place performance in the 25 freestyle as well.
In the girls’ 9-10 50 breaststroke, a tight race unfolded between top seeds Tuckahoe’s Lizzy Mennitt, Hunt Valley‘s Carrie Morrison, and Poplar Tree‘s Mary Kominski. Morrison finished in 40.27 with Mennitt and Kominski quickly following .05 and .06 seconds behind to round out the top three.
Mount Vernon Park‘s Holly Jansen moved up three positions to win the girls’ 11-12 50 breaststroke with a time of 36.61, besting her divisionals time by 1.16 seconds. She earned silver in the 100 IM event.
Other double champions included Ben Charles (Highlands) in the 9-10 25 butterfly and 100 IM, Robyn Dryer (Orange Hunt) in the 13-14 50 backstroke and 50 butterfly, William Jackson (Lee-Graham) in the 9-10 50 freestyle and 50 backstroke, and Emily Drakopoulos (Little Rocky Run) in the 50 freestyle and 25 butterfly.
Complete All Star results
