13-Year-Old Weinstein Clocks 4:44 500 FR, 50.6 100 FR, 1:59 200 BK in New York | SwimSwam

By Karl Ortegon on SwimSwam

2020 U.S. WINTER CHAMPIONSHIPS – BGNW SITE

• December 11-13, 2020
• Mount Kisco, NY
• Results on Meet Mobile: ‘2020 MR BGNW 18-Under Winter Championship’

Westchester Aquatic Club’s Claire Weinstein stole the show again today, clocking lifetime bests in all three events contested.

First off, the 13-year-old posted a 4:44.10 in the 500 free, winning by more than five seconds over 16-year-olds Hana Shimizu-Bowers (4:49.32) and Kristin Cornish (4:50.09). Swimming unattached, Shimizu-Bowers was just .38 off of her best, while Cornish dropped over a second. Cornish trains with Badger Swim Club, and this marks her first freestyle best since early 2019, a big breakthrough for the freestyle specialist.

Weinstein shaved almost a second off of her old best, a 4:44.95 from October. She jumps from #25 to #18 in the 13-14 all-time rankings.

In the 200 back, she erased over four seconds from her old best, breaking two minutes for the first time to hit a 1:59.85. The next event, she closed out her night with a 50.66 in the 100 free, touching just behind BGNW’s Sabrina Johnston (50.26). Weinstein broke 51 for the first time ever here, while Johnston clipped her old best by a quarter-second.

Stanford ’25 commit Matthew Fenlon clocked a win in the 500 free, posting a 4:24.39 to come within a few seconds of his best. His teammate, Max Hardart, followed his first sub-16:00 mile last night with a 4:30.73 today, a lifetime best by over eight seconds.

Later in the session, Fenlon returned to take the 200 fly in 1:46.18, a few seconds off of his best.

OTHER NOTABLE SWIMS

• Johnston and Vanessa Chong of Badger dueled it out in the women’s 200 IM, Chong getting the win at 2:01.10 to 2:01.18. Chong also raced the 200 fly, dropping almost two full seconds from her old best and throwing down a 1:57.99. Shimizu-Bowers (1:59.26) and Badger 17-year-old Joy Jiang (1:59.26) also got under two minutes, both hitting lifetime bests.
• Badger’s Justin DiSanto won the 100 breast in 56.82, a lifetime best by over 1.5 seconds. He followed that up with a one-second drop in the 100 free, winning at 46.07.
• Badger’s Hunter Kim got under 1:50 for the first time in the 200 IM, winning at 1:49.66 for a 1.6-second drop.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: 13-Year-Old Weinstein Clocks 4:44 500 FR, 50.6 100 FR, 1:59 200 BK in New York