Katie Grimes Swims 4:09.27 400 Yard IM, 3rd Fastest All-Time in 13-14 Age Group | SwimSwam

By Annika Johnson on SwimSwam

2020 Las Vegas Super Finals

• December 18-20, 2020
• Dixie State University, St. George, Utah
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• Live Stream Link
• Results on Meet Mobile: “2020 UT Las Vegas Super Finals”
• Results

Friday kicked off day 1 of the Las Vegas Super Finals hosted by the Sandpipers of Nevada and Cedar Swim Club in Utah.

Sandpiper teammates Bella Sims and Katie Grimes dominated the first and last events of Friday’s finals session, touching the wall 1-2 respectively in the 400 IM, and crushing their lifetime bests. 14-year-old Grimes dropped over 5 seconds in the 400 IM to snag 2nd place at 4:09.27, the 3rd fastest time ever posted by a 13-14 year old. 

Grimes is not far off Katie Hoff’s National Age Group Record, set at 4:08.44, which has stood since 2004. Hoff, who made her Olympic debut in 2004 at age 15, went on to set World Records in the 400IM and the 800 free relay, and to represent Team USA again at the 2008 Olympics. Grimes is one of the youngest swimmers to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Trials as she first qualified at age 13 in 400 free. 

15-year-old Sims crushed her previous best by nearly 8 seconds, touching the wall in 1st place at 4:06.59. Sims also holds multiple Olympic Trial qualifying times including in the distance freestyle events, 100 free, both IM’s, and the 200 butterfly. Her previous lifetime best 400 IM time was less than 2 months old, from a Halloween meet this year.  

Sims is now ranked 12th out of the all-time fastest 14-15 year-olds in the event, bumping Ariana Kukors’ age group time to 13th. She set the pace particularly fast tonight, splitting a 54.46 on the 100 fly, and she still brought it home in 56.26 on the last 100 free. This is Sims’ 2nd historical swim of the month following her lifetime best 200 back at the Red Rock Invitational where she posted a 1:53.66, establishing herself as the 12th all-time fastest 15-16 year-old in the event.

Grimes and Sims also competed in the final event of the night, the 200 free. Sims took charge, building a body length lead by the 75 yard mark, and claiming 1st with a time of 1:45.01. This crushed her previous best from the Junior Olympics in 2019 by more than 3 seconds. Grimes sangged 2nd again, also with a new lifetime best of 1:48.49.

On the boys’ side, 16-year-old Nick Simons of Lake Oswego Swim Club came close to the best time he posted this morning, 47.87, in the 100 back, touching the wall 1st at 48.07. Both times are under his lifetime best from an intrasquad meet last month, while his prelims time ranks him 30th out of the all-time fastest 15-16 year-olds in the event.

14-year-old Applejean Gwinn from Boulder City Henderson topped the prelims results in the girls’ 100 back with a best time of 56.29, but she added about 1 second to that time in finals and was beaten by Sandpipers Abby Dunford and Audrey Yu. It was Alto’s Lola Beams who claimed 1st tonight with a 55.76, nearly matching her lifetime best. 

Sandpipers had another 1-2 finish in the boys’ 400IM with 16-year-old Brice Barrieault claiming 1st place in a best time of 3:56.88. Going into the meet, he had never broken 4 minutes and his best was from January. Arizona State commit Dylan Gravley snagged 2nd with a time of 4:00.22, less than 1 second off his lifetime best also from January.

In the boys’ 200 breast, Evan Yoo of Beach Cities posted a 2:02.10 during prelims, establishing a new meet record. This race came after he clocked a lifetime best of 4:04.49 in the 400IM. After being disqualified in the 400IM final, Yoo claimed 1st place again in the 200 breast at 2:01.06, dropping an additional second from prelims, and closing in on his sub-2 minute lifetime best from the 2019 Winter Junior Nationals.

On the girls’ side, 13-year-old Bella Brito took down her best 200 breast time from this morning by .4, touching the wall in 1st at 2:17.65. Going into this meet, her lifetime best was set at 2:21.81 in October

To end the finals session, Alto’s Austin Sparrow claimed 1st in the 200 free with a time of 1:39.42, taking nearly 3 seconds off his previous best from Winter Sectionals in 2019.

Saturday’s prelims session will start at 7:30 AM for the girls and 11AM for the boys, Mountain Standard Time. Finals begin at 6PM.

 

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