Tess Howley Hits Personal Best 1:53.95 200 Fly, Remains #7 All-Time 15-16 Girls | SwimSwam

By Spencer Penland on SwimSwam

MR LIAC Travel To Nowhere

• December 11-13, 2020
• Freedom Pool, East Meadow, NY
• Short Course Yards (SCY)
• Results on MeetMobile, “MR LIAC Travel To Nowhere”

15-year-old Tess Howley (Long Island Aquatic Club) posted 2 more personal bests on the final day of the “Travel to Nowhere” Invite. Howley established a new personal best in the 200 fly, shaving .02 seconds off her previous best, which she had swum just 22 days ago. Howley clocked a 1:53.95 in the race, coming in just under her previous top mark of 1:53.97. She maintains her position at #7 all-time for 15-16 girls, which she also held with her 1:53.97. At just 15, Howley sits only .96 seconds from the #2 ranking, which is held by the legendary Mary T. Meagher, and just 2.71 seconds from Regan Smith’s 1:51.24 NAG.

Here is a breakdown of Howley’s splits tonight versus her previous best time from 11/21:

	11/21/2020	12/13/2020
1st 50	25.26	25.58
2nd 50	28.55	28.33
3rd 50	29.64	29.75
4th 50	30.52	30.29
FINAL	1:53.97	1:53.95

The races were very similar, which isn’t too surprising given the final times are only .02 seconds different. Interestingly, Howley swam faster on the 2nd and 4th 50s tonight, but slightly slower on the 1st and 3rd 50s.

Howley also swam to a significant drop in the 100 free tonight, finishing in 49.55. That marks a .40 second drop from her previous best of 49.95, which she swam in September of this year.

Team Suffolk 13-year-old Noah Cakir broke 2:10 in the 200 breast tonight, swimming a 2:07.78. The swim marks a huge lifetime best for Cakir, who had a previous top mark of 2:10.13. Moreover, that 2:10.13 was from only 3 weeks ago, marking significant improvement in a very short window of time. Earlier in the meet, Cakir broke the 1:00 barrier in the 100 breast, finishing in 59.62.

15-year-old Alvin Tsai of Long Island Aquatic Club posted another pair of best times tonight. Tsai swam the 100 free this morning, touching in 45.73. The swim took 1.18 seconds off his previous best. He went on to clock a 1:51.77 in the 200 fly, besting his previous mark by .70 seconds.

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