Swimming

Olympic Gold Medalists Bobby Finke, Katie Ledecky Win on Sunday at Florida Senior Champs

March 11, 2024

2024 FLORIDA SWIMMING SPRING SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

March 7-10, 2024
FAST, Ocala, Florida
Short Course Yards (25 yards)
Meet Central/Results
Psych Sheets
Day 1 Recap | Day 2 Recap | Day 3 Recap
Day 1 Boys Results | Day 1 Girls Results | Day 2 Results | Day 3 Results | Day 4 Results

This week’s Florida Swimming Senior Championships has had a lot of good storylines, from new LSC Records to an impressive quad by Lillie Nesty on Saturday, but the day that attracted the most national and international intrigue was Sunday, where Olympic gold medalists Bobby Finke and Katie Ledecky swam the 1650 yard freestyles, both eschewing the long course Pro Swim to stay closer to home.

Both swimmers came away with wins in their signature races, though neither scared their personal bests in the races.

Finke won the boys’ race in 14:34.70 in his first short course mile since the 2022 NCAA Championships. That time is a similar result to the one he swam in a late-2020 dual meet in the run-up to his double Olympic gold medals in the 800 and 1500 free, so that’s a good sign for his pending summer.

He has a best time of 14:22.28.

In the girls’ race, Ledecky won in 15:29.34, which was about 28-seconds shy of her swim at this meet last year that was the fastest-ever in the event. While this meet was of no real consequence (like Finke, she won by roughly a minute), that is her slowest time in the event since the 2012 NCSA Junior National Championships when she was only 15 and just beginning her rise to superstardom.

She was out fairly-aggressively in the race, opening in 4:33, but faded as the race went on. She split 29s on 7 of the last 8 50s; she was never slower than 28.04 on any split in his race last season.

The swimmer who finished 2nd, a minute back, herself climbed the all-time age group rankings. 14-year-old Brinkleigh Hansen from St. Petersburg Aquatics was 2nd in 16:29.56, knocking 25 seconds off her previous best time in the race. That now moves her into the top 80 13-14s of all-time in the race.

While the Olympic gold medalists were the headliners of the day, some of the other winners from this meet punctuated their performances with victories of their own.

That includes the aforementioned Nesty, who picked up two more wins and a runner-up performance on Sunday. She kicked things off with a win in the 100 free in 49.35. That’s faster than she had been pre-meet, though she went 49.07 on a relay leadoff on Saturday.

She followed that with a win in the 50 back in 25.15, finishing half-a-second clear of the field to defend her title (she was 25.05 last year).

That gave her five individual events wins in spite of not beginning her racing until Friday evening. That’s one more than her four wins from last season.

Her meet finished in the 200 back, where she placed 2nd in 1:55.08, which shaved .04 seconds off her previous best time from Winter Juniors in December. The winner of that race was Canadian National Team member Mabel Zavaros in 1:54.62.

Ekaterina Baranova from Berkeley Aquatics picked up her second win of the meet, taking the 100 breaststroke in 1:02.13, an improvement of almost half-a-second on her best time. She won the 50 breaststroke earlier in the meet.

Madyson Hartway from the Sarasota Sharks was 2nd in 1:02.65, and the versatile Addison Reese, who entered the day with two wins, was 3rd in 1:03.04. That led into her 200 fly, her last swim of the meet and possibly best swim of the meet, one race later. She won in 1:55.97, a new lifetime best, and was the only swimmer under two minutes in the race.

On the boys’ side, 26-year-old pro swimmer Grant Sanders, now an assistant coach with the Fast Falcons, grabbed two more wins. First, he won the 100 breaststroke in 54.21, finishing ahead of a best time of 55.31 from 15-year-old Joey Campagnola. The 3rd-place finisher by a fingernail was another 15-year-old, Luke Zardavets, in a best time of 55.33.

Sanders followed that by flexing versatility of his own, winning the 200 fly in 1:46.02 that is his best time in the event since 2021.

Thomas Frost of Loggerhead Aquatics, a Miami (OH) commit, was the top-finishing junior swimmer in 1:48.86, his best time by 1.7 seconds.

Another swimmer who wrapped his meet with another win was 16-year-old ATAC swimmer Ethan Ekk, who won the 200 back in 1:43.96. That missed his best time by .15 seconds.

Earlier this week, he had wins in the 200 free (1:35.66), 500 free (4:19.35), and the 800 free relay, plus runner-up finishes in the 800 free and 400 IM.

Aidan Levine of Tampa Bay Aquatics was the day’s other winner, leading the 50 back field in 23.03.

Final Team Scores

The Bolles School Sharks won the combined and boys’ team titles at this year’s meet. The Sarasota Sharks, who swept last year’s titles, using a huge final day to pull away from the runners-up of Bolles.

Combined Team Scores (Top 5):