Friday, August 26, 2022
U.S. Grabs One Relay, Three Individual Titles on Junior Pan Pacs Night Two
The second night of 2022 Junior Pan Pacific Championships racing in Hawaii culminated in four U.S. titles won and an American on the podium in each of the four events.
Things kicked off with with a rainy 100-meter freestyle, seeing Nation's Capital Swim Club's Erin Gemmell win her second individual title of the meet, going 54.13 for a new personal best and a meet record. She edged out the Australian duo of Milla Jansen and Olivia Wunsch, while her American teammate Kayla Wilson (Tide Swimming) finished fourth in 55.14.
“It felt pretty good," Gemmell said. "I didn’t really expect my 100 to go super well, as far as winning goes. It was really great to just get out and race everyone.
“I’m super happy with that time. I had already dropped a bit in my 100 free this summer, so to drop more is just exciting and a bit unexpected.”
After a brief rain delay, the men's event saw Thomas Heilman (Cavalier Aquatics/Piedmont Family YMCA) finish second in 49.34, only behind an impressive 48.23 from Australia's Flynn Southam.
Bellevue Club Swim Team's Piper Enge also got on the scoreboard, clocking a 1:08.58 for 100m breaststroke gold. The swim was Enge's fist A Final swim of the meet so far and saw her finish as the lone swimmer in the field under 1:09.
“It means everything to be competing for Team USA," Enge said. "My swim felt great today – the conditions were a bit messy, but that is not a reason to get in the way of swimming hard. It felt great, it was an awesome swim and I’m really happy with it.”
Zhier Fan, of Metroplex Aquatics, completed the American sweep of the 100m breaststroke events, touching in 1:00.74 for the win. The time was just 0.1 seconds off his personal best, but he was the only swimmer to go sub-1:01.
Kayla Han (La Mirada Armada) also made her A Final debut of the meet tonight, swimming her way to silver in the women's 400m individual medley in a time of 4:43.60. The swim was good for a new personal best, dropping more than a second from her previous personal best of 4:44.63, which she set at April's Phillips 66 International Team Trials.
“With yesterday’s 800 free and today’s 400 IM, I’m really proud of what I’ve done so far," Han said. "This is my first Team USA experience, so I’m just trying to enjoy it as much as I can.”
The men's event was won by Ei Kamikawabata of Japan, who touched in 4:15.23 to win his second individual medal of the meet. Shortly behind Kawabata was the U.S.' Maximus Williamson (North Texas Nadadores), who went 4:17.58 for silver.
"I just came in there to swim my own race and do my best," Williamson said. "So far, this meet has been super cool – representing Team USA, seeing the culture out here and seeing all the different teams, it has just been a cool experience.”
The men's and women's 4x200m freestyle relay closed out the session, seeing the U.S. women capture gold in a meet-record time of 7:54.70 while the men finished second in 7:15.18 behind Australia's meet-record performance of 7:13.07.
The women were led by Kayla Wilson (Tide Swimming), Jillian Cox (Longhorn Aquatics), Cavan Gormsen (Long Island Aquatic Club) and Gemmell. The race was nearly stroke-for-stroke between the Americans and Australians for the first three legs, before Gemmell anchored home with a 1:54.86 split (only one other swimmer in the field even managed to go under 1:58!) to secure U.S. gold.
“I was just trying to get us to a good place and it was just so exciting seeing Erin [Gemmell] finish like that – she did amazing," Wilson said.
“I could definitely tell that it was going to be a close finish, but I love racing people," Gemmell added.
“All these girls are my friends so it was really nice," Gormsen said. "It was just fun racing for Team USA and racing for each other.”
The men sent out Henry McFadden (Jersey Wahoos), Heilman, Rex Maurer (Rose Bowl Aquatics) and Williamson. The silver gives Heilman and Williamson their third medals of the meet, while Maurer and McFadden win their second.
Competition continues tomorrow at 3 p.m. ET (prelims) and 11 p.m. ET (finals).
Things kicked off with with a rainy 100-meter freestyle, seeing Nation's Capital Swim Club's Erin Gemmell win her second individual title of the meet, going 54.13 for a new personal best and a meet record. She edged out the Australian duo of Milla Jansen and Olivia Wunsch, while her American teammate Kayla Wilson (Tide Swimming) finished fourth in 55.14.
“It felt pretty good," Gemmell said. "I didn’t really expect my 100 to go super well, as far as winning goes. It was really great to just get out and race everyone.
“I’m super happy with that time. I had already dropped a bit in my 100 free this summer, so to drop more is just exciting and a bit unexpected.”
After a brief rain delay, the men's event saw Thomas Heilman (Cavalier Aquatics/Piedmont Family YMCA) finish second in 49.34, only behind an impressive 48.23 from Australia's Flynn Southam.
Bellevue Club Swim Team's Piper Enge also got on the scoreboard, clocking a 1:08.58 for 100m breaststroke gold. The swim was Enge's fist A Final swim of the meet so far and saw her finish as the lone swimmer in the field under 1:09.
“It means everything to be competing for Team USA," Enge said. "My swim felt great today – the conditions were a bit messy, but that is not a reason to get in the way of swimming hard. It felt great, it was an awesome swim and I’m really happy with it.”
Zhier Fan, of Metroplex Aquatics, completed the American sweep of the 100m breaststroke events, touching in 1:00.74 for the win. The time was just 0.1 seconds off his personal best, but he was the only swimmer to go sub-1:01.
Kayla Han (La Mirada Armada) also made her A Final debut of the meet tonight, swimming her way to silver in the women's 400m individual medley in a time of 4:43.60. The swim was good for a new personal best, dropping more than a second from her previous personal best of 4:44.63, which she set at April's Phillips 66 International Team Trials.
“With yesterday’s 800 free and today’s 400 IM, I’m really proud of what I’ve done so far," Han said. "This is my first Team USA experience, so I’m just trying to enjoy it as much as I can.”
The men's event was won by Ei Kamikawabata of Japan, who touched in 4:15.23 to win his second individual medal of the meet. Shortly behind Kawabata was the U.S.' Maximus Williamson (North Texas Nadadores), who went 4:17.58 for silver.
"I just came in there to swim my own race and do my best," Williamson said. "So far, this meet has been super cool – representing Team USA, seeing the culture out here and seeing all the different teams, it has just been a cool experience.”
The men's and women's 4x200m freestyle relay closed out the session, seeing the U.S. women capture gold in a meet-record time of 7:54.70 while the men finished second in 7:15.18 behind Australia's meet-record performance of 7:13.07.
The women were led by Kayla Wilson (Tide Swimming), Jillian Cox (Longhorn Aquatics), Cavan Gormsen (Long Island Aquatic Club) and Gemmell. The race was nearly stroke-for-stroke between the Americans and Australians for the first three legs, before Gemmell anchored home with a 1:54.86 split (only one other swimmer in the field even managed to go under 1:58!) to secure U.S. gold.
“I was just trying to get us to a good place and it was just so exciting seeing Erin [Gemmell] finish like that – she did amazing," Wilson said.
“I could definitely tell that it was going to be a close finish, but I love racing people," Gemmell added.
“All these girls are my friends so it was really nice," Gormsen said. "It was just fun racing for Team USA and racing for each other.”
The men sent out Henry McFadden (Jersey Wahoos), Heilman, Rex Maurer (Rose Bowl Aquatics) and Williamson. The silver gives Heilman and Williamson their third medals of the meet, while Maurer and McFadden win their second.
Competition continues tomorrow at 3 p.m. ET (prelims) and 11 p.m. ET (finals).