2025 Martha McKee Charlotte Open
Could 15-18, 2025
Mecklenberg County Aquatic Heart – Charlotte, NC
LCM (50 meters)
Outcomes: “2025 Charlotte Open” on MeetMobile
The American girls’s backstroke scene is extraordinarily deep, however Leah Shackley is constant to maneuver up the ranks of the loaded subject within the leadup to the 2025 U.S. Nationals. After finishing her freshman season at NC State this spring, Shackley fired off lifetime bests within the 100 and 200 backstroke at this month’s Martha McKee Charlotte Open.
Her 100 backstroke was the spotlight, Shackley broke 59 seconds for the primary time with a speedy 58.53 that makes her the eighth-fastest American girl in occasion historical past.
Prime 10 All-Time U.S. Performers, Ladies’s 100 Backstroke (LCM)
Regan Smith – 57.13 (2024)
Katharine Berkoff – 57.83 (2024)
Kathleen Baker – 58.00 (2018)
Claire Curzan – 58.29 (2024)
Olivia Smoliga – 58.31 (2021)
Missy Franklin – 58.33 (2012)
Rhyan White – 58.43 (2021)
Leah Shackley – 58.53 (2025)
Kennedy Noble – 58.55 (2024)
Phoebe Bacon – 58.63 (2019)
Shackley’s former lifetime finest was the 59.05 she swam main off the USA’ profitable 400 medley relay on the 2024 Junior Pan Pacific Championships, making this a .52 second drop for her. She’s been quickly progressing on this occasion, she entered the 2024 long-course season with a 59.55 lifetime finest, which she lowered to 59.25 on the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials earlier than she approached the 59-second barrier at Junior Pan Pacs in August.
This swim additionally makes her the fourth Wolfpack girl within the 100 backstroke all-time rankings as her coaching companions Katharine Berkoff, Rhyan White, and Kennedy Noble sit second, seventh, and ninth on the record.
Shackley additionally improved her standing because the 18th quickest all-time amongst American girls within the 200 backstroke. She swam 2:08.14 on the Martha McKee Open, shaving five-hundredths off her earlier lifetime finest, additionally from the 2024 Junior Pan Pacific Championships.
Lastly, Shackley swam 57.92 within the 100 butterfly, which marks her first lifetime finest within the occasion and breaking 58 seconds within the occasion in almost two years. She introduced a lifetime finest 57.98 from the 2023 YMCA Nationals into this meet; she blew previous that in Charlotte, taking six-hundredths off her finest.
Extra Wolfpack Outcomes
The Wolfpack backstroke contingent was out in pressure at this meet. Noble, who sits ninth within the 100 backstroke and eleventh within the 200 backstroke within the all-time American girls’s rankings, raced on the meet as nicely. It was her first official competitors for the reason that 2025 NCAA Championships, giving her an opportunity to get some long-course racing in.
Noble completed second to Shackley within the 100/200 backstroke, swimming 59.63/2:09.11 as she will get a way of the place she’s at earlier than U.S. Nationals. She additionally swam 1:00.67 within the 100 butterfly and a couple of:17.20 within the 200 IM.
Then, Daniel Diehl and Oleksandr Zheltyakov held issues down for Wolfpack backstroke on the boys’s facet. Diehl received each the 100/200 backstroke (54.25/1:58.67) and received the 200 freestyle. Within the latter, he swam his quickest time on the meet in prelims, clocking 1:49.28 earlier than swimming 1:50.05 within the last.
Diehl’s lifetime finest within the 200 backstroke is 1:56.04 from June 2023. He completed sixth within the occasion on the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials and at the very least two of the boys who completed forward of him (Ryan Murphy and Jay Litherland) is not going to be within the subject this yr in Indianapolis.
Zheltyakov, an Olympian and 200 backstroke European champion, joined the Wolfpack through the second semester of the 2024-25 season. Like Diehl, this was his first meet for the reason that 2025 NCAA Championships. He completed second within the 100 backstroke (54.85) and 200 freestyle (1:52.12), then added a ninth place end within the 200 backstroke (1:58.68).
Arsenio Bustos Returns From Damage
Arsenio Bustos and Aiden Hayes had been each injured this seasonv, which closely impacted the NC State males’s school season. However, each are actually again within the competitors pool. Hayes returned to motion on the TAC Titans Spring Fling, and Bustos raced two occasions on the Martha McKee Open.
This was Bustos’ first competitors for the reason that 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials, the place he completed sixth within the 200 IM, as he missed your entire NCAA season recovering from harm. He received the 100 butterfly at this meet, swimming a 53.04 that’s inside a second of his lifetime finest (52.07). Bustos solely raced one different occasion in Charlotte, clocking 1:04.89 within the 100 breaststroke prelims earlier than scratching the ultimate.
David Sammons File-Breaking Weekend
SwimMAC’s David Sammons had a superb meet, setting North Carolina Swimming state data within the 400 IM and 200 butterfly. Sammons, 15, swam a lifetime finest 4:22.37 in prelims of the boys’s 400 IM to get below the previous North Carolina Swimming state report.
Sammons has been quickly bettering within the 400 IM this season. He got here into the yr with a lifetime finest 4:28.05, which he had already improved on twice earlier than this meet. His lifetime finest coming into the meet was a 4:25.92 from the Fort Lauderdale Professional Swim. Sammons was barely off his record-setting swim in finals with a 4:23.17 however was nonetheless below his previous lifetime finest. Thus far this yr, he’s dropped 5.68 seconds within the 400 IM.
Sammons different report got here within the 200 butterfly, the place he logged a 1:58.86 for silver behind Canadian Benjamin Loewen. Along with being a report, the swim took nearly a second off Sammons’ earlier finest, which was a 1:59.72 from final summer time’s Speedo Summer time Championships.
Extra Notable Outcomes
Toronto Swim Membership’s Seoyeong Kim received the ladies’s 200 IM with a 2:13.71. Kim represents South Korea internationally and was the 2023 Asian Video games bronze medalist within the occasion. She completed seventeenth on this occasion on the Paris Video games (2:12.42), simply lacking a spot within the semifinals. Kim additionally took second within the 100 butterfly with a 59.27 that’s inside a second of her lifetime finest.
College of Toronto’s butterfly ace Benjamin Loewen was in motion as nicely, representing Crest Swimming. Loewen fired off two season-bests on the meet, clocking 1:57.96 to win the 200 butterfly and a 54.82 for third within the 100 butterfly.
Florida commit Jordan Willis received the 100/200 breaststroke on the meet. He clocked 1:03.47 within the 100 breaststroke and a couple of:16.46 within the 200 breaststroke, the latter of which is a season-best time. Willis holds lifetime bests of 1:01.23/2:11.26 within the breaststrokes and took ninth within the 200 breast on the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials.
