Legendary NAG Information of Bobby Hackett and Mary T. Meagher Will Be Below Fireplace at Nationals
They’re two of the most-iconic Nationwide Age Group (NAG) information in historical past. Need proof? They’ve endured for a mixed 91 years, an inordinate period of time in a sport that regularly pushes boundaries. The truth that these requirements have survived so long as they’ve speaks to the legendary and precocious nature of their homeowners – Bobby Hackett and Mary T. Meagher.
On the 1976 Olympic Video games in Montreal, the place the USA fielded the best group the game has seen, Hackett claimed the silver medal within the 1500-meter freestyle. With a time of 15:03.91, the 16-year-old completed behind American teammate Brian Goodell, who set a world file with a swim of 15:02.40. Hackett’s time stays the NAG file within the 15-16 classification.
5 years later, whereas racing on the 1981 United States Nationals in Brown Deer, Wisconsin, a 16-year-old Meagher unleashed a 2:05.96 world file within the 200 butterfly. That effort stood as the worldwide normal for practically 19 years and can be extremely aggressive in present-day competitors. Meagher’s time nonetheless stands because the NAG file within the 15-16 class.
For all their longevity, there’s a probability that one or each of those famend NAG information is not going to survive the week forward, when the U.S. Nationals unfold on the Indiana College Natatorium.
The opening day of motion in Indy will function finals within the males’s 1500 freestyle and girls’s 200 butterfly, the place 16-year-old Luka Mijatovic and 15-year-old Audrey Derivaux loom as threats to NAG historical past. Mijatovic is entered in a number of distance-freestyle occasions at Nationals and is the eighth seed within the 1500 free. In the meantime, Derivaux is the No. 4 seed within the 200 fly, certainly one of a number of occasions she is going to contest in the course of the five-day meet.
Mijatovic has been broadly considered as the following distance star for the USA and most lately set an NAG file within the 500-yard freestyle, because of a efficiency of 4:10.96. Ultimately summer season’s Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Australia, Mijatovic went 15:15.95 within the 1500 freestyle, the quickest American time within the occasion by a 15-year-old.
As he chases Hackett’s vaunted file, slicing 12 seconds from his private finest may look like a frightening activity for Mijatovic, who trains with the Pleasanton Seahawks in Northern California. But it surely’s been virtually a 12 months since he went 15:15 and he has trimmed appreciable time in different occasions, suggesting a large drop is inside attain. The truth that Mijatovic will race within the quickest warmth throughout Evening One finals, the place two-time Olympic champ Bobby Finke shall be in Lane 4, will present ample competitors.
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Within the case of Derivaux, she is entered within the 200 butterfly with a time of two:07.70, however she has been a lot faster. In early Could, Derivaux completed third within the occasion on the TYR Professional Sequence cease in Fort Lauderdale, going 2:06.46. That outing put the teen, of the Jersey Wahoos, inside a half-second of Meagher’s iconic file.
Final summer season, Derivaux gained priceless expertise whereas racing at the USA Olympic Trials at Lucas Oil Area in Indianapolis. The week featured a number of sturdy swims, and included an look within the remaining of the 400 particular person medley. She additionally competed at Junior Pan Pacs, the place she was the gold medalist within the 100 butterfly and 200 fly. Given her constant enchancment, seeing Derivaux go to 2:05 territory within the 200 fly wouldn’t be a shock, and would seemingly imply breaking Meagher’s longstanding NAG file.
For nearly a mixed century, Bobby Hackett and Mary T. Meagher have reigned as NAG record-holders within the 15-16 age group. They’re Olympians whose abilities have been clearly forward of their time, and their file performances have been pursued with out success. This week at Nationals, although, Luka Mijatovic and Audrey Derivaux may need solutions to unsolvable puzzles.
This newest chase will function an intriguing storyline.
