The second day of action from the 2018 USA Swimming Open Water National Championships continued from Tempe Town Lake in Tempe, Arizona where the Junior National 5K took place on Saturday morning.
14-year-old Jackson Carlile from Fishers, Indiana swam his first ever open water race and came away with the junior national title in the 5K. Carlile was the only one in the field to break an hour with his time of 59:57.91. Carlile qualified for the FINA Open Water Junior Worlds which will be September 6-8 in Eilat, Israel.
The race was led early on by Lakeside’s Jack Anderson who ended up falling out of the top three in fifth. Ridgefield’s Conner Hunt (1:00:00.26) and Boise YMCA’s Gabriel Machado (1:00:04.36) ended up finishing second and third overall.
The women’s race was won by Mariah Denigan (1:01:05.32) from the Northern Kentucky Clippers as she led for most of the race. Denigan battled early on with Claire Pophal (1:01:42.34) from the Lake Erie Silver Dolphins as Pophal finished in second. Anna Auld (1:02:31.78) of East Coast Aquatic Club finished in third after staying in that position throughout the back half of the race.
Denigan also qualified for the FINA Open Water Junior Worlds at the end of the summer. Denigan is a 14-year-old from the Northern Kentucky Clippers in the Cincinnati area.
