2016 U.S. WINTER JUNIOR CHAMPS – WEST

18-year-old Ryan Hoffer went 18.88 in prelims of the 50 yard freestyle in prelims of USA Swimming’s West Winter Junior Championships, becoming just the second 18-and-under ever to break 19 seconds.

That 18.88 betters Hoffer’s previous best, a 19.06 that he put up almost exactly a year ago. Hoffer was 19.06 to win the Winter West Junior Championship last year. That time was also second all-time for the 17-18 age group. He’s now just two tenths off the National Age Group record of 18.67 held by Olympian Caeleb Dressel.

Hoffer will have a chance to go even faster tonight, holding the top qualifying spot into finals. Behind Hoffer, no other swimmer even broke 20 seconds this morning, much less 19.

It’s a bit of following in Dressel’s footsteps for Hoffer. Dressel, who competed for the Bolles School Sharks in Florida during his high school days, became the first high school age swimmer to break 19 at this very meet in 2013. Dressel was 18.98 at the time. He now competes for Florida, where he’s won three individual NCAA titles in his two years of NCAA swimming so far.

Hoffer is from the opposite end of the country, training out of Arizona and competing for the Scottsdale Aquatic Club. He’s verbally committed to compete for the California Golden Bears next season in the NCAA. Hoffer’s birthday is in July, so he still has six more months to go after Dressel’s NAG record.

Hoffer officially becomes the 27th member of the elusive “18 second club.” Here’s the list of men (based on USA Swimming’s database) who have broken 19 seconds in a 50 yard freestyle, along with their career-bests: