This was a slow week of swimming, both domestically and around the globe. There wasn’t a lot in the way of meets from elite groups. There’s plenty to pick from this coming weekend, with the Charlotte UltraSwim Grand Prix and the California High School meets going on. Lindsey Engel breaking an 18-year old Dara Torres record late Wednesday is impressive and has lit up our traffic numbers, but I want to wait and see what she does in finals.

We had to be a little more creative this time, and so we’ve gone to the great white north to dig out 12-year old Ray Yang from the Etobicoke Swim Club in Toronto. As the program gets ready to be travelling-trainers for the next year or so when their pool gets shut down for Pan Am Games renovations, Yang is making sure nobody forgets about them while seeking a home.

The 12-year old (who has more than 6-months before he ages up) broke a Canadian National Age Group Record in the 200 fly at the Hicken International Swim Cup. Yang swam a 2:15.83, which broke the 11-12 National Age Group Record by four seconds.

So good, and so dominant, is Yang in this swim that the time was within a second-and-a-half of his short course meters National Age Group Record set earlier this year. By comparison, that would be the second-best swim in age group history in the US, behind only Ryan Murphy at 2:14.40.

And keep in my that Yang still has a whole season of long course in which to drop time. Not a big surprise, given his age, but this, his first long course swim of 2013, was seven seconds better than his last long course swim of 2012. Based on his pattern last year, a 2:14, or perhaps even a 2:13, is in his future.

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