Ethan Ekk Goes 8:44 in 1000 Free, 1:33 in the 200 Free an Hour Apart at Florida Senior Champs
03/14/2025 12:06 PM
By Braden Keith on SwimSwam
2025 Florida Swimming Spring Senior Champs
- March 13-16, 2025
- Rosen Aquatic & Fitness Center, Orlando, Florida
- Short Course Yards (25 yards)
- Meet Site
- Psych Sheets
- Livestream
- Results Here (Post-Session) or Live on Meet Mobile: “2025 Florida Swimming Spring Senior Champs”
The scoreboard was turned off for the entirety of Ethan Ekk‘s heat of the 1000 yard free on Thursday night in Orlando at the Florida Swimming Spring Senior Championships meet. When he finished, there was nary a reaction from swimmer or crowd.
But then he asked the timer for his time, a true-grass roots swimming experience, and a murmur began to wave across the deck.
8:44.69.
Ekk is now the third-fastest 17-18 in the history of the 1000 yard free, and he’s only 17 years old.
| Splits by 100 | Splits by 200 | Splits by 500 | |
| 100 | 49.06 | ||
| 200 | 52.32 | 1:41.38 | |
| 300 | 52.74 | ||
| 400 | 53.29 | 1:46.03 | |
| 500 | 53.24 | 4:20.65 | |
| 600 | 52.92 | 1:46.16 | |
| 700 | 52.82 | ||
| 800 | 53.47 | 1:46.29 | |
| 900 | 53.48 | ||
| 1000 | 51.35 | 1:44.83 | 4:24.04 |
The only 17-18s ever faster than him are Luke Hobson, who swam 8:43.66 as a freshman at Texas, and Luke Ellis, who swam 8:44.62 at Sectionals in December with the Sandpipers of Nevada.
Ekk is a Canadian-American who last year, along with his siblings Owen and Bella, decided to Pursue Canadian international teams. He was the first to break through, racing for Canada at the Junior Pan Pac Championships in August. He continues to train in Florida with ATAC in Tallahassee.
A Stanford commit, his previous best time was 8:56.73 from this meet last year, meaning a full 12 second improvement.
About an hour after that swim, he split 1:33.64 in the 200 free while leading off ATAC’s 5th place 800 free relay. That knocked about three-tenths off his previous best time from Winter Juniors in December. His brother Owen, 16, anchored that relay in 1:37.15, with Marcus Szabo (1:44.68) and Liam Walsh (1:45.81) swimming the middle two legs.
Their relay finished in 6:41.28, five-and-a-half seconds back of the winning Bolles School quartet of Andrew Kravchenko, Charles Zuhowski, Nicholas Kwan, and Sascha Macht. They didn’t have anything as fast as Ethan Ekk‘s 1:33, but they were a more balanced relay, anchored by Macht in 1:37.08.
Other fast splits in that relay included Olympic Trials qualifier Ryan Erisman of Laker Swim splitting 1:36.56 on a roll and 27-year-old Grant Sanders of the Fast Falcons swimming 1:36.69 on a leadoff leg.
In the girls’ meet, 15-year-old Brinkleigh Hansen from Saint Petersburg Aquatics, a member of the US Junior National Team, won in 9:53.00. She took control of this race very early, opening up a three-and-a-half second lead on the field in the first 200 yards, and then was steady for the remainder of the swim to win by almost five ahead of Claire Custer of the Sarasota Sharks (9:47.65).
Another Saint Petersburg 15-year-old Isabella Riva was 3rd in 9:49.62, and in total the team had three of the top five finishers.
Planet Swim won the girls’ 800 free relay in 7:14.82, with the team of Penelope Zarczynski, Charlotte Driesse, Lily Doyle, and Olivia Moore combining for a 7:14.82.
Laker Swim finished 2nd with another 15-year-old phenom Rylee Erisman splitting 1:43.55 on the anchor leg to almost pull them back from a nearly-five second deficit. SPA was 3rd in 7:15.73, with the 1000 free winner Brinkleigh Hansen leading off in 1:47.85 and her older sister Karrington Hansen anchoring in 1:47.38.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Ethan Ekk Goes 8:44 in 1000 Free, 1:33 in the 200 Free an Hour Apart at Florida Senior Champs
