Youth Is No Match for Experience

Karly Pipes-Neilsen soundly demonstrated to a meet of startled youngsters that age need not slow you down.

Pipes-Neilsen, 36, won the 100-meter backstroke and finished third in the 100 butterfly Saturday in the second day of the Speedo Grand Challenge swim meet at the Heritage Park Aquatic Complex in Irvine.

On Friday, she won the 200 backstroke.

Pipes-Neilsen, who swims for Cal State Bakersfield, finished the 100 backstroke in 1 minute 7.35 seconds. Jessica Hayes, 14, of the Irvine Novaquatics, who won two events events at the Division II Southern Section finals last week, was second. Yuuka Kikuchi, 12, finished third (1:08.83).

The combined age of Pipes-Neilsen’s three opponents in the final heat was 39 years.

Pipes-Neilsen, who decided last year to go back to college, won the 400 individual medley, 200 backstroke and the 100 backstroke at the NCAA Division II championships in March. She has set 34 world records in the 30-34 and 35-39 age group in Masters swimming.

Jamie Cail of the Golden West Swim Club, on Saturday continued to show why she is one of the top high school swimmers in the nation.

Cail, 17, won the 200 freestyle (2:06.77) and the 400 IM (in a Senior National time of 5:00.19). Cail, a junior at Marina High, won the 200 IM and the 400 freestyle Friday.

Bethany Goodwin, swimming unattached, won the 100 butterfly in 1:03.01.

Sabir Muhammad, who was swimming unattached, won the 100 butterfly in 57 seconds.

In the preliminaries, Muhammad was just shy of eclipsing the mark (56.17) set by Philippe Demers in 1997.

Swimming for Stanford at NCAA Division I championships last March, Muhammad had a time that topped the American record of Pablo Morales. However the time was not recognized because Muhammad went underwater for too long at the start.

On Saturday, Muhammad also won the 100 backstroke (58.99).

Joel Everman of Pasadena won the 200 freestyle (1:57.27). In the 400 IM, Juan Veloz of Mission Viejo was first in 4:42.98, followed by Matt Hooper (4:33.12) and Everman (4:43.61).

The meet concludes today.