16-Year-Old Luka Mijatovic Wins 200 Free in 1:32.7 at CA/NV Sectionals

By Braden Keith on SwimSwam

2025 CA/NV December Sectionals

• December 19-22, 2025
• Walnut, CA
• SCY (25 Yards)
• Live Results Available on Meet Mobile — “2025 CA-NV December Sectionals At BREA – cop”

After breaking a National Age Group Record in the 1650 yard free on Friday, Luka Mijatovic of the Pleasanton Seahawks nearly got another on Saturday at Sectionals.

The 16-year-old won the 200 free in 1:32.73, which misses Thomas Heilman‘s record of 1:32.46 for the 15-16 age group by less than three tenths.

Splits Comparison:

His previous best was a 1:33.52 done to win the California High School State Championship last season for Pleasanton-Foothill High School.

Interestingly, while his endurance was on display in his record-setting mile on Friday, it was his front-end speed that made the biggest difference in this drop – almost all of the drop came in the first 100 yards of the swim.

He is now just the 2nd 15-16 year old male to go under 1:33 in the event.

Top 5 All-Time Performers, Boys’ 15-16 200 yard free:

1. Thomas Heilman, 1:32.46 – 2023
2. Luka Mijatovic, 1:32.73 – 2025
3. Maximus Williamson, 1:33.07 – 2022
4. Kaii Winkler, 1:33.28 – 2023
5. Drew Kibler, 1:33.30 – 2017

Mijatovic swam 14:30.01 in the 1650 free on Friday, even after shifting his focus to more of the middle-distance races, breaking his own record by 7.62 seconds. He also split 19.79 on the 2nd leg of the 2nd-place Pleasanton 200 free relay on Friday, 1:34.23 on the 1st leg of the winning 800 free relay on Friday, 43.43 on the anchor leg of the winning 400 medley relay, and won the 400 IM in a lifetime best of 3:40.96 on Saturday.

That 400 IM time is also the 2nd-best in age group history, behind only Maximus Williamson, who swam 3:39.83 in 2022. Mijatovic was already #2 on that list with a 3:41.75 from April.

Mijatovic doesn’t age up until April 22, so the 2026 Far Western Championships could be his final attempt at yards-course records before he turns 17.

This meet comes after the long course U.S. Open two weeks ago where he swam best times in the 50, 100, 400, and 800 freestyles, and the 400 IM, but not in the 200 free, where he missed his best time by more than two seconds.

Other Day 2 Highlights:

• 16-year-old Alyssa Ton from Novaquatics in California won the 200 free in 1:45.18, which moves her into the top 40 in age group history. Among the swimmers she beat was National Teamer Kayla Han, who finished 2nd in 1:45.37 and a furious charge to almost run Ton down. That’s a lifetime best for Han as well, who didn’t swim this race at Winter Juniors last week.
• Bianca Nwaizu, another 16-year-old from Nova, won the 100 breaststroke in 59.80. She swam a best time of 59.05 at Winter Juniors West a week ago. She announced a commitment to Texas earlier this fall.
• Veterans were well represented in both breaststroke races. In the women’s event, 48-year-old Gabby Rose was 2nd in 1:00.14, and in the men’s race, 36-year-old Brandon Fischer won in 52.47.
• Miles Blackson-Dunbar, a Tennessee commit, won the 50 back in 21.33. That’s almost as fast as the top Tennessee performers have been in the fall semester this season. 13-year-old Ayden Tan was 3rd in 23.35.
• Brooke Bennett from the Pleasanton Seahawks won the 400 IM in 4:15.43, but it was 14-year-old Haylee Pramono who finished 2nd in 4:16.38. That is a four-and-a-half second drop and moves her into the top 70 in the history of the age group.
• Gabi Brito from the newly-merged Beach Cities Alpha Swimming, one of the stars of Winter Juniors a week ago, is swimming a bit of an off-beat schedule this week. After only racing relays on Friday, she finished 10th in the 100 breast on Saturday (1:02.64) and also split 52.41 on the leadoff leg of her team’s winning medley relay. She combined with Penny Chiu (1:05.08 – breast), Eryn Arnold (54.21 – fly), and Andi Taylor (50.07) for the winning relay.

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