Clovis North sophomore swimming phenom adds to national championship collection

Fifteen-year-old Clovis North High sophomore Claire Tuggle continues to make a splash on the national swimming scene, winning the women’s 800-meter freestyle Tuesday night at the U.S. Junior National Swimming Championships at Stanford.

Tuggle, who won three titles at last year’s Junior Nationals (400 individual medley, 400 freestyle and 200 IM), pulled away from 14-year-old Jillian Cox and incoming Michigan freshman Kaitlynn Sims. Her winning time of 8 minutes 38.55 seconds was a personal-best and more than 6 seconds ahead of Cox.

Tuggle, representing the Clovis Swim Club, came in with a seed time of 8:42.37 (her previous PB), second behind Sims’ 8:36.90.

She enters coming off a strong showing in last week’s Senior Nationals also at Stanford, finishing fourth in the 400 free and sixth in the 200.

Earlier this year, she won the state high school 500 free.

The Junior Nationals continue through Saturday.

This story was originally published August 7, 2019 at 8:23 AM.