16-Year-Old Adam Fusti-Molnar Hits 200 BR OT Cut at Des Moines Futures

2019 FUTURES CHAMPIONSHIPS – DES MOINES

• August 1-4th
• Greater Des Moines YMCA, Des Moines, IA
• Long Course Meters (LCM)
• Results on MeetMobile. search “2019 Futures Championships”

Day 3 of the Des Moines Futures meet featured the 200 fly, 50 free, 200 breast, 100 back, and 400 free. 14-Year-Old Ava Topolewski (Mansfield Aquatic Club) took Gold in the women’s 200 fly, clipping her personal best time in the process. Topolewski touched the wall in 2:15.78, coming in under her best time of 2:16.12. Travis Siebert, a 17-year-old out of Pitchfork Aquatics took the men’s 200 fly by over a second, finishing in 2:02.81. Siebert also eclipsed his personal best, which was sitting at 2:02.99 from 2017.

Recent University of Northern Iowa graduate Crystal Florman won the women’s 50 free with a time of 26.23. For Florman, that time comes in a little off her personal best of 26.04, which she posted in June of this year. Brigham Young University’s Jared Shaw narrowly beat his personal best on his way to winning the men’s 50 free. Shaw won the race by half a second, clocking a 22.86, which shaves .02 seconds off his best time from a month ago.

Scottsdale Aquatic Club 16-year-old Riley Courtney won the women’s 200 breast in a tight race with Bridget McGann (Delta Aquatics) and Moriah Ross (Northern Iowa). Courtney finished in 2:36.77, to McGann’s 2:36.90 and Ross’ 2:37.03. 13-Year-Old McGann led the race at the 50 mark, turning in 35.34 to 35.51 for Ross and 35.62 for Courtney. Ross then took over the lead for roughly the next 125 meters, posting splits of 39.23 and 40.20 on the middle 50s, compared to 40.03 and 40.93 for McGann, and 39.98 and 40.93 for Courtney. Ross then fell off the pace, however, splitting 42.09 on the final 50, and it was Courtney who capitalized the most on it, coming home in 40.24 to McGann’s 40.60.

Austin Swim Club’s Adam Fusti-Molnar, 16, was dominant in the men’s 200 breast, winning the event by over 5 seconds. Fusti-Molnar also took just under 2 seconds off his personal best of 2:18.81, clocking a 2:16.93. His time came in well under the 2020 Olympic Trials cut of 2:17.89. Another interesting note, Fusti-Molnar’s personal best in the SCY 200 breast is 2:04.91 from January of this year, which converts to roughly 2:23 for LCM. While conversions aren’t always 100% accurate, that’s still a very large disparity.

Reed Broaders (Champaign YMCA Heat), 16, took the women’s 100 back in 1:03.09. Her time took over a second off her personal best of 1:04.24, which she had swum about 2 weeks ago. Eric Stelmar (Mansfield Aquatic Club) swam a 56.98 to win the men’s 100 back. The 17-year-old posted a 56.92 in prelims, which was a personal best for him. Stelmar’s finals swim still came in under his previous best time of 57.56.

Austin Swim Club’s Rylie Lopez clocked a 4:18.57 to win the women’s 400 free, besting her own personal mark of 4:19.68, which she had set in March of this year. Springfield YMCA’s Matthew Knox took the men’s 400 free in 4:01.56, dropping massively from his previous best of 4:08.20.