Ogren wins twice, Andrew goes 3-for-3 on NAGs on night two at Winter Juniors

Yes, day 2 of the 2013 Winter Junior Nationals has lost its biggest star Caeleb Dressel in any individual events (he’s still swimming the 200 medley relay).

But, as they say, the drums will bang, and the parade will go on Friday night, with 14 Junior National Championships to be awarded in Greesnboro, North Carolina at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.

The race we’re looking at hardest is the girls’ 100 yard breaststroke, where in the prelims, Lindsey Horejsi broke a legendary National Age Group Record and broke a minute, but in finals things could get even crazier, as there’s at least four swimmers in the final who seem like they can get there.

Live results are available here.
Live streaming is available here.
Day 1 recap here.

We’ll be recapping finals live as they happen, so stay tuned and refresh often.

Girls 200 Yard Medley Relay – Finals

SwimMAC kicked off Friday finals in style, breaking the 15-18 National Age Group record in the 200 medley relay with a 1:39.27 after swimming mostly relay alternates this morning en route to the top seed. The championship relay was made up of Kathleen Baker, Maija Roses, Alyssa Marsh and Lauren Rhodes. Buoyed by Baker’s 24.42 lead-off split (the fastest split in the pool), the relay continued with a 28.0 breaststroke from Roses (also the fastest in the event), a 23.9 from Marsh on fly and a 22.8 out of Rhodes on the anchor leg. That overall time of 1:39.27 broke the record held by the Aquajets Swim Club from 2010 that featured Olympian and current Cal star Rachel Bootsma.

The Academy Bullets took second in an extremely tight finish with the other SwimMAC relay. Mary Schneider was a blazing 23.3 on the butterfly for the Bullets, who went 1:40.73 to SwimMAC “B”s 1:40.78. King Aquatic Club took fourth and Canyons Aquatic was fifth with anchor Abby Weitzeil going 21.4 on the anchor leg.

Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay – Finals

The Bolles School picked up the junior national title in a tight three-way finish in the 200 medley relay, getting a huge split from Caeleb Dressel in his only event of the night (he scratched his individual races after being taken from prelims in an ambulance with breathing issues). Bolles went 1:29.64 with a 20.35 butterfly split from the rising star and Florida commit. The Sharks also got a 22.8 backstroke leg from Josh Booth, a 25.9 on breaststroke from Rio Kurihara and a 20.4 anchor leg from William McKinney – McKinney had to hold off a huge charge from PASA and Scottsdale.

Palo Alto took second overall in 1:29.71, taking control on Curtis Ogren’s 25.0 breaststroke split. That was second only to Virginia Tide’s Austin Temple, who trucked to a 24.34 split. Scottsdale took third place overall in 1:30.15. Ryan Hoffer lead off that relay in 22.2 and Nicholas Magana anchored with a 19.6, the fastest in the field on freestyle. After that came Temple’s Tide relay in 1:31.01.

Girls 400 Yard IM – Finals

Ella Eastin looked like the girl to beat coming out of the morning session with a 4:13.48… and then she exploded at finals to go 4:05.25 and make that 4:13 look more like a warm-up. Eastin was challenged by Megan Kingsley of Mount Pleasant Swim Club through the first 200, but took off on the breaststroke leg, splitting 1:10.32 to open up a big lead. Kingsley still finished second in 4:10.90, a good four seconds under her prelims swim.

Katherine Drabot took third place for Ozaukee Aquatics in 4:11.85, followed by Triangle Aquatics’ Hannah Moore. Savanna Faulconer went 4:14.85 after going a lifetime-best 4:15 in prelims, and she held off a charge by Madeline Meyers for fifth place.

Leah Stevens won the B final, blowing away the heat to go 4:13.77, 5 seconds faster than she was this morning.

Boys 400 Yard IM – Finals

After making huge drops between prelims and finals yesterday, Curtis Ogren was back up to his old tricks. The high school senior from PASA dropped 7 seconds from this morning to go 3:44.26 and win the 400 IM, pulling away from the field on backstroke and really closing the door with a 1:02.8 breaststroke split. Jay Literland took second for Dynamo, going 3:45.20 and nearly running down Ogren with a huge 50.2 freestyle split. Behind them was top seed Sam McHugh, who still dropped two seconds from prelims to go 3:47.08.

Jonah Roberts was 4th overall in 3:50.80. Behind him, Brock Turner took a tight touchout from Brian Poon, and the rest of the A final was Kevin Litherland and Gunnar Bentz in 7th and 8th, respectively.

Austin Van Overdam went 3:50.20 to win the B heat – that time would have been second overall coming out of prelims. Jacob Miller won the bonus final in 3:52.62, almost a 7-second improvement from his prelims swim.

Girls 100 Yard Butterfly – Finals

Mantas Swim Club 17-year-old Danielle Nack took home the junior national title in a meet record 52.44. After being the only swimmer to go out in 24 seconds at prelims, the future Minnesota Golden Gopher almost went 23 on her opening 50 at night: she went out in 24.13 en route to breaking the old meet record of 52.93.

Nack was followed by Madison Wright from Kingfish Aquatic Club, who went 53.14, and Lindsey Engel from the JCC Waves, who went 53.16. Elsa Welshofer took home fourth in 53.43.

Miranda Tucker and Kaitlin Grover tied for fifth, both going 53.61.

The entire top 10 were under 54 after the top 8 all did so this morning. That included B final winner Taylor Garcia (53.69) and the second swimmer in that heat, Isabel Reis.

Boys 100 Yard Butterfly – Finals

With top seed Caeleb Dressel scratching out of this event, the race was wide open, and the field did not disappoint, with 5 swimmers breaking into the 47s in a close finish. Kyle Gornay from the Redlands Swim Team just about broke one more barrier, going 47.01 for the win. 14-year-old Michael Andrew finished second in 47.47 – that’s a new NAG record, and it wasn’t even close. Andrew broke his old record of 48.78 set earlier this fall at the Minneapolis Grand Prix to become the first 14-year-old under 48. That’s right, folks, a 14-year-old has now gone 47 seconds in a 100 fly. The Michael Andrew train just keeps chugging along.

Ryan Dudzinski of Upper St. Clair went 47.52 for third, and top seed Andrew Liang out of Palo Alto went 47.63 for fourth. Also under 48 was Ryan Hoffer of Scottsdale, who went 47.70.

The B final was also an entertaining race, with two boys tying for 9th and a third swimmer taking 11th by just .01. Brett Ringgold and Zachary Buerger went 48.30 to tie for the win, and Luis Martinez was 48.31 to take 3rd in the heat.

Girls 200 Yard Free – Finals

Katherine Drabot won the 200 free in come-from-behind fashion, splitting 26.80 on the final 50 to swim past the field and win in 1:45.49. That just missed the Meet Record, and was her best time by half-a-second.

Second place was 15-year old Claire Adams in 1:45.55 from the Carmel Swim Club, that’s still over a second faster than her seed. Adams has done some damage this meet already as a sprinter, but she’s proving to be very versatile here, and should be rocketing up some college wishlists for the class of 2016. Paige Madden rounded out the medalists in 1:46.05 from CMSA in Alabama.

Erin Falconer led at the 100 mark and held on to take 4th in 1:46.40, about a half-second faster than her prelims swim. Megan Raab was 5th and Nora McCullagh took 6th, each going 1:47s.

In the B final, Clara Smiddy cut almost two seconds to win the heat. The AquaKids Sharks senior went 1:46.33 to beat the consol heat by a second and a half.

Boys 200 Yard Free – Finals

Dylan Carter won’t officially begin competing for USC until January, but for the 17-year old, a semester of Trojan training is paying off. He swam a 1:33.67 to break his own Meet Record from prelims (1:34.47) and take his first Winter Junior National title.

That swim moves Carter to 2nd on the all-time 17-18 National Age Group list, and puts him within reach of Tom Kremer’s National Age Group Record of 1:33.07. That will also give USC a huge boost this season as they look for their replacement for James Lendrum, the only graduating piece from their 3rd-place 800 free relay last season. Carter actually puts that relay, which he’ll likely swim with Chad Bobrosky, Dimitri Colupaev, and Cristian Quintero, into position to contend with Florida and Michigan for the NCAA title.

As for the rest of the final, nobody was close to Carter at the touch, though there were some good swims behind him. Blake Pieroni, who is Indiana-bound in the fall, was 2nd in 1:35.87. With Carter swimming in front of him, that swim dropped two seconds off of his lifetime best. Jake Markham was 3rd in 1:37.24, and Tabahn Afrik, the youngest swimmer in the final at 16, from Michigan Lakeshore Aquatics, took 4th in 1:37.82.

Justin Wu won the B-Final in 1:37.92. That broke the Oklahoma Swimming state record previously held by Indiana standout Titus Knight.

Women’s 100 Yard Breaststroke – Finals

A wild 100 breaststroke event saw the same NAG record broken by two different girls in 1 day. Lillia King emerged from finals with the 15-16 record, going 59.67 after Lindsey Horejsi went 59.75 to break it the first time in prelims. Horejsi held on for second place tonight, going 1:00.21. King was just over a minute in prelims, but shot out fast tonight, going 27.6 in the opening 50 to build a lead Horejsi couldn’t overcome.

Heidi Poppe went 1:00.64 for third place, but also had the best closing speed of the field, coming back in 31.81. Sam Senczyszyn of Ozaukee Aquatics took fourth in 1:00.76 and Madison Kennedy joined her in the one-double-zeros, going 1:00.82.

From the B final, Maija Roses dropped a half-second to take 9th in 1:01.45, and incoming Arizona State breaststroker Jorie Caneta won the bonus heat, dropping a half second herself and going 1:02.12.

Boys 100 Yard Breaststroke – Finals

Curtis Ogren took home his third title of the weekend in the boys 100 breast. He went about five tenths faster than his prelims time, winning in 54.51. That was just enough to best Pine Crest’s Jordy Groters, who went 54.58, and Virginia Tide’s speedster Austin Temple led at the 50 mark and held on for third, going 54.63.

Zack Warner took fourth in 54.86 – that same time won the B final for Blair Bish of the Arkansas Dolphins. Also under 55 was fifth-place finisher Christian Lorenz.

It’s fast becoming one of the most-overused phrases in swimming coverage: “Michael Andrew broke another NAG record.” This time he went 55.43 to win the C final just a few races after blowing up the 48 barrier in the 100 fly.

Girls 100 Yard Back – Finals

Clara Smiddy was the only swimmer under 53 in the prelims. In the finals, she was the only one under 52. Smiddy went 51.75 to blow away the meet record, riding on a huge back half to the junior national title. She outran Taylor Garcia over the final 50 yards – Garcia ended up second in 52.07, also under the meet record.

Current Palo Alto and future Stanford swimmer Ally Howe was third, going 52.79, and Kylie Stewart went 53.40 to roundto round out a top 4 that really separated themselves from the field.

Claire Adams was fifth in 54.06, followed by Hannah Leach, Emily Eastin and Emma Schanz.

Boys 100 Yard Back – Finals

Tristan Sanders cracked 47 to win the 100 back, coming dangerously close to Ryan Murphy’s meet record. Sanders was 46.80 for the win, followed by 200 free champion Dylan Carter (47.05) and Ryan Dudzinski (47.46). Ethan Young, Michael Thomas, Brock Bonetti and Hennessy Stuart all got under 48 seconds from the final.

In addition, King Aquatic Club 15 year old Thomas Anderson won the B heat, going 47.61. In the same heat, guess who – Michael Andrew – broke Anderson’s 13-14 NAG record, going 48.68 to tie for 11th. That’s Andrew’s third NAG record in the past four events tonight.

Girls 800 Yard Free Relay – Finals

The girls from Patriot Aquatic Club of Illinois blew up the meet record en route to their junior national title in the 800 free relay. The team of Erin Falconer, Julia Wawer, Cheryl Xiang and Reilly Lanigan went 7:16.71, getting a 1:47.26 leadoff from Falconer and coming home in a 1:47.93 from Lanigan.

Santa Clara Swim Club took second in 7:18.96, just a hair off the old meet record. Sarah Shimomura lead off in 1:48.96 and Sandra Soe anchored in 1:48.81 for Santa Clara.

Carmel Swim Club took third in 7:19.49 thanks to a 1:48.1 from Claire Adams on the anchor leg and SwimMAC came in just behind in 7:19.69, with anchor Rebecca Postoll charging to a 1:47.87 split.

Boys 800 Yard Free Relay – Finals

Dynamo Swim Club finished off the night by crushing a meet record in the 800 free relay. The team of Jay Litherland, Kevin Litherland, Gunnar Bentz and Mick Litherland went 6:34.98 to beat the old record of 6:36.59 set by the Bolles School in 2011. Jay Litherland was 1:38.18 leading off, and his brother Kevin was 1:37.85 to push the team out to an insurmountable lead.

East Carolina took second place overall, going 6:38.45, getting a big 1:37.98 anchor split out of Philip Perdue. Bolles School took third place overall – Josh Booth anchored in 1:38.88 and 16-year-old Scott Boyle was also 1:38.74 on his split.

Davis Aquadarts took fifth, followed by Tennessee Aquatics.

That wraps up night two of the 2013 Winter Junior Nationals. The final day will begin tomorrow morning at 9:00 Eastern time, and SwimSwam will again be covering the races as they happen, so stay tuned!