2015 U.S. Nationals: Day 1 Prelims Preview

2015 U.S. NATIONALS

• Thursday, August 6 – Monday, August 10
• Northside Swim Center – San Antonio, Texas
• Prelims 9AM/Finals 6PM (Central Daylight Time)
• Full Coverage
• Psych Sheet
• Live Stream Link
• Live Results

Women’s 100m Butterfly

The 2015 Phillips 66 National Championships kick off with the women’s 100 fly. The top seed in this event is Kelsi Worrell out of the University of Louisville. Her seed time of 57.24 is almost a full second ahead of 2nd seed Felicia Lee of Stanford. Worrell swam that time in the prelims of the Pan American games, and would go onto win the title in the final. Her time would have won bronze at the world championships that are going on right now, so Worrell will definitely be looking to post an even faster time and show she is a contender going into Rio 2016. Also swimming in the 100 fly will be 2012 Olympic champion and now former world record holder Dana Vollmer. After taking some time off after London and having a baby, Vollmer marked her return at the LA Invite earlier this year posting a time of 1:00.05, which has her seeded 29th. It will certainly be interesting to see what kind of performance we see out of her. There are a few international competitors in this event as well, with Alys Margaret Thomas from Wales seeded 3rd, Aliena Schmidtke of Germany 6th and Christina Licciardi of Australia 10th. 2008 Olympic bronze medalist in the 800 free relay and 2007 world championship silver medalist in the 200 fly Kim Vandenberg was slated to swim this event, but has scratched. There will be 12 heats of this event. Vollmer will swim in heat 9, Thomas and Schmidtke will swim in 10, and Lee and Worrell will each have lane 4 in heats 11 and 12 respectively. Licciardi will join Worrell in the final heat.

Men’s 400m Freestyle

Ryan Feeley from the Badger Swim Club is the top seed in the men’s 400 free with a time of 3:49.40. Feeley is coming off a strong showing at the Pan American games where he won silver in this event to go along with a gold from swimming in the prelims of the 800 free relay. Seeded 2nd is Clark Smith of Longhorn Aquatics. Smith is coming off a breakthrough season with the Texas Longhorns as he went from not qualifying for the NCAA championship meet last year to winning the gold medal in the 500 freestyle this year. He will be dangerous and will be looking to post a time competitive with the world. Australian Bobby Hurley is seeded 4th swimming out of Club Wolverine. High school standout Townley Haas is the 9th seed in 3:52.01. Haas will be joining Smith in Texas this upcoming NCAA season. There will be 11 heats in this event. Smith and Hurley will swim in heat 10, along with 2012 Olympian Andrew Gemmell, and Feeley and Haas will swim in the 11th and final heat. Other notable swimmers in this event include Thomas Luchsinger in heat 4, Bobby Bollier in heat 5 and Michael Wynalda in heat 9.  Andrew Seliskar was entered in this event but has scratched out.

Women’s 200m IM

Veteran Caitlin Leverenz will lead the way in the women’s 200 IM. Leverenz is coming off a Pan American title in this event and will look to post a time competitive with the results from the world championships. She is seeded with a 2:10.67, but swam a personal best at the Pan Ams in 2:10.51. 17 year-old Meghan Small is seeded 2nd in 2:11.26, a time she swam at the Pan Ams on her way to a silver medal behind Leverenz. Both of those times would have been fast enough to qualify for the final in Kazan. Australian Kotuku Ngawati is seeded 3rd in 2:11.96, and she is followed by Madisyn Cox, Karlee Bispo and Celina Lee. Pan American 100 breast champion Katie Meili is seeded 24th in 2:15.86. Clara Smiddy was entered in this event but has since scratched. Smiddy is coming off two medals in the backstroke events at the Pan Ams. There will be 15 heats in this event. Ngawati, Li and Meili will swim in heat 13, Small and Bispo in 14, and Leverenz and Cox will swim in the final heat.

Men’s 100m Breastroke

Due to Great Britain’s incredible depth in the breastroke events, we get to see a couple of their top guys compete in San Antonio. Craig Benson holds the top seed in the 100 with a time of 1:00.16, and 200m specialist Michael Jamieson is 17th in 1:01.88. Look for Jamieson to have a good meet after being very disappointed in not making the world championship team after winning a silver at the London Olympics. 27 year-old Zach Hayden of Club Wolverine is seeded 2nd, with Mike Alexandrov 3rd and Brad Craig 4th. Michael Andrew is seeded 6th, coming off a superb performance at the Junior Nationals. He didn’t compete in any breastroke events there so we’ll see what he was saving for nationals in the 100 breast. After Andrew we have BJ Johnson, Josh Prenot, Chuck Katis and Will Licon seeded 7th through 10th. Prenot has been swimming very fast all season long, and Katis and Licon will look to prove themselves in long course metres after having terrific NCAA seasons. 15 year-old Reece Whitley is 15th, coming off a junior national title in the 200 breast. He didn’t compete in the 100 at junior nationals, and subsequently Devon Nowicki won, who is seeded just behind Whitley in 19th. There will be 12 heats in this event, with sprint freestyle specialist Caeleb Dressel starting us off in heat 1. Sean Mahoney will swim in heat 2 and Bruno Ortiz will swim in heat 3. All three swimmers were entered with yards times. The 10th heat will feature Katis, Alexandrov, Andrew and Nowicki. In heat 11 we’ll see Whitley, Prenot and Hayden, and then in the final heat Johnson, Benson, Craig, Licon and Jamison will all battle it out. Andrew Seliskar was seeded 8th in the event but has scratched to focus solely on the 400 IM. It should be a good battle between a lot of capable names to crack the A final. Unlike national championships in the past, international swimmers will be allowed to swim in the A finals.

Women’s 400m Freestyle

Lindsay Vrooman of the Badger Swim Club is the top seed in the women’s 400 free with a time of 4:07.82. She is followed by 16 year-old Courtney Harnish and Gillian Ryan who is coming off a bronze medal in this event at the Pan Am games. She also won gold as part of the 800 free relay. Three-time Olympic gold medalist and 2012 Olympic silver medalist in this event Allison Schmitt is seeded in 14th. 4-time world champion and former 1500m free world record holder Kate Ziegler will also be swimming, as she is now 27 and is seeded 41st in 4:16.11. Ziegler will swim in the 7th heat, while Harnish will be joined in heat 10 by Sierra Schmidt of North Baltimore. The 11th and final heat will have Vrooman and Ryan in the middle of the pool, with Allison Schmitt out in lane 1. Kiera Janzen of Minnesota was seeded 4th in this event in 4:10.25, but has scratched out.

Men’s 400m IM

The first session will finish off with the men’s 400 IM. A pair of international swimmers sit atop the rankings, as Max Litchfield of Great Britain and Travis Mahoney of Australia are seeded 1-2. Andrew Seliskar is seeded 3rd in 4:16.05 and Max Williamson is 4th, coming off a bronze medal in this event at the Pan Ams. 2015 NCAA champion Will Licon will have his second swim of the session as he is seeded 13th in 4:20.79. Watch for him to swim well under his current personal best. Not originally in the psych sheets, Gunnar Bentz is now in the heat sheet and will be a major factor in this race. In heat 6 we will see Andrew Gemmell in his second swim of the session. Heat 9 will feature Licon, Mahoney and Seliskar, along with Michael Meyer of South Africa. In the 10th and final heat we will see Williamson, Litchfield, and late entrant Bentz.

Two of the swimmers people are most anxious to see are Michael Phelps and Jack Conger, but the fans will have to wait until day 2 to see them in any action.