2016 Orlando Pro Swim Series Day 1 Prelims Recap

2016 Orlando Pro Swim Series Day 1 Prelims

• Thursday, March 3 – Saturday,March 5
• YMCA of Central Florida Aquatic Center
• Orlando, FL
• Psych Sheet
• Live Stream 
• Live Results

The 2016 Orlando Pro Swim Series brings American swimming one step closer to the Omaha trials. Now is the time if some new blood is going to make a push, or for comeback veterans to show they still have the touch.

The meet has also attracted a strong international contingent, some of whom train stateside. Most notably, several Cal swimmers will be foregoing their conference championship to compete here instead.

Women’s 200 Freestyle

Katie Ledecky is making it look easy to go world competitive times in this race. She cruised a 1:56.75 this morning. At the Austin series, she set a US Open record in this event to win easily.

For American fans, it will be interesting to see how Missy Franklin and Allison Schmitt can round into shape for this race, as both have been at the top of the world in the past. Meanwhile Simone Manuel is improving but not quite there yet.

Top eight going into finals:

1. Katie Ledecky, 1:56.75
2. Manuella Lyrio. 1:59.29
3. Missy Franklin 1:59.48
4. Allison Schmitt, 1:59.78
5. Melanie Margalis, 2:00.00
6. Patricia Castro Ortega, 2:00.21
7. Simone Manuel 2:00.24
8. Elizabeth Beisel 2:00.94

Men’s 200 Freestyle

Queens University has a strong contingent competing at the meet. Dion Dreesens, who represents the Netherlands internationally, qualified first this morning well ahead of the field. He was followed by Brazil’s Nicolas Oliviera.

The final was actually more than half non-American. Michael Weiss and Connor Jaeger, two swimmers who have an outside chance of making the 800 freestyle relay, found themselves 9th and 10th.

1. Dion Dreesens 1:47.57
2. Nicolas Oliveras 1:49.05
3. Conor Dwyer 1:49.27
4. Andrea D’Arrigo 1:49.83
5. Michael Klueh 1:50.09
6. Zane Grothe 1:50.23
7. Nikita Lobintsev 1:50.26
8. Joao De Lucca 1:50.59

Women’s 100 Breaststroke

Molly Hannis showed her typical aggressive style to qualify first. Behind her was Yuliya Efimova, clearly messing around as she nearly even split the race (33.74, 34.23).

Emma Reaney, who is trying to reacquire her breakthrough form, took another step in the positive direction with her fourth place finish. Melanie Margalis made her second final of the session.

1. Molly Hannis 1:07.26
2. Yuliya Efimova 1:07.97
3. Hilda Luthersdottir 1:09.13
4. Emma Reaney 1:09.27
5. Melanie Margalis 1:09.65
6. Justine Bowker 1:09.81
7. Emily McClellan 1:10.24
8. Julia Sebastian, 1:10.57

Men’s 100 Breaststroke

The men’s 100 breaststroke was the first really significant swim we saw out of the Cal trio that came to this meet. Josh Prenot, who’s best chance comes in the longer version of this stroke, qualified third in 1:00.95.

He tucked in behind Cody Miller and Joao Gomes, who had just .02 separating them. None of the swims were particularly close to a good international standard in this race. Michael Andrew also managed his way into the final. His pacing (28.81/33.56) was too front ended for an optimal result.

1. Cody Miller 1:00.53
2. Joao Gomes 1:00.55
3. Josh Prenot 1:00.95
4. Nic Fink 1:01.76
5. Felipe Lima 1:01.96
6. Sam Tierney 1:02.17
7. Michael Andrew 1:02.37
8. Chuck Katis 1:02.49

Women’s 100 Butterfly

This was the slowest women’s event of the morning, with no swimmers getting under the 1:00 mark in the entire field. The field is sorely missing any of the best US swimmers in the race.

Alie Schmidtke of OSSC qualified first in 1:00.29, ahead of an off event swimming Allison Schmitt. FGCU’s Fanny Teijonsalo was the only swimmer to improve on her seed time going into the final.

1. Alie Schmidtke 1:00.29
2. Ivy Martin 1:00.50
3. (tie) Fanny Teijonsalo 1:00.96
4. (tie) Allison Schmitt 1:00.96
5. Danielle Barbiea 1:01.24
6. Jessica Nava 1:01.76
7. Easop Lee 1:01.92
8. Felicia Lee 1:01.97

Men’s 100 Butterfly

Henrique Martins of Brazil, who has already qualified for an Olympic spot, sharpened himself into the top seed. He was followed by some big American names: Tom Shields and Michael Phelps.

Given how Phelps has performed at past in season competitions, it will be a big deal if he can get under 51 tonight. His fastest performance in this current season is a 51.36 from Winter Nationals.

1. Henrique Martins 52.99
2. Tom Shields 53.04
3. Michael Phelps 53.07
4. Eugene Godsoe 53.21
5. Giles Smith 53.26
6. Pavel Sankovich 53.38
7. David Williams 53.56
8. Santiago Grassi 53.64

Women’s 400 IM

Once again,  Katie Ledecky is swimming dabbling her toes in another event outside of her usual event set. She last swam this event (long course) at the Minneapolis Pro Swim Series, notching a solid 4:39.18. This morning she was 4:41.28 to qualify behind a swimmer who most definitely specializes here, Maya DiRado.

Vietnamese star Nguyễn Thị Ánh Viên also made it into the final.

1. Maya DiRado 4:40.64
2. Katie Ledecky 4:41.28
3. Vien Nguyen 4:42.76
4. Becca Mann 4:42.83
5. Melanie Margalis 4:48.10
6. Virginia Bardach 4:49.66
7. Sierra Schmidt 4:50.43
8. Regan Barney 4:53.09

Men’s 400 IM

Chase Kalisz got the only sub 4:20 swim of the morning. The final had just six swimmers under the Olympic trials standard. Kalisz was 4:14 at the Austin event, a good benchmark for what he’ll be trying to improve upon tonight.

A pair of 16 year olds made the final, Andrew Abruzzo and Robert Fink. Both improved on their seed times to do so.

There were many scratches in this race, most visibly among them that of Cal’s Josh Prenot, who earlier in the session earned a #3 seed in the 100 breaststroke. Prenot, along with 3 of his Cal teammates, skipped the Pac-12 Championships to attend this meet.

1. Chase Kalisz 4:19.37
2. Sebastian Rousseau 4:24.43
3. Michael Weiss 4:24.66
4. Andrew Abruzzo 4:24.77
5. Christian Carbone 4:26.33
6. Carlos Omana 4:27.33
7. Robert Finke 4:28.37
8. Brian Palaschuk 4:29.42