2018 Indianapolis Pro Swim Series: Day 2 Prelims Live Recap

2018 INDIANAPOLIS PRO SWIM SERIES

• May 16th-20th, 2018
• IUPUI Natatorium, Indianapolis, IN
• 50m
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheet
• Omega Results
• Thursday Prelims Heat Sheet
• Live Stream

After a mind boggling world record performance from Katie Ledecky kicked off the 2018 TYR Pro Swim Series – Indianapolis on Wednesday, the first session of preliminary heats will get underway this morning with four events on tap.

We’ll see heats for both men and women in the 100 fly, 400 free, 200 breast and 100 free, with some notable names in action such as Ledecky (100, 400 free), Nathan Adrian (100 free), Simone Manuel (100 free), Lilly King (200 breast), and Kelsi Dahlia (100 fly, 100 free).

There have been some top seeded scratches this morning, most notably coming from women’s 100 fly 3rd seed Aliena Schmidtke and 8th seed Hali Flickinger. Joao De Lucca, 8th seed in the men’s 100 free, has also scratched. Click here for the full list of scratches from swimmers seeded inside the top-24.

Women’s 100 Fly Prelims

1. Kelsi Dahlia, CARD, 57.67
2. Mallory Comerford, UOFL, 59.05
3. Rebecca Smith, HPCO, 59.38
4. Amanda Kendall, MVN, 59.59
5. Hellen Moffitt, TE, 59.73
6. Katie Drabot, UN, 59.87
7. Christie Jensen, IST, 1:00.16
8. Veronica Burchill, ABSC, 1:00.27

To no surprise it was Kelsi Dahlia of Cardinal Aquatics throwing down the top time of the morning in the final heat of the women’s 100 fly, as she clocked 57.67 to lead the pack by well over a second. Rebecca Smith of the High Performance Centre – Ontario took 2nd in the heat in 59.38, qualifying her 3rd overall for tonight.

Mallory Comerford won the first circle-seeded heat in 59.05, putting her 2nd overall, and Amanda Kendall of Mission Viejo won the penultimate heat to take 4th in 59.59. Hellen Moffitt and Katie Drabot also cracked a minute for 5th and 6th.

Notably qualifying through to the consolation final were Ella Eastin (11th, 1:00.85), Cassidy Bayer (14th, 1:01.23) and Simone Manuel (16th, 1:01.25).

Men’s 100 Fly Prelims

1. Gunnar Bentz, DYNA, 53.11
2. Camden Murphy, ABSC, 53.34
3. Tom Shields, CAL, 53.37
4. Ryan Held, WOLF, 53.69
5. Vini Lanza, IST, 53.71
6. Nicolas Albiero, UOFL, 53.78
7. Drew Kibler, CSC, 53.87
8. Zach Harting, UOFL, 54.09

The final heat of the men’s 100 fly was clearly the quickest of the bunch, as it produced the top-4 qualifiers. Gunnar Bentz of Dynamo leads the way in 53.11, followed by Camden Murphy of the Athens Bulldogs who had a very strong back half of 27.76 to take 2nd in 53.34. Tom Shields and Ryan Held both had strong showings for 3rd and 4th.

Vini Lanza of Indiana won the second-to-last heat in 53.71, with Nicolas Albiero and Drew Kibler hot on his tail, while Zach Harting‘s win in the first circle-seeded heat at 54.09 was only good enough to squeak into the final in 8th. Pace Clark, who took 2nd in that heat, misses the A-final by .01 in 54.10.

Women’s 400 Free Prelims

1. Katie Ledecky, STAN, 4:02.08
2. Leah Smith, FORD, 4:09.96
3. Hali Flickinger, ABSC, 4:11.41
4. Ashley Neidigh, UN, 4:11.96
5. Katie Drabot, UN, 4:12.18
6. Rosi Bi, CW, 4:12.25
7. Sierra Schmidt, CW, 4:12.37
8. Erica Sullivan, SAND, 4:12.75

Katie Ledecky continued to show her good form in the 400 free prelims, cruising to the top time of the morning by a country mile in 4:02.08, with last night’s 1500 runner-up Erica Sullivan taking 2nd in that first heat in 4:12.75, outsprinting Ally McHugh (4:13.06). Sullivan would end up being the only swimmer other than Ledecky to qualify from the heat, with heat 2 providing six of the eight qualifiers.

Leah Smith won that heat for the 2nd spot in 4:09.96, followed by Hali Flickinger, Ashley Neidigh, Katie Drabot, Rose Bi and Sierra Schmidt who qualified 3rd through 7th overall, all within a second of each other from 4:11.4 to 4:12.3.

Megan Byrnes (4:12.87) ended up 9th, with McHugh 10th.

Men’s 400 Free Prelims

1. Felix Auboeck, CW, 3:52.45
2. Marwan El Kamash, UN, 3:52.68
3. Marcelo Acosta, UOFL, 3:54.99
4. Zane Grothe, MVN, 3:55.15
5. Ricardo Vargas, CW, 3:55.96
6. Kevin Litherland, DYNA, 3:56.09
7. Gil Kiesler, WOLF, 3:56.26
8. Logan Houck, SAND, 3:56.37

Club Wolverine’s Felix Auboeck out-sprinted Marwan El Kamash in the opening heat of the men’s 400 free, as they take the top two times into the final at 3:52.45 and 3:52.68 respectively.

Marcelo Acosta did likewise in the next heat, out-touching last night’s 1500 winner Zane Grothe in 3:54.99 as they qualified 3rd and 4th. Ricardo Vargas, Auboeck’s teammate at Michigan and Club Wolverine, had a big drop and qualified 5th in 3:55.96 from the first non-circle-seeded heat.

Women’s 200 Breast Prelims

1. Emily Escobedo, COND, 2:26.43
2. Melanie Margalis, SPA, 2:28.22
3. Lilly King, IST, 2:28.81
4. Annie Lazor, UN, 2:29.58
5. Bethany Galat, TAMU, 2:30.74
6. Allie Szekely, UN, 2:31.23
7. Emily Weiss, CARD, 2:32.30
8. Bailey Bonnett, KYA, 2:32.51

Emily Escobedo of Condors Swim Club obliterated the first circle-seeded heat in the women’s 200 breast, posting a time of 2:26.43 to qualify 1st for tonight’s final. Melanie Margalis of Saint Petersburg also had a sizeable win in the last heat, going 2:28.22 to snag 2nd in 2:28.22.

Lilly King (2:28.81) won a close heat with Annie Lazor (2:29.58) for 3rd, with World Championship silver medalist in this event Bethany Galat (2:30.74) sitting 5th.

IM specialist Allie Szekely led that heat with King and Lazor through 150m, but faded coming home and ends up advancing in 6th (2:31.23). Her Stanford teammate Brooke Forde (2:33.48) will be among those swimming the B-final tonight after placing 11th.

Men’s 200 Breast Prelims

1. Daniel Roy, UN, 2:12.40
2. Chase Kalisz, ABSC, 2:12.60
3. Cody Miller, SAND, 2:13.63
4. Nic Fink, ABSC, 2:13.85
5. Kevin Cordes, TIGR, 2:14.91
6. Marat Amaltdinov, BA, 2:16.19
7. Charlie Swanson, CW, 2:17.46
8. Reece Whitley, PCAC, 2:17.64

Daniel Roy pulled away from vlog extraordinaire Cody Miller on the back half of the first circle-seeded heat in the men’s 200 breast, as he ultimately won by just over a second and takes the top time into tonight’s final at 2:12.40. Miller had a solid swim to take 3rd overall in 2:13.63.

Double IM World Champion Chase Kalisz and Nic Fink had a similar battle in the next heat, with Kalisz’s superior back end earning him the win and the #2 time of the morning in 2:12.60, while Fink sits 4th in 2:13.85.

50 and 100m American Record holder Kevin Cordes won the last heat easily in 2:14.91, advancing through in 5th. Youngster Reece Whitley ended up sneaking into the A-final in 8th at 2:17.64. 4th seed coming in Carlos Claverie didn’t show for his heat.

Women’s 100 Free Prelims

1. Simone Manuel, STAN, 54.20
2. Taylor Ruck, HPCO, 54.35
3. Margo Geer, MVN, 54.53
4. Mallory Comerford, UOFL, 54.75
5. Kayla Sanchez, HPCO, 54.85
6. Katie Ledecky, STAN, 55.02
7. Kelsi Dahlia, CARD, 55.13
8. Rebecca Smith, HPCO, 55.42

Reigning Olympic and World Champion Simone Manuel of Stanford closed strong in 27.59 to overtake Mission Viejo’s Margo Geer and win the final heat of the women’s 100 freestyle, posting a time of 54.20. That stands up as #1 of the morning, with Geer sitting 3rd in 54.53 and Kayla Sanchez (54.85), who was 3rd in the heat, in 5th.

Sanchez’s HPC Ontario teammate Taylor Ruck, who leads the women in PSS points thus far, won the first of the circle seeded heats in 54.35 and heads into tonight seeded 2nd, while a third member of their team Rebecca Smith also made the final in 8th.

Mallory Comerford was the other heat winner, as she, Katie Ledecky and Kelsi Dahlia all made their second A-final of the day (along with Smith) as they sit 4th, 6th and 7th.

Allison Schmitt leads the B-final charge after finishing just .01 behind Smith for 8th (55.43). She’ll be joined by Olivia Smoliga (12th, 55.81) in that consolation heat.

Men’s 100 Free Prelims

1. Blake Pieroni, IST, 49.04
2. Justin Ress, WOLF, 49.47
3. Ali Khalafalla, IST, 49.60
4. Nathan Adrian, CAL, 49.79
5. Zach Apple, UN, 49.80
6. Ryan Held, WOLF, 49.88
7. Aaron Greenberg, ISR, 50.41
8. Gus Borges, CW, 50.83

Indiana teammates Blake Pieroni and Ali Khalafalla led the way in the first circle-seeded heat of the men’s 100 free, with Pieroni closing in 25.50 to take the top time of the prelims in 49.04. Khalafalla had a solid swim, showing some good opening speed flipping at 23.37, before touching in 49.60 for 3rd overall.

Justin Ress (49.47) and Nathan Adrian (49.79) also picked up wins in their respective heats, advancing in 2nd and 4th. Zach Apple and Ryan Held also cracked the 50-second barrier for 5th and 6th, while Israel’s Aaron Greenberg ripped a 50.41 from an early heat to advance in 7th.

Drew Kibler (50.84) rounded out the A-finalists after the A-flight, but a surprise 50.83 from Gus Borges in the B-flight knocked him out and into the B-final. Cullen Jones was a no show for his heat.