2019 YMCA Long Course Nationals Kick Off on Tuesday (PREVIEW)

2019 YMCA Long Course National Swimming Championships

• July 30th-August 3rd, 2019
• Eppley Recreation Center, College Park, Maryland
• LCM (50m)
• Meet site
• Results
• Psych Sheets
• Meet Mobile:
  • “2019 LCYNationals” for the main meet
  • “2019 LCYNationals TT only” for time trial swims

The 2019 YMCA long course National Championships kick off on Tuesday. After some uncertainty early in the process, they are back in College Park, Maryland at the University of Maryland pool this year.

The meet is generally the more lightly-attended of the two Y Nationals events (with the short course yards meet being in the spring) as swimmers split their time among a number of meets over the next two weeks, including the NCSA Junior Nationals, the USA Swimming Nationals, the USA Swimming Junior Nationals, Zone Championships, and Futures Championships. The meet still does have a big field of athletes attending, though: case in point, in the women’s 100 free this summer, there are 107 entries. That’s down from 170 in the spring.

The women of the Sarasota Family YMCA won the 2019 short course title, but have not entered a team at the long course meet this year. Among the front-runners for this year’s title, then, is the ME Lyons Anderson YMCA in Cincinnati. They were 15th in the spring, but this summer boast a strong roster that includes the top seed in the girls’ 200 breaststroke Kate Overbey, Meredith Moellering, the 3rd seed in the 100 fly Meredith Moellering, and the 2nd seed in the girls’ 400 free Grace Hastings. They aren’t as big of a squad as teams like Cheshire, which won the girls’ title last year, but have a lot of top end talent.

Other Top Names to watch in the girls’ meet:

• Megan Glass of the Blue Ash YMCA is swimming in her last YMCA National Championship meet, and is the top seed in the 200 free, 50 fly, and 100 fly. She’s also entered to swim the 50 free and 200 fly. In the 100 fly (seed time: 1:00.52), she’s a two-time defending champion. She’s a Michigan commit.
• Paige Hetrick of the Bradford Family YMCA is the top seed in the 100 free (56.44), 100 back (1:01.73), and 200 back (2:13.47). She and Glass will have a big showdown in the 200 free, along with the defending champion Abigail Doss (more on her later), who is seeded just 8th in spite of her title status. That women’s 200 free will be one of the highlights of the meet. Hetrick is a top 20 recruit that will attend Louisville beginning in the fall of 2020
• 17-year old distance ace Abigail Doss from the Greater Susquehanna Valley YMCA won 3 races at last year’s meet: the 200 free, 400 free, and 200 IM. This year, she’s also the top seed in the 800 free, where she’s within reach of a 10-year old YMCA national record of 8:55.46.
• San Diego State commit Jessie McMurray, who feels like she’s been a force at these YMCA National meets forever, holds top seeds in both the 50 and 100 meter breaststrokes. Last year she won the 50 in 32.49 to set the YMCA National Record, and she just missed the 100 breast record in a winning time of 1:11.67 (off 1:11.26).
• The only non-top-seed in this list, 15-year old Meaghan Harnish made enough of an impression at last year’s meet (at only 14), to warrant inclusion. A York YMCA teammate of McMurray, she made A-finals in 4 individual events last season, including a high finish of 3rd in the 200 breaststroke (2:35.89).

On the boys’ side, last year the Red Branch Bank YMCA and the Somerset Hills YMCA, both in New Jersey, had a barn-burner finish for the team title, with Red Bank ultimately winning by 7.5 points. The two teams were each far ahead of the field, and both have brought massive rosters again this year.

While depth wins at this meet, both teams have stars back again this year. For Somerset Hills, that’s 18-year old Brown University commit Lukas Scheidl. He’s the top seed in the 100 fly, 200 fly, 200 IM, and 400 IM. The latter of those two races are wide open this year, with National Record breaker Matt Fallon not entering this year’s meet for Somerset Valley (another New Jersey team).

Red Bank doesn’t have one swimmer to match Lukas’ combination of talent and range, but they have a very good breaststroke duo of Richard Trentalage and Dylan Citta. Trentalange, 17, is the top seed in the 50 breaststroke (29.10), while Citta, 16, is the top seed in the 200 breaststroke (2:21.82). Ironically, neither is seeded higher than 8th in the 100 breaststroke, but none-the-less, that’s a discipline where they’ll need to score big points, especially given that the breaststrokes are a gap in the Somerset Hills lineup.

Other Top Names to watch in the boys’ meet:

• Another New Jerseyan, 16-year old David Curtiss is the top seed in the 50 and 100 free. His 22.64 to win the individual 50 free, and set the YMCA National Record, last year at just 15 was one of the stories of the week. He was disqualified at that meet in the 100 free, but this year is the top seed in both events.
• Georgia Tech commit Josh Cohen of the Fanwood Scotch Plains YMCA, is the top seed in the 200, 400, and 800 freestyles. He won the 200 and 400 at last year’s meet, and is a big favorite in both races at this year’s meet too (though he’ll have to beat Scheidl in the 400). He’s also the top seed in the 800, though in the longer races he’ll start to run into Nick Andres from BR Ryall, who is the favorite in the 1500.
• Justin Fleagle of the Auglaize Mercer Counties YMCA is the defending champion in the men’s 50 back, and with no Jack Alexy or Noah Young at this year’s meet, he enters as the favorite in the 100 back as well.