2021 US Open: Day 3 Prelims Live Recap

2021 US OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, December 1 – Saturday, December 4, 2021
• Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, NC
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Info
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheets
• Friday Prelim Heat Sheet
• Live stream
• Live Results (Omega)

The Day 3 three prelims of the 2021 US Open kick off in Greensboro at 10 AM EST with several stars scheduled to swim. Leah Smith, fresh off a massive lifetime best in the 200 IM last night, will race the 400 IM this morning where she is the top seed by almost 8 seconds. The women’s 200 free will be highlighted by Katie Ledecky, who has broken the US Open meet record in both the 800 and 400 free in her first meet since switching her training base to Gainesville, Florida. Regan Smith, who also recently changed her training home to Ledecky’s former home, Stanford University, will make her Cardinal long course debut in the women’s 100 fly and 100 back.

On the men’s side, Olympic gold medalist Bobby Finke will venture away from the freestyle as he comes in as the top seed in the 400 IM, while his Florida teammate Trey Freeman enters as the top seed in the 200 free after winning the 400 free last night.

Women’s 400 IM

1. Leah Smith (TXLA): 4:43.64
2. Julia Podkoscielny (PCS): 4:47.63
3. Ella Jansen (ESWIM): 4:48.07
4. Summer Smith (TENN): 4:49.17
5. Emily Thompson (GSCY): 4:49.84
6. Abby Hay (UOFL): 4:49.85
7. Kayla Han (RMDA): 4:52.44
8. Kathleen Golding (FLOR): 4:53.68

After winning the 200 IM last night, Longhorn’s Leah Smith cruised to the top spot for tonight’s final in 4:43.64. She used a quick freestyle split 1:03.67 to pull away from Julia Podkoscielny and Ella Jansen, who both swam in her heat and qualified third and fourth, respectively.

Qualifying fourth was the University of Tennessee freshman Summer Smith, who finished second in the 200 IM last night. 15 year old Emily Thompson of Greater Somerset County Y posted a lifetime best to finish in 5th in 4:49.84, while 13 year old superstar Kayla Han of La Mirada qualified 7th in 4:52.44, about three seconds off of her lifetime best.

Men’s 400 IM

1. Collyn Gagne (SFU): 4:23.15
2. Baylor Nelson (MAC): 4:23.98
3. Bobby Finke (FLOR): 4:25.32
4. Minseop Kim (KOR): 4:26.85
5. Josh Parent (ABF): 4:28.37
6. Logan Zucker (MAC): 4:29.53
7. Devyn Caples (PLS): 4:29.69
8. Brennan Gravley (FLOR): 4:30.16

Simon Fraser University’s Collyn Gagne took the top seed heading into finals, winning the final heat in 4:23.15 over Florida’s Bobby Finke. Finke, who came in as the top seed, will swim in lane 3 tonight after qualifying third.

Winning the second-to-last hear was SwimMac’s Baylor Nelson, who posted a massive swim last night to win the 200 IM in Top 10 All Time swim for 17-18 boys. He will be joined by his club teammate Logan Zucker, who qualified 6th.

Three other teenagers also qualified for the final, with 17 year old Korean Minseop Kim finishing 4th, Bluefish’s Josh Parent finishing 5th and 15 yearh old Devyn Caples from the Pleasanton Seahawks qualifying 7th.

Women’s 100 fly

1. Regan Smith (Unattached): 59.22
2. Autumn D’Arcy (CSUB): 1:00.42
3. Sydney Lu (PLS): 1:00.59
4. Mallory Comerford (CARD): 1:00.68
5. Mabel Zavaros (FLOR): 1:00.69
6. Kyleigh Tankard (CGBD): 1:00.88
7. Mendy De Rooi (DUQU): 1:01.06
8. Yeonkyung Hur (KOR): 1:01.20

Stanford freshman Regan Smith comfortably swam to the top seed by over a second in the women’s 100 fly this morning, posting a 59.22. Her lifetime best sits at 57.63. Autumn D’Arcy from Cal State Bakersfield dropped six tenths from her lifetime best to qualify second in 1:00.42.

High schooler Sydney Lu from the Pleasanton Seahawks qualified in third in 1:00.59. Another high school, Kyleigh Tankard for the Coast Guard Blue Dolphins, also qualified for the final after posting a 1:00.88 to finish 6th.

Men’s 100 fly

1. Thomas Heilman (CAY): 53.43
2. Eric Friese (FLOR): 53.47
3. Iago Moussalem Amaral (Unattached): 53.62
4. Jace Crawford (FLOR): 53.92
5. Brady Samuels (Unattached): 53.96
6. Junheon Hwangbo (KOR): 53.99
7. Landon Gentry (NCAP): 54.04
8. Lucas Bureau (HOKI): 54.14

Cavalier Aquatics’ age group superstar Thomas Heilman blasted a new 13-14 National Age Group record to take the top seed in 53.43, chopping a full second off his own NAG record. That marks the second NAG record of the meet for Heilman, who broke Michael Andrew’s 50 free NAG yesterday.

Florida’s Eric Friese qualified second in 53.47, a full second off of his lifetime best. Also impressing was 18 year old Purdue freshman Brady Samuels, who dropped fourth tenths to take the 5th seed in 53.96. Samuels is coming off a huge meet at the Purdue Invitational a couple of weeks ago, where he posted a 45.66 in the SCY version of this event.

Women’s 200 free

1. Katie Ledecky (Unattached): 1:56.06
2. Paige Madden (Unattached): 1:58.12
3. Erin Gemmell (NCAP): 1:59.99
4. Leah Smith (TXLA): 2:00.32
5. Julia Mrozinski (TENN): 2:01.19
6. Arina Openysheva (UOFL): 2:01.28
7. Katrina Bellio (ESWIM): 2:01.34
8. Camille Spink (NCAP): 2:02.38

Katie Ledecky qualified first in the women’s 200 free with a controlled 1:56.06 to break the US Open meet record. Her splits were extremely consistent, splitting 27.59/29.27/29.50/29.70 on her way to the top seed.

Virginia post-grad Paige Madden qualified second after winning the second to final heat, posting a 1:58.12. High schooler Erin Gemmell was the third swimmer on two minutes, posting a 1:59.99 to qualify third for tonight’s final. Her teammate Camille Spink will join her in the final after qualifying 8th in 2:02.38.

Men’s 200 free

1. Trey Freeman (FLOR): 1:49.17
2. Andrej Barna (CARD): 1:49.74
3. Hoe Yean Khiew (Malaysia): 1:50.02
4. Thomas Heilman (CAY): 1:51.27
5. Oskar Lindhol (FLOR): 1:51.48
6. Gus Borges (PRVT): 1:51.61
7. Welson Wee Shen Sim (Malaysia): 1:52.09
8. Zach Ward (BKYS): 1:52.55

After winning the 400 free last night, Florida’s Trey Freeman wasted no time establishing himself as the favorite in the 200 free as well by qualifying first in 1:49.17. He was pushed in his heat, however, by Louisville pro Andrej Barna, who qualified second in 1:49.74 just off his lifetime best.

Malaysia will be represented by two swimmers in the final, with 19 year old Hoe Yean Khiew qualifying third in 1:50.02 and Welson Wee Shen Sim qualifying 7th in 1:52.09.

Just minutes after smashing his own NAG record in the 100 fly, Heilman came back to smash another NAG record in 1:51.27 to qualify fourth. That swim breaks Maximus Williamson’s NAG record of 1:53.04 set earlier this year.

Women’s 100 breast

1. Heather Maccausland (NCS): 1:09.78
2. Hannah Bach (OSU): 1:09.79
3. Ahryoung Kim (South Korea): 1:10.51
4. Jing En Phee (Malaysia): 1:10.73
5. Tylor Mathieu (FLOR): 1:10.89
6. Bella Cothern (UARK): 1:11.48
7. Marizel van Jaarsveld (Unattached): 1:11.74
8. Grace Rainey (MAC): 1:11.84

NC State’s Heather Maccausland will take the top seed into tonight’s final by the slimmest of margins, taking the top seed in 1:09.78. Qualifying just .01 behind her in second was Ohio State’s Hannah Bach. Both swimmers were roughly 1.5 seconds off of their lifetime bests, which should set up a great race tonight.

Qualifying third was 15 year old South Korean Ahryoung Kim, who touched in 1:10.51, six tenths off her lifetime best. Another international swimmer, Jing En Phee of Malaysia, qualified fourth in 1:10.73.

SwimMac’s Grace Rainey was the lone American high schooler to qualify for the final, as the Florida commit qualified 8th in 1:11.84.

Men’s 100 breast

1. Noah Nichols (UVA): 1:01.82
2. Likith Prema (Unattached): 1:02.34
3. Brandon Fischer (Unattached): 1:02.38
4. Reid Miukta (AU): 1:02.60
5. Julio Horrego (SOFL): 1:02.67
6. Pavel Romanov (ALPH): 1:02.77
7. Rafal Kusto (NCS): 1:02.97
8. Raphael Rached Windmuller (FLOR): 1:03.05

The University of Virginia’s Noah Nichols will take lane four for tonight’s finals after qualifying first in 1:01.82. That swim clocks in 1.1 seconds off of his lifetime best of 1:00.66. Qualifying in second was Likith Prema, an Indiana national who rose to international prominence last spring after alleging timing manipulation at the Uzbekistan Nationals. The results from that meet were eventually rejected by FINA for ratification due to the timing irregularities.

The field’s veteran and top seed, 32 year old Brandon Fischer, qualified in third in 1:02.38.

Women’s 100 back

1. Regan Smith (Unattached): 59.51
2. Anya Mostek (PAY): 1:01.89
3. Kobie Melton (UARK): 1:02.09
4. Summer Smith (TENN): 1:02.40
5. Reilly Tiltmann (UVA): 1:02.49
6. Leah Shackley (BRY): 1:02.71
7. Ella Varga (UCSC): 1:02.99
8. Camille Spink (NCAP): 1:03.00

Stanford freshman and Olympic bronze medalist Regan Smith cruised to the top seed in the 100 back by over two seconds, winning the final heat in 59.51. Smith flipped at 29.15 and came home in 30.36.

Qualifying in second was Phoenixville YMCA’s Anya Mostek, who dropped a half second to post a 1:01.89. Mostek is a current high school senior who has committed to Harvard for next fall.

Tennessee’s Summer Smith qualified for her second final of the day courtesy of a 1:02.40. Smith qualified for the A final of the 400 IM earlier in the session.

Men’s 100 back

1. Vaggelis Makrygiannis (Unattached): 54.18
2. Sam Stewart (CKS): 55.55
3. Yeziel Morales (AZFL): 55.76
4. Jack Aikens (UVA): 55.78
5. (Tie) Blake Hanna (CATS)/Adam Chaney (FLOR): 56.12
6. —-
7. Richie Stokes (UCSC): 56.26
8. Ian Venter (PEA): 56.32

Vaggelis Makrygiannis, a sophomore at USC, took the top seed into tonight’s 100 back final with a dominant 54.18 in the prelim. Makrygiannis was out quick in 26.24 and used that early speed to take the top spot by almost a second and a half. His lifetime best stands at 54.07.

Behind Makrygiannis is a trio of 55’s, with Sam Stewart, Yeziel Morales and Jack Aikens all vying for a top three spot on the podium tonight.