Dean Ottati is a lifelong competitive swimmer of no real note. He and his wife Chris are the proud parents of an NCS swimmer. Dean is the author of The Runner and the Path: An Athletes Quest for Meaning in Postmodern Corporate America, and is currently suffering a massive case of procrastination-through-distraction while his manuscript, Swimming and the Meaning of Life: A Father, A Son, A Philosophy, and A Sport, sits alone on the corner of his desk, starving for attention.
The big story going into the NCS Championships was the speed and depth of this year’s senior class, and so far the meet is holding to script. In today’s preliminaries 6 NCS records were broken, one national record was tied, and it would appear that at least a few swimmers were saving a little something extra for tomorrow’s finals, so there could be more to come.
The Records
The men of Granada set the tone right away by breaking Campolindo’s 2012 NCS 200 Medley Relay record by .04, going 1:32.95. Campolindo settled for a 3rd seed (1:34.12) in the finals behind Amador Valley (1:33.8). Notably, Sven Campbell (Sr. Campolindo, Cal) did not anchor Campolindo’s Relay today, so in tomorrow’s finals Campolindo may be looking to take the record right back. Campbell led all qualifiers in the individual 50 Free with a 20.36.
Campbell also broke his own NCS record in the 100 Back, posting a 47.65 to lead the field into tomorrow’s finals.
Steven Stumph (Sr. Campolindo, USC) had the biggest first day of anybody. As reported earlier on SwimSwam, Stumph recorded a 53.67 in the 100 Breast, breaking his own meet record from last year, and tying the national public high school record held by the legendary Olympian, Branden Hansen. As one Campo parent in the stands put it, “I’ve never seen him swim slower in the finals than in the prelims.” So stay tuned. Before the meet, the men’s 100 breast was advertised as the marquee race. And so far, it sets up according to script. Nick Silverthorn (Jr. Granada) qualified second in 54.47 and Charlie Wiser (Sr. Miramonte, Stanford – Water Polo and Swimming) posted a 54.84 for the third seed.
Stumph also broke the NCS record in the 100 Fly (47.91), taking the top seed ahead of a field with six men that all broke 50, and two others that might break that mark in the final. All-world freshman Maxime Rooney (Fr. Granada – 48.97) qualified second, but he his closely followed by Dillon Williams (Sr. Monte Vista, Cal – 49.06) and Kenneth Castro Abrams (Sr. San Marin, Harvard – 49.27).
Today’s preliminaries closed with a pair of new NCS records in both the 400 Free Relay’s. Carondolet, led by Chelsea Chenault along with Natalie Amberg, Madelyn Murphy, and Madison White, set the new women’s standard with a 3:23.96. And the men of Campolindo, Sven Campbell, Steven Stumph, JD Ratchford, and Grant Sivesind, posted a 3:02.97 to break the record Campolindo set last year by exactly one second. The men of Granada are not too far behind (3:04.68) heading into tomorrow’s final.
Other Observations:
The men’s 500 free appears to be a game of cat and mouse. Clayton Young (Sr. San Ramon Valley, UCSB 4:27.26) goes in as the top seed, followed by Jackson Miller (Sr. Las Lomas, Indiana, 4:28.76), Talbot Jacobs (Jr. College Prep 4:30.22) and Maxime Rooney (Fr. Granada, 4:32.61). Expect to see some time drops in the finals.
The men’s 200 Free shapes up the same way. Nick Silverthorn goes in as to the top seed, followed by Jackson Miller. Both went 1:38’s, and both have been much faster. They lead a field that includes five swimmers that broke 1:40 in qualifying.
Chelsea Chenault, as expected, goes into the finals as the top seed in both the 200 Free (1:44.98) where she leads a field of five women who all posted sub 1:50’s, and in the 500 Free (4:40.59). Neither time is a record, but they aren’t far off. We’ll have to wait and see what she can go in the finals tomorrow.
Iris Brand (So, Amador Valley) leads the field in both the sprint freestyles (50 Fr — 23.2, and 100 Fr – 50.40). Right behind Brand are Mary Ashby (So. Campolindo) in the 50 (23.68) and defending NCS title holder Madison White (Sr. Carondolet, UCLA) in the 100 (50.60). White, the pre meet favorite in the 100 Back also goes into the final as a second seed behind Sidney Cooke (Sr. Monte Vista) who posted a 54.70 to White’s 54.77.
The great Celina Li (Sr. Foothill, Cal 54.38 ) goes into the 100 fly final as a surprising second seed behind sophomore Ariana Safhafi for Albany who dropped 3 seconds from her seed time to lead the field with a 54.17 . Li goes into the 200 IM as the top seed (1:58.92), ahead of Taylor Young (Sr. Cardinal Newman) who posted a really nice 2:02.03 in the prelims.
As all schools, large and small, compete directly in the NCS Swimming Championships, today’s small school shout out goes to the girls of Marin Academy. Madeleine Salesky, Isabelle Kitze, and Tai Hallstein all finished in the top 14 in the 50 free, and all will be enjoying their second swims tomorrow.
Every year the NCS prelims are intense, and just when you think the swimming can’t get any better, the finals are even more electric. Look for some even more amazing swimming ahead.
The Details
Tomorrow’s finals will be held at the Concord Community Pool in Concord, California. Racing begins at 10:30 AM.
Live Results can be viewed by following the links on the NCS website:
http://cifncs.org/sports/swimming_&_diving/
Stumph, Wiser, and Silverthorn all broke the previous national record of 53.67 in finals. 53.39 for Stumph, 53.57 for Wiser, and 53.61 for Silverthorn. Amazing race!
1.44.45 for Miss Chenault in the 200 free final. I expected 1.43 for her but perhaps she saves her taper for the world trials next month.
And very impressive time drop for Ariana Saghafi in the 100 fly! 57.54 as seed time. 54.17 in prelims. And now 53.45 in final. Her weekend has been successful.
Finally I got a decent time to show from Brazilian Winter.. just turned 15 felipe Souza went 51.23 on 100 free..he turned 15 at end of february
I like Carondolet to win this year… they have much more depth in the young talent. I think it is their meet to lose. I also think they will upset SRV in the Medley relay to start the ball rolling as a Madison/Chelsea one-two punch will overwhelm the Wolves even w/ the Poppe factor, which could be a 26 today. We might see a sub 1:42 from one or both teams.
Apologies to Campo – they are attempting their 9th consecutive title. Clearly, Coach Heidary and his staff know how to something right and have built a culture on that team that should be looked at.
I also should omitted CARO’s backstrokers…what depth and that school continues its storied history of talent with that stroke.
This was the most dominant breaststroke class I’ve ever seen for boys and this was just prelims! Lost in this was Heidi Poppe’s performance, flirting with that minute barrier at 1:00.49. Also keep an eye on her younger brother, a very young freshman at 14 years old who posted a 58.20 which is on par with Stump, Ogren, etc… for that age. Today will be crazy and don’t count out Nick Silverthorn, he could be the dark horse!! Way to go to all the kids, bunch of studs!
Hugo – You are so right! How could I have forgotten to mention Heidi Poppe’s swim? Here’s to hoping she goes under today. You are also right about her brother Hank. Great kid to boot. Another guy in this embarassment of breaststroke riches is sophomore Stanley Wu. He’s been dropping time steadily throughout the season and posted a 56.59 to go in as the fifth seed. And since we are on the topic, gotta give a shout out to Brett Usinger who goes in as 4th seed in the breast (56.17) and top seed in the IM (1:51.71), another great kid, and I just gotta mention again he’s going to Princeton next year because that is just plain cool.
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Kudos to Granada’s men team for almost getting all of their swimmers into the top 8. There (2) 9th place finishes and lack of a 200 Free Relay will probably prevent them from beating Campo (who should secure their 8th consecutive title) but Coach Avila’s squad and his divers really stepped up.
The women’s race is shaping up well for Carondelet. Their 8th place finish in the 200 free relay compared to San Ramon’s 9th might be the difference. The CARO freshman stepped up big and their free/fly depth is impressive.
Nice wrap-up, thanks for sharing.