McBroom Swims 3rd-Fastest 1000 Free in History to Top Klueh at AESC Pro-Am

Note: there are two fantastic Pro-Am meets this week in Oklahoma City; we’ll identify them by their host teams: KMSC (King Marlin Swim Club) and AESC (American Energy Swim Club). This release is about the AESC Pro-Am.

Edmond, OK – Night 1 of the 2014 American Energy Swim Club Pro-Am in Edmond, Oklahoma featured just 6 events on the night. Among those 6 events, just 2 were individual races: the men’s and women’s 1000 frees: a tuneup for the double-cash 1650 freestyles later in the meet.

Prize Structure

Individual events: top 3 professional athletes will receive a cash prize based on their ABSOLUTE FINISH as follows:

1. $800
2. $500
3. $300

The 1650 freestyles have double cash prizes, and the 50 freestyles (which will be swum as a bracket-style shootout) will award $5,000 to the champion, $1,000 to the runner-up, and $600 to the 3rd-place finisher.

Night One

On the men’s side, Michael McBroom from The Woodlands Swim Team (but trained by Eddie Reese in Austin) won in an impressive 8:42.25. That’s his season-best by 15 seconds, and the second-fastest time in the country this year (behind only Connor Jaeger’s 8:41.09 from October).

That swim is a lifetime best for McBroom and jumps him up to 3rd on the all-time list both by performers and performances, behind only Jaeger and the record-holder Erik Vendt (8:36).

That was a Meet Record for McBroom as well, earning him a $200 cash bonus.

All three swimmers, in fact, went lifetime bests to move into the top 20 of all-time in the race. Michael Klueh was 2nd in 8:46.83, .05 better than his previous best time, and Feeley was an 8:53.35. Klueh now ranks 10th all-time in the event and Feeley ranks 20th.

The top amateur was Ian Bidwell of the Badger Swim Club in 9:31.45 – a lifetime best for him by 6 seconds. Bidwell is a high school senior for whom we’ve found no public college commitment yet.

In the women’s 1000 free, Lindsay Vrooman kept the impressive swims up by just missing a personal best of her own. Vrooman swam a 9:39.34 to win ahead of Club Wolverine’s Emily Brunemann in 9:42.67. Brunemann, a long-time participant in this meet, was about two seconds back of Vrooman for most of the meet, and Vrooman was able to accelerate away at the end to seal victory.

They were the only two swimmers in the event’s professional category, as Badger’s Anina Lund took 3rd in 10:02.78 for top-amateur honors.

In the session-opening 200 medley relay events, the Razroback Aquatic Club swam a 1:48.11 to win the women’s race by three seconds. Charger Aquatics from New Mexico took 2nd in 1:51.24, and the home team American Energy Swim Club took 3rd in 1:54.31.

On the boys’ side, it was the home-team that got the best of the field, though they had a ringer leading off. 41-year old Josh Davis, a 5-time Olympic medalist and one of the coordinators of the meet, swam the backstroke leg in 24.19. He combined with Jared Prince, Joseph Short, and Jonathan Ye for 1:36.04.

A team from Wayland Baptist took 2nd in 1:38.24, and the Razorback Aquatic Club boys took 3rd in 1:42.42.

In the 800 free relays, it was again the Razorback Aquatic Club girls who won, this time swimming a 7:49.11. The distance-heavy Badger Swim Club took 2nd in 7:57.60, and a local team, the Extreme Aquatic Team, took 3rd in 8:04.90.

On the men’s side, Davis again led his charges to victory, splitting a 1:43.53 leadoff leg. He combined with Alan Tran (1:47.64), Short (1:44.19), and Ye (1:46.29) to swim a very solid 7:01.65.

The Razorback Aquatic Club took 2nd in 7:17.40 and the Aquakids, Inc. (another Arkansas team) was 3rd in 7:40.85.