Arena Pro Swim Series at Orlando – Day One Prelims Live Recap

ARENA PRO SWIM SERIES AT ORLANDO: DAY ONE PRELIMS LIVE RECAP

• Thursday, February 12 – Saturday, February 14
• YMCA Aquatic Center, Orlando FL
• Prelims 9AM/Finals 6PM (Eastern Time)
• Prelims Timeline
• Psych Sheets
• Live stream
• Live results

Women’s 200m freestyle – Prelims

Youngster Courtney Harnish led the field this morning, as the 15-year-old clocked a time of 2:02.23.  She was closely followed by Hannah Miley‘s 2:02.32, with Katie Drabot, another teenager at just 17 years old, touching the wall in 2:02.35.  In fact, only about seven tenths separated the top six prelims times, comprised of Sam Cheverton in fourth (2:02.38), with Alex Norris in fifth (2:02.84) and Theresa Michalak (2:02.99) in sixth place. Caitlin Leverenz (2:03.20) and Danica Ludlow (2:03.52) round out the remaining top eight spots for tonight’s final.

Men’s 200m freestyle

Club Wolverine Elite did their usual damage in the men’s 200m freestyle event, as four out of the top ten swimmers hail from that club.  Michael Wynalda claimed the fastest time of the morning in 1:49.63 and was the only swimmer to dip under the 1:50-mark.  Teammates Bobby Hurley and Kyle Whitaker both tied for third place in 1:51.06 with SwimMAC Elite’s Dion Dressens in second place after prelims in 1:50.92.  After Michael McBroom in fifth (1:51.14), there was another tie in the field, this time for sixth place between SwimMAC Elite’s Greg Mallet and Cardinal Aquatics’ Joao De Lucca in 1:51.40.  Consistent freestyler Conor Dwyer finished in eighth with his 1:51.62 showing.

Women’s 100m breaststroke

Molly Hannis (Tennessee Aquatics) swam away with the top time of the morning in 1:08.60, over a solid second ahead of the rest of the field.  Alia Atkinson, swimming in her first meet since tying the World Record in the 100m short course breaststroke in December, had the next fastest time this morning (1:10.13).  Saint Petersburg’s Melanie Margalis followed in third (1:10.20).  Also in the top eight are Great Britain’s Chloe Tutton, Valentina Artemeva, Bronwyn Pasloski, and Georgia Coates.  Note that Breeja Larson did not swim the event this morning.

Men’s 100m breaststroke

Cody Miller has simply been on a tear as of late, as he earns the #1 seed from this morning’s prelims in the men’s 100m breast in a time of 1:01.12; a time not too terribly off the 1:00.39 he threw down for the win at the Aquatic Super Series in Perth.  A sub-minute may be on the menu for tonight for this Badger Swim Club stud.  Brendan McHugh wasn’t too far off the mark this morning in his 1:01:36, so he could certainly challenge Miller in the primetime event. The remaining eight include strong contenders in Felipe Lima, Brad Craig, veteran Kosuke Kitajima, Anton Lobanov, Antoine Bujold, and Irishman Nicholas Quinn.

Women’s 100m fly

31-year-old Canadian Audrey Laroix was this morning’s leader in the women’s 100m fly race, clearing the field in 1:00.48.  SwimMAC Elite’s Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace is a close second seed going into finals, as she touched the wall in 1:00.80.  Two Great Britain swimmers were third and fourth, with Lauren Quigley and Amelia Clynes finishing in 1:01.27 and 1:01.66, respectively.  Courtney Harnish doubles up on her 200m free final by also clearing fifth place after prelims in this event (1:01.99). Georgia-Mae Hohman came out of nowhere (actually, out of the very first heat) to land herself sixth place going into the finals.  Kelsey Drake and Sveta Khakhlova also made tonight’s final.

Men’s 100m fly

This morning saw the top three 100m fly finishers claim sub-54 second times, with Belarusian Pavel Sankovich blasting a 53.08, followed closely by Phoenix Swim Club training teammates Giles Smith (53.91) and Alex Coci (53.96).  Another Phoenix Swim Club swimmer made tonight’s final, as Erik Risolvato earned the eighth spot in 54.98.  Geoff Cheah‘s 54.19 time earned him fourth place, followed by Masa Kishida, Albert Subirats, and Sean Fletcher in the fifth, sixth, and seventh spots, respectively.

Women’s 400m IM

With Elizabeth Beisel scratching today’s events, the door was opened a tad for other solid 400 IMers to set themselves up for a nice lane assignment with their prelim swim.  Hannah Miley takes the #1 seed in a time of 4:44.16, well ahead of the field, at least for this morning, that is.  Margalis made her second final, earning the second spot in 4:47.91, tying Caitlin Leverenz for the second seed coming out of the morning swims.  Katie Hoff is back in the water in a big way clocking the fourth-fastest time (4:49.52), closely followed by 15-year-old Great Britain swimmer Georgia Coates who clocked a 4:49.96 to close out the swimmers dipping under the 4:50-mark. Sixth, seventh and eighth seeds going into the finals belong to Vien Nguyen, Regan Barney and Abbie Wood, respectively.

Men’s 400m IM

Tyler Clary locked in a solid performance with his prelims-leading 4:25.87, a time which sets him up nicely to perhaps target the 4:16-range he hit at the Arena Pro Swim Series at Austin last month.  Island Swimming’s Alec Page finished roughly four seconds behind in 4:29.22, with Gator Swim Club member Sebastien Rousseau placing third in 4:29.97.  Michael Weiss, Conor Dwyer, Marko Blazevski, Christian Ng and Julio Olvera Alejos also made tonight’s final in this grueling event.  That makes two finals for Mr. Dwyer, who is also slated to try for a 200m freestyle A-final win tonight.