Romano Scorches 200 Back, Weitzeil Almost Goes Sub-47 to Close American Short Course Champs

The final session of what has been an electric week of competition at the 2015 American Short Course Championships in Austin, Texas may have been the best yet, with big swims in nearly every race to close the meet.

The tone was set early by Megan Romano, officially representing the New York Athletic Club but training with the Texas post-grad group, who swam a 1:51.72 to win the 200 backstroke. She beat out a pair of impressive young Austin natives, Quinn Carrozza (1:55.53) and Regan Barney (1:56.23) to win.

That is Romano’s lifetime best in this event by over a second-and-a-half, beating out the 1:53.41 that she did last November at the Minneapolis Grand Prix. This is an event in which Romano has dabbled with off-and-on in long course, and as her freestyles have started coming back around since moving to Austin to train less than a year ago, her leaps in the backstrokes have as well.

In the very next women’s event, Abbey Weitzeil of the Canyons Aquatic Club swam a 47.05 to win the women’s 100 yard freestyle. That beat out a trio of Georgia Bulldogs, including Allison Schmitt (47.77), Romano (48.30), and Amanda Weir (48.35). Schmitt has swum very well all weekend long coming down out of altitude, and that’s another lifetime best swim for her in yards.

While that wasn’t a best time for Weitzeil, it was her second-fastest swim ever in that event – continuing a trend of swimming very well at this meet. Maybe more importantly, much as we saw Simone Manuel doing about a year ago, this is a confidence building swim for Weitzeil – beating out a group of Olympians and National Team level swimmers for a high schooler, even at regular-season meets, can start to grow a sprinter’s confidence and help them make the transition from the mentality of the “underdog” to “perennial favorite.”

Weitzeil later split 46.56 on a relay start to combine with Mik Ranslem (51.57), Nikol Popov (49.46), and Tamara Santoyo (50.71) to win the women’s 400 free relay running-away.

On the men’s side of the pool, the highlight was a 1:54.12 in the 200 yard breaststroke from Missouri senior Igor Kozlovskij. That improves upon the 1:55.00 that he did at the SEC Championships and move him up into 14th place in the NCAA this season, which will lock up his invite to the NCAA Championship meet in three weeks.

Other event winners:

• Longhorn post-grad Laura Sogar topped the women’s 200 breaststroke, without a ton of competition, in 2:09.53.
• Irvine Aquazot’s Sonia Wang won the women’s 200 fly in 1:56.08, beating out NBAC’s Becca Mann (1:56.97) and local Longhorn Aquatics 15-year old Dakota Luther (1:57.08). United States women’s 200 butterflying has been in a trough for a long time, but the group at this meet represents the heart of a group that is reviving the event, with five junior-level swimmers going 1:58.1 or better.
• The men’s side of the pool saw a 1:43.31 200 backstroke from Austin Surhoff, beating out Texas A&M freshman Brock Bonetti (1:43.58). Bonetti, seeking to improve his 1:42.11 in this event from SEC’s, was unable to push himself off of the bubble and lock up a spot at the NCAA Championships, and will now have to wait for the selection lines to be drawn.
• NBAC post-grad Frank Dyer swam a 43.12 in the 100 yard free, beating out high school senior Tate Jackson (43.62). Jackson will attend Notre Dame in the fall, which is Dyer’s alma mater.