The Short Course Virginia Swimming Championships ran March fifth through eighth giving way to multiple meet records and a total domination by Townley Haas on the men’s side and Madeline Banic on the women’s side.
Haas, swimming for Nova of Virginia Aquatics, won all the freestyle events other than the 1650 which he didn’t swim. It seemed as though the longer the distance the better the swim for Haas.
He won the 50 freestyle in 20.42. The 100 he won in 44.37. In the 200 he came very close to the VSI and meet record set by former national team member and current long course 100 freestyle American record holder David Walters. Haas rocked a 1:35.95 to take down Quest Swimming’s Jeffrey Newkirk who touched in at 1:37.37.
Haas’ time was just shy of Walters’ 1:35.07 mark.
Haas won the 500 free in 4:26.18, but his best swim of the meet seemed to be his 1000 freestyle. There, he took down his only meet record with a very swift swim of 9:06.87 to break the 15-year-old mark set by Michael Fuller all the way back in 2000.
The only other record on the men’s side came from Haas’ teammate Charles Swanson. Swanson, 17, was a 3:51.41 in the 400 IM. John Kale of Williamsburg was second in 3:58.64
On the women’s side it was Madeline Banic of Quest Swimming that was the most dominant figure. She grabbed multiple wins and records.
The 17-year-old claimed a big win in the 100 breaststroke, dropping a 1:02.75. That time was just shy of Susan Hynes’ 2013 record of 1:02.41. She was able to down the VSI record in the 100 fly however, swimming a 52.41 to break her own mark of 52.95.
She showed absolute versatility, taking down the record in the 100 backstroke as well. The previous record was held by Remedy Rule, who set it in prelims with a time of 54.28. Rule was faster than that in finals with a 53.90, however settled for silver to Banic’s time of 53.58. Banic also won the 100 freestyle.
Rule was able to get the better of Banic in the 200 IM, where she set a new meet record. Her time of 2:00.93 created a huge deficit for Banic, and helped her get under the previous record of 2:01.43. That time was set by Natalie Griffith all the way back in 1999, making it one of the oldest meet records.
Banic also had to settle for second in the 50 freestyle where Casey Fanz was the undisputed champion. Fanz, a 16-year-old from Poseidon Swimming, clocked in at 22.84 to break her own 23.11 record that she set in prelims. Banic was a 23.21.
For full meet results click here.
Not sure how you came up with “TOTAL domination” unless you are assuming that freestyle (for Haas) and sprint (for Banic) represent the TOTAL meet. Anything over 100 yards and Banic had a difficult time. On the womens’ side Remedy Rule tied Banic in total points for the meet and convincingly “dominated” events of her own (distances greater than 100 yards) in the same manner as Banic. On the mens’ side, Newkirk fell to Haas in total points by one switch of 1st to 2nd position with Haas which nearly occurred in the 100 free where he had a substantial lead until the last two strokes when he was barely outtouched (44.4 to 44.7). Newkirk also won several non-freestyle events… Read more »
Not that the ratings are really meaningful now or long-term, but it is intereisting to see on collegeswimming.com that 5 of the top 25 mens’ swimmers in the high school class of 2015 are going to Texas. Three are from Virginia. UVa and VT are losing their in-state talent.
Seriously. It would be nice to keep some of the top-tier talent in the state. While I’m not a big fan of UVA, there is no disputing that it is one of the top public universities in the country, and it’d be nice to see them improve, if for no other reason than we can keep top swimmers around and actually watch their college careers, instead of letting the good citizens of Austin and Berkeley have that pleasure. Meaning no offense to any other of these swimmers, or the other colleges. But man, has Virginia ever had the top two high school swimmers in the country before? And one’s heading to the complete other side of the country, and the… Read more »
His full name is Francis Townley Haas, but has always gone by Townley. USA Swimming fixed it a while ago; apparently Va Swimming hasn’t.
Huge freestyle talent on the rise . Usa is really lucky to have those youngsters coming up . They are incredible . Great job Townley
USA badly needs new mid-distance freestyle talents on the men’s side.
Day and night between US men and US women right now on freestyle overall from 50 to 1500.
Bobo, if I could give you a thousand up votes right now I would. Swimswam seriously needs to give you a weekly column or something 🙂
Also impressed watching Townley – unshaved for the meet which was noticed on deck – posting 19.86 & 43.71 relay splits. Wonder if he was only partially rested for this meet with NCSAs to come…
Since when did Townley Haas become Francis Haas??? 🙂 🙂 🙂
People tend to lose their true first names when they come to Texas. John Conger and John Lewis became Jack and Sam respectively.
“Kip” Darmody, “Tripp” Cooper