2016 NCSA Spring Junior Nationals Champs: Day 3 Prelims Live Recap

2016 NCSA SPRING JUNIOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

• March 15th-19th, 2016
• Short Course Yards Prelims/Long Course Meters Finals
• Prelims 8:30 AM Eastern Time/Finals 6:00PM Eastern Time (Except Tuesday, where they’re 4:00PM)
• Orlando YMCA // Orlando, Florida
• Live Stream
• Psych Sheets
• Championship Central
• Live Results via MeetMobile: “2016 NCSA Spring Championship”

**Tonight’s finals will be contested in long course after this morning’s prelims session**

GIRLS 200 FREE – Prelims

The City of Mobile’s Paige Madden opened up the morning with the top swim in the 200 freestyle, shaving a half-second off her lifetime-best with a 1:45.68. The 17-year-old looked great split-wise, going 26.7/26.8/26.7 over her final three 50s.

Genevieve Pfeifer of the CSP Tideriders also went a new lifetime-best of 1:45.92 to take the second seed. Those two will shoot to hold off last night’s 100 free champion Katie Drabot, the Stanford commit who is one of the top high schoolers in the nation. Drabot, competing for Ozaukee Aquatics out of Wisconsin, was a relaxed 1:46.42 this morning, a good four seconds off her previous best.

15-year-old Riley Gaines is the youngest swimmer into the final at 1:47.63 for fourth. The only other swimmer under 1:48 was Mikaela Dahlke, who went 1:47.84 for North Bay Aquatics.

BOYS 200 FREE

Dean Farris out of Metro Atlanta Aquatic Club earned the top qualifying spot out of the boys 200 free heats, going 1:36.00. That’s a new lifetime-best by more than a full second for the 18-year-old Farris, who will swim for Harvard next season.

Nation’s Capital’s Samuel Pomajevich was 1:36.87 to set himself up as the top challenger to Farris tonight, though the shift to long course leaves things more up in the air than usual. Tommy Cope of the Dayton Raiders was 1:37.23 ahead of a tie for fourth between his teammate Cody Bybee and Machine Aquatics’ James Murphy, both of whom went 1:37.26.

It was a very tight prelims field, with 6th going to Aaron Schultz of NOVA of Virginia in 1:37.30 and the entire top 9 finishing under 1:38.

GIRLS 50 BREAST

Ingrid Wall of New Trier Swim Club in Illinois rattled the 28-second barrier in taking the top seed in the 50 breaststroke. Wall was 28.01 to lead by a tenth.

A pair of 16-year-olds followed her closely: Jacqueline Clabeaux was 28.16 for York while 100 breast champ Margaret Aroesty went 28.29 for the Long Island Aquatic Club.

15-year-old Alexis Wenger is into the final with a 28.54 for fourth place, with Halle Morris taking the final spot under 29 with a 28.94.

BOYS 50 BREAST

After a showdown in the 100 breast last night, the 50 breast looks to be between Michael Andrew and Reece Whitley once again. The two qualified first and second – Andrew was 24.24 and Whitley 24.69 in this morning’s short course prelims.

Both are 16 years old, though Whitley is a little on the younger end of the year, and have traded various National Age Group records back and forth through their careers. Andrew competes under the Indie Swimming banner while Whitley swims for Penn Charter Aquatic Club.

Tommy Cope of the Dayton Raiders made his second A final in as many events, going 25.02. Cope is a high school senior who will swim for Michigan next fall.

Jacob Montague followed closely in 25.14 as the rest of the field finished back in the mid-25s.

GIRLS 400 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY

Katie Drabot will have opportunities for at least two NCSA titles tonight after taking the top seed in the 400 IM. Drabot was 4:12.99 for Ozaukee Aquatics, still well off her best time, but fast enough to top the field by more than a second.

Drabot will aim for the win in this event on the same weekend her future Stanford teammate Ella Eastin will shoot for the NCAA title in the same event.

Nation’s Capital 17-year-old Eireni Moshos was 4:14.26 for second, also just off her seed. Halladay Kinsey, swimming unattached, had a huge drop to push into third place – she went 4:14.93 after coming in with a 4:18 as her best time.

100 breast champ and 50 breast title contender Margaret Aroesty was 4:14.99 for the third seed.

BOYS 400 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY

A race through the final circle-seeded heat saw Frederick Schubert top his NOVA of Virginia teammate Charles Swanson for top billing in the 400 IM. Schubert was 3:47.04, blasting away at his previous best time of 3:50.95. Swanson, on the other hand, gained some time from his career best, going 3:49.74.

Nicholas Alexander of the Flyer Aquatic Swiming Team took about a second off his best time to go 3:50.61 for third. And making yet another appearance, Tommy Cope of the Dayton Raiders was 3:51.73 for the fourth seed.

Cope has made the A final of every event so far today.

GIRLS 50 FLY

Chalk up another one for Katie Drabot. The Ozaukee Aquatics senior went 24.17 to take the top seed in the 50 fly out of prelims. That’s the second top seed in a row for Drabot, and she’ll be in the hunt for three titles tonight if she sticks with the 200 free, 400 IM and 50 fly for finals.

15-year-old Amalie Fackenthal is the top challenger for the moment after going 24.24 this morning. She’s just ahead of Drabot’s Ozaukee teammate Skylar Fore (24.32) and Nation’s Capital’s Kylie Jordan (24.38).

It’s a pretty tightly-packed field, with the whole top 14 places getting under 25 seconds.

BOYS 50 FLY

Trying to keep pace with Drabot, Michael Andrew took his second top seed of the meet with a 21.37 in the 100 fly. Andrew’s lifetime-best is a 21.28 from back in 2014.

The final adds some intrigue with fellow 16-year-old Camden Murphy of Kingfish Aquatics going 21.71 for the second seed. Murphy and Andrew traded the 100 fly NAG record back and forth at the split Winter Junior Nationals, with Murphy winning the East title and Andrew the West.

Miles Smachlo was 21.75 for third place, with Dean Farris coming off that 200 freestyle to go 21.77 for fourth. Also under 22 was NOVA of Virginia’s Frederick Schubert, the top 400 IMer from earlier this morning, in 21.81 and Penn Charter’s John Mahoney (21.96).

GIRLS 400 FREE RELAY

Just when we thought Katie Drabot was done for the morning, she returned to lead the Ozaukee 400 free relay to the top morning swim with a 48.63 anchor leg. Ozaukee also got a 50.1 leadoff leg from Skylar Fore and a pair of 50-points from Lillie Hosack and Mallory Fox to go 3:20.16 as a team.

Nation’s Capital sits second, going 3:21.05 on a 49.80 split from Morgan Hill with a pair of 50.0s on the closing end. The top three teams were a bit removed from the crowd, with the Academy Bullets going 3:22.63 for third with straight 50-second splits across the board.

BOYS 400 FREE RELAY

NOVA of Virginia took the top seed on the boys side, pairing their top two 400 IM seeds in Frederick Schubert and Charles Swanson with Aaron Schultz and Jacob Johnson. Johnson and Schubert were both 44.4s on their splits, with Swanson going 44.7 and Schultz leading off in 45.06. Overall, the team was 2:58.74.

Just as in the girls event, NCAP is the second seed and qualified two relays for the A final. James Jones anchored in a blistering 43.9 to help NCAP’s A team go 2:59.11, one of three more teams under three minutes.

The Dayton Raiders were third in 2:59.18. Cody Bybee led off in 44.7 and Tommy Cope finished off a busy morning with a 44.4 anchor leg. Also breaking the three-minute barrier was Machine, which went 2:59.68 on a 44.2 leadoff split from James Murphy.