Joseph Schooling Swims World’s #2 100 Fly at Austin Sectionals

2017 SOUTHERN ZONE SECTIONALS – AUSTIN

• July 6th-9th, 2017
• Psych Sheet
• Pre-Scratch Timeline
• Meet Info
• Real-Time Results

Joseph Schooling swam a 50.96 in the 100 fly on Saturday in his home pool in Austin. With 3 weeks to go before he represents Singapore at the World Championships, the swim can serve of a response of sorts (be it intentional or not) to his rival Caeleb Dressel, who swam a world-leading 50.87 at the United States’ World Championship Trials a week ago.

That time is the 3rd-best of Schooling’s career, and easily his best outside of a World Championship or Olympic Games. His previous in-season best was a 51.58 – done in early June last year in the buildup to the Olympics, where he dethroned Michael Phelps and won gold in the race.

Schooling took the race out in 23.7 and closed in 27.20. That means he split fairly similarly to what Dressel did last week, but opened a little faster. Ironically, Dressel, who is more known as a sprinter than is Schooling, had the better last 50.

Schooling and Dressel both hail from the Bolles program in Jacksonville, Florida, though Schooling attended the school and Dressel didn’t, so they were in different training groups. Both swimmers held the National High School Record in the 100 fly at different points in their parallel careers, though Dressel was more renowned for his 50 freestyle abilities. At the 2017 NCAA Championships, Dressel beat Schooling in his signature event, the 100 fly, and now the two will go toe-to-toe full bore in long course.

Schooling wasn’t the only Longhorn Aquatics swimmer to post an impressive time in that race – his teammate Tripp Cooper swam a best time of 52.13. Post-grad Bryce Bohman took 3rd in 53.08.

In the women’s 100 fly, French Olympian Beryl Gastaldello, who trains at Texas A&M, swam 59.46 to win the race. That’s her second-best time of the season so far, behind only the 58.0 lifetime-best that she swam at French Elite Nationals in late May.

Other Day 3 Winners:

• Texas A&M Mauro Castillo-Luna won the men’s 100 breaststroke in 1:02.94, which is his best in-season time.
• After a new best and Bahamian Record in the 200 free on Friday, Joanna Evans won again on Saturday – this time in the 400 free. She swam 4:10.86 (which is about 3 seconds from her National Record).
• Jeff Newkirk added a middle-distance sweep of his own, taking the 400 free win in 3:57.91.
• Kendall Shields of the local Austin Swim Club won the women’s 100 back in 1:03.01 – beating-out Texas undergrad Kaitlin Harty (1:03.32).
• Shields raced with Quinn Schaedler, Ella Collins, and Catriona Macgregor to a win in the women’s 400 free relay in 3:51.18. The 15-year old Schaedler had the fastest split of the group on the leadoff with a 57.22.
• Texas A&M undergrad Brock Bonetti won the men’s 100 back in 55.64 – almost two seconds better than runner-up Iegor Lytvenok.
• Rice junior Marie-Claire Schilling sent a reminder that there are other quality college programs in Texas. She won the 100 breaststroke in 1:10.92.
• Streamline Aquatics won the 400 free relay with a foursome of 20-somethings. Beau Fusilier, Iegor Lytvenok, Kyrylo Shvets and Luke Shaw combined for a 3:28.35. Shaw anchored in the fastest split of 51.13.