Ross Dant Breaks 8-Year-Old 1000 FR Meet Record at Y Nats

2019 YMCA Short Course National Championships

• April 1-5, 2019
• Greensboro, NC
• Meet Site
• 2018 Champions: Sarasota (Combined)/Cheshire (Women)/Sarasota (Men)
• Psych Sheet
• Live Stream
• Results Page

The 2019 YMCA SC National Championships kicked off with the preliminaries of the 200 medley relay. The finals of the relay will take place during the Tuesday finals session. Here are the top 8 qualifying relays:

Women’s 200 Medley Relay

Top 8 Qualifiers:

1. Des Moines- 1:41.93
2. Blue Ash- 1:41.98
3. Spartanburg- 1:42.04
4. Bath Area- 1:42.89
5. Reading Berks- 1:43.03
6. Red Bank- 1:43.25
7. Cheshire- 1:43.30
8. Champaign- 1:43.39

Separated by less than a tenth are top 3 seeds Des Moines, Blue Ash, and Spartanburg. When comparing splits, each relay has a vital asset in a different stroke who cancel each other out. Blue Ash’s Emma Shuppert lead off her relay with a 24.99, almost a full second ahead of Des Moines and Spartanburg. However, the two relays have a pair of 28-second breaststrokers, Mary Martin (Des Moines) and Hannah Ownbey (Spartanburg). The fly legs are all relatively even, until Des Moines’ 22.53 free anchor Jasmine Rumley dives into the water to just nip at the other two relays.

Tomorrow, hundredths of a second will matter more than ever for the winning relay.

Men’s 200 Medley Relay

Top 8 Qualifiers:

1. Somerset Hills- 1:30.52
2. Triangle Area- 1:31.25
3. Upper Main Line- 1:31.75
4. Somerset Valley- 1:32.41
5. Red Bank- 1:32.64
6. Lakeland Hills- 1:32.87
7. West Shore- 1:33.32
8. Spartanburg- 1:33.40

Leading off the Somerset Hills’ relay was Jack Alexy, who had the fastest back split of the field with a 22.23. Alexy will be joined by Joe Castagno (25.87), Lukas Scheidl (22.20), and Roo Fenton (20.22) as the top seed into tomorrow’s finals.

In the second spot for tomorrow’s finals is the Triangle Area relay, nearly a full second behind Somerset Hills. The two relays’ splits were nearly identical across the way, however, Shaw Satterfield will need to split 20.2 or faster to take down Somerset Hills’ anchor Fenton.

Last year, the Upper Main Line relay won the relay title with a 1:31.25. Returning from the 2018 relay are Brendan Burns and Ben Doyle. Burns switched from back to fly, splitting a 21.49 in prelims. Burns and Doyle, keeping his breast leg, are joined by BK leg Jack Christian and free anchor Mathew Hopkins, who are all seeded 3rd into finals.

Among the relays, Hamilton Area free anchor and defending 50 free champ David Curtiss split a 19.52, the only sub-20 split of the meet thus far. In 2018, Curtiss set a new YMCA meet record with a 19.75.

After the relays were the timed finals of the 1000 free. Cruising to the women’s 1000 free title was Sarasota’s Emma Weyant. Weyant’s winning time of 9:39.41 is now the #37 time in the 17-18 age group. 14-year-old teammate Michaela Mattes aided a Sarasota 1-2 finish with her second place time of 9:54.06. Mattes’ personal best of 9:46.56 is the #21 time in the 13-14 age group.

Ross Dant of Hickory defended his 1000 free title from 2018 and broke the YMCA meet record by over 5 seconds in the process. The NC State recruit won the event with a 8:50.29, crushing the 2011 record of 8:55.55. Dant’s winning time is now the 7th-fastest time in 17-18 age group history.

Tomorrow, the 200 back, 100 fly, 200 breast, and 400 relay will be swum. Prelims begin at 8:45 am ET, finals being at 5:15 pm ET.