2019 U.S. National Championships: Day 5 Prelims Preview

2019 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

• July 31 – August 4, 2019
• Prelims 9:00 AM/Finals 5:00 PM (U.S. Pacific Standard Time)
• Avery Aquatics Center (Stanford, CA)
• LCM (50 Meter Pool)
• Meet Site
• Psych Sheet
• Pre-scratch timeline
• TV & Livestream Schedule
• Omega Results

Day 5 prelims heat sheets.

The final day of the 2019 U.S. National Championships has arrived. This morning’s prelims session will feature only two events: the 200 IM and 50 freestyle. At 2:20 this afternoon, timed finals of the women’s 1500 and men’s 800 freestyles will begin. Men and women will swim in alternating heats, with men’s 800 heats swimming first and women’s 1500 second.

Prelims will swim heats of 10, but finals only heats of 8. The top 24 advance through to ‘A’, ‘B’, and ‘C’ finals, while the 8-fastest 18-and-unders that place 25th or lower will advance to the 18-under ‘D’ final. The 8 fastest seeded swimmers in the men’s 800 and women’s 1500 will swim with finals, though a fast enough swim from somebody else in prelims could knock them out of the top-8 ranking.

Day 5 morning events:

• Women’s 200 IM – Prelims
• Men’s 200 IM – Prelims
• Women’s 50 Freestyle – Prelims
• Men’s 50 Freestyle – Prelims

Day 5 afternoon timed finals:

• Men’s 800 Freestyle
• Women’s 1500 Freestyle

This morning also begins the final opportunity for most American swimmers to swim a top-6 time in their events, qualifying them for the 2019-2020 U.S. National Team. Some swimmers who are already on the team and who swam at World Championships, such as Caeleb Dressel, have now sat out the entire meet. For others, those that sit 5th or 6th in their best event(s), today is an opportunity to move up or at least defend their place on the team.

Day 5 morning storylines to follow:

• Ryan Lochte is in the 200 IM this morning. Lochte was a 1:57.88 in a time trial of the 200 IM on Wednesday, but Time Trials do not count towards U.S. National Team qualification, meaning Lochte needs to crack the top-6 U.S. performer today in this race to make the team. Lochte has not qualified for an ‘A’ final in any of his races so far, though the time trial Wednesday is promising for this event.
• After getting disqualified in the prelims of the 200 IM at World University Games in July, John Shebat was reported to have done a 1:58-low in a time trial. That swim, like Lochte’s is unofficial, so Shebat will have to back it up with another today.
• Brothers Carson Foster and Jake Foster are back in the 200 IM. Bobby Finke, the champion in the 400 IM, will not swim the 200 today. Thursday, Finke and the two Fosters made up the entire podium in the 400 IM.
• Asia Seidt and Madisyn Cox will face off in the 200 IM today, which will provide a unique look at how the 200 backstroke champion and 200 breaststroke champion of this meet race the middle 100 of the IM. Cox is not weak on backstroke, but she was out-done in the 400 IM and only placed 5th in that race. She won the 200 IM at the 2018 Winter Nationals in December.
• 400 IM champion Emma Weyant will race the 200 today, swimming from a non-circle-seeded heat in the morning. Weyant has had a breakout meet so swimming in an earlier heat shouldn’t make a difference on her performance.
• Natalie Hinds, Erika Brown, Aly Tetzloff, and Veronica Burchill return in the women’s 50 freestyle, where they will face a contingent of motivated juniors looking to add another event to their lineups for Budapest.
• Speaking of junior swimmers with tickets to the World Junior Championships already punched, Gretchen Walsh, Claire Curzan, and Torri Huske will all look to add a 3rd event to their Budapest lineup with the 50 freestyle today.
• NCAA heavyweights Dean Farris, Bowe Becker, Ryan Hoffer, and Tate Jackson will square off in the men’s 50 freestyle, where they’re joined by pros Robert Howard and Ryan Held. Held broke the U.S. Open Record in the 100 freestyle on day 1 with a 47.39 (and a 47.43 in the morning), so he could do something big here. The U.S. Open Record in the 50 freestyle is, however, a 21.14.