Countryside YMCA’s Alisabeth Marsteller is the top seed in a pair of races heading into the last session of YMCA Nationals. The incoming Princeton Tiger leads the 100 free and 200 IM after Friday morning’s prelims.
Marsteller opened up prelims by pacing the 100 free. Her 57.12 is still a bit off her best, but she’ll have a great shot to get under 57 seconds for the first time in her career tonight. The second seed is Lakeland Hills’ Ingrid Shu at 57.79.
Marsteller returned three events later to take lane four in tonight’s 200 IM final. She went 2:21.17 to lead the field by exactly one second – Somerset Valley 15-year-old Megan Bull is 2:22.17 for the second seed. Marsteller has been as fast as 2:19.97 in this event, and tonight she’ll get to test exactly how fast she can go within this 100 free/200 IM double. Bull’s time is notable too, as that’s a four-second drop from her previous best.
The boys 100 free should be a good battle tonight between a pair of New Jersey swimmers. Ocean County’s Zachary Molloy and Somerset Valley’s Brad Zdroik are the top two seeds separated by just .06. Molloy, who won the 100 fly and finished 2nd in the 50 earlier this week, is the top seed in 52.06. Zdroik, who won the 50 fly and is a double relay-winner with Somerset Valley, went 52.16.
The closest race of prelims, though, is the boys 200 IM. Manuel Barragan of Sun Coast is the top seed by two one-hundredths, with a pair of swimmers tied just behind him. Barragan went 2:08.01 this morning, while Ohio swimmers Jonathan Rutter of Powel Crosley and Mark Andrew out of Greater Miami Valley each went 2:08.03. Only a tenth back from them is Maxwell Dolan from Wilton YMCA, making this an exciting race to watch tonight. Barragan had the best first 100 split, but Rutter crushed the back half this morning.
In addition to Marsteller, Countryside also got a top seed from Emily Slabe in the 50 back. Slabe was 29.85 this morning, trying to keep momentum going after winning a national title with the 200 medley relay last night. Kishwaukee 16-year-old Daniel Hein is the top boys seed, going 27.07 in prelims.
Brooke Perrotta is just 15 years old, and she leads the girls 200 fly by a couple tenths. Perrotta swims for Cheshire, and has been an extremely fast riser in this event lately. She went a lifetime-best 2:19.59 earlier this summer, and before that meet hadn’t been under 2:26. She was another lifetime-best 2:18.80 this morning, and look for her to make an even bigger drop tonight.
Wilton’s Tommy Kealy leads the boys 200 fly at 2:06.08. Western North Carolina Y’s Luke Lechner is the second seed at 2:06.95, swimming a tough double with that 200 IM where he’s also in the A final. The IM comes first in the event order, so it’ll be a good test for Lechner if he elects to swim both tonight.
The session closed with the 400 free relays. Marsteller and Slabe were back for Countryside, with Marsteller putting up a big 57.19 split – the fastest in the field – to anchor the team. Still, Countryside sits second to Somerset Hills, which had its own quick anchor with Julieyanna Parker (57.89). Somerset Hills also had two girls go 58.9 – Tatiana Prendella and Kathleen Miszkiewicz. They were 3:54.90 to Countryside’s 3:56.08.
Cheshire leads the boys at 3:31.27. Joseph Shepley was 52.04 on the anchor leg. Top 100 free seed Zachary Molloy split 51.94 on the end of Ocean County’s 4th-place squad.
Full results available here. The final session is tonight, and features finals of each of these events, plus the 800 freestyles for both boys and girls.