2019 INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING LEAGUE – AMERICAN DERBY
- Saturday, November 16 – Sunday, November 17, 2019
- 2:00-4:00 PM Local Time (U.S. Eastern Time)
- Eppley Recreation Center – College Park, MD
- Short Course Meters (SCM) format
- American franchises: Cali Condors, LA Current, DC Trident, New York Breakers
- Preview
- Live Stream (ESPN3)
- Full Day 1 Results
Reported by Nick Pecoraro/Jared Anderson.
WOMEN’S 50 FREE SKINS
ROUND 1 – QUARTERFINAL
1. Beryl Gastaldello – LAC – 23.98
2. Pernille Blume – NYB – 24.06
3. Siobahn Haughey – DCT – 24.09
4. Kasia Wasick – CAC – 24.10
5. Margo Geer – LAC – 24.28
6. Madison Kennedy – DCT – 24.36
7. Catie DeLoof – NYB – 24.40
8. Olivia Smoliga – CAC – 24.45
One swimmer from each team in – things were brutally close, and there’s no clear favorite in this field. Gastaldello continues to be the most underrated signing in this meet – she’s tearing it up for LA. But her teammate Margo Geer misses by two tenths, and that hurts. Smoliga taking 8th for Cali is a big blow – she was probably a title contender coming in, but had a busy schedule so far.
ROUND 2 – SEMIFINAL
1. Beryl Gastaldello – LAC – 24.56
2. Siobahn Haughey – DCT – 24.70
3. Pernille Blume – NYB – 24.74
4. Kasia Wasick – CAC – 25.01
A lot of breathing in this round – the field looked winded. Gastaldello continues to dominate, and Haughey sneaks in by four one-hundredths for DC. It’s been a really rough go for Cali so far – they take 4th and 8th for just 11 points in this event.
ROUND 3 – FINAL
1. Beryl Gastaldello – LAC – 24.46
2. Siobahn Haughey – DCT – 25.16
Gastaldello is more of a sprinter and Haughey a 200-type, but Gastaldello still clearly had the training capacity to hold up over three rounds. She gets a well-earned skins win, staying pretty consistent in the 24-mids over the final two rounds. She was actually faster in the final than she was in the semis. Big points for the Current, who needed exactly this scenario to be in the hunt to overtake Cali late.
LA’s Beryl Gastaldello controlled the skins race throughout all three rounds, swimming faster in round 3 than round 2. For DC’s Siobhan Haughey, her start was one of her challenges throughout the meet. She improved her start for the first 2 rounds of the skins, yet fatigue caught up on the third round.
After all she’s been through, it’s so nice to see her swimming with confidence again. The ISL will keep the Cindy Trans and Courtney Bartholomews and Coleman Stewarts of our sport swimming longer now that they have a venue to put their stellar underwaters to good use. Maybe it’ll even give them the confidence to finally get that long course breakthrough.
I wonder if the vegas times will be substantially slower, similar to how nba/nfl teams do worse in cities with better night life -or James Harden’s performances in cities with better …clubs…
More time zone and jet lag issues for Europeans
down votes for this seem unwarranted,
Many downvotes on this site are unwarranted . . Take it as a compliment….
sorry but i have to say it, that voice is very hot
Congrats to Béryl on a huge start of the 2019/2020 season.
She has reached a new level in the last few weeks.
Hopefully she can convert that progression into long course for next year and the olympic games.
Rock Star performance indeed!