2016 YMCA LONG COURSE NATIONALS
- June 27th-July 31st, 2016
- Indianapolis, Indiana (IUPUI Natatorium)
- Live and on-demand video
- Photos
- Results
The YMCA national record book survived an all-out assault Saturday night, with swimmers rattling but not breaking 4 different records at YMCA Long Course Nationals Day 4.
The most memorable of those record-shaking swims was the boys 400 free, where Karl Bishop and Ross Dant tied for the national championship.
The 15-year-old Dant went out faster, but 18-year-old Bishop closed with a fury to sneak in for the tie. It was actually 200 free champion Grant House who led for the first half of the race, before Bishop and Dant made their charges. Both boys went 3:58.90 to tie for gold and come within six tenths of the national record – a 3:58.37 set last year. Bishop competes for Cheshire Community YMCA out of Connecticut while Dant swims for Hickory Foundation YMCA in North Carolina.
House wound up third in 3:59.52 and Hank Siefert, who set the record last year, was fourth in 3:59.55.
The closest record shave came in the girls 50 fly, where Countryside Y’s Megan Sichterman went 27.40 for the win. That’s .13 away from the Becca Weiland’s national record that has stood since 2009.
In the girls 100 breast, Montclair Y’s Charlotte O’Leary went 1:11.58 to win by well over a second and come within three tenths of another 2009 national record, this one held by KC Moss.
And in the girls 50 free, Ky-Lee Perry out of Wilton Y in Connecticut went 25.87 to rattle the national record once more. Katina Konopka set that mark at 25.65 last year.
Other day 4 event winners:
- York Y’s Leah Braswell was 4:17.76 to take home the girls 400 free. She was only about a second off her own national record from 2014.
- In the boys 50 fly, Dominic Poletta went 25.16 to touch out Upper Mainline’s Billy Beard (25.19) by just three one-hundredths of a second.
- 50 breast national record-breaker Max McHugh went 1:04.28 to win the 100 breast by more than a second and a half.
- Wilton Y’s Hugo Sykes took the boys 50 free in 25.53, just a tenth ahead of a tightly-packed field. Sykes was about a half-second away from the national record.
- Hickory Y won the girls 800 free relay in 8:23.68, led by a 2:04.71 leadoff leg from 15-year-old Faith Hefner. The entire relay was 16 or younger in a great showing of youth. Madison Murtagh (2:06.01), Sophia Cherkez (2:06.01) and Anna Durak (2:06.95) were all 2:06s on their legs.
- The boys relay went to Wilton Y, with Sykes getting his second gold of the night. He anchored in 1:54.03 to power the team to a 7:42.78 win. Robby Giller contributed a 1:55.22 leadoff leg, and the middle of the squad was Will Suchy (1:57.22) and Lexo Walker (1:56.31).
Team Scores After Day 4:
Girls Top 5:
- Fanwood Scotch Plains Y – 260
- Hickory Foundation Y – 227
- Countryside Ralph Stolle Y – 208
- York and York County Y – 206
- North Shore Sterling Y – 202
Boys Top 5:
- Wilton Family Y – 333
- Upper Mainline Y – 267
- Red Bank Branch – 216
- Cheshire Y – 215.5
- Somerset Valley Y – 187