Brendan Burns & Matt Fallon Climb All-Time Rankings on Day 2 of YNats

2019 YMCA SHORT COURSE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

• April 1-5, 2019
• Greensboro, NC
• Meet Site
• 2018 Champions: Sarasota (Combined)/Cheshire (Women)/Sarasota (Men)
• SCY (25y) course
• Psych Sheet
• Live Stream
• Results Page

Somerset Valley’s Matt Fallon knocked another half-a-second off his prelims time in the boys’ 200 breaststroke. He swam a 1:54.27 in finals, which furthers his gap ahead of Andrew Seliskar as the 2nd-fastest 15-16 200 yard breaststroker in American history.

His 3rd 50 in the final was the difference maker. He was out in about the same time at the 100 yard mark, and he closed slower in the final than he did in prelims. His 3rd 50 split in finals was a 29.09, though, which was .83 seconds better than prelims (and his fastest 50 other than the opener of the race).

What’s most remarkable is how quickly Fallon has dropped his time in this event. At last year’s meet, he was the runner-up in 1:59.23 (almost 6 seconds behind the YMCA Record holder Max McHugh). That remained his best time until early March, where he swam a 1:56.0 at the New Jersey YMCA state meet; and now, a month later, he’s whacked almost 2 more seconds from that time.

Red Bank YMCA’s Johnny Nutt finished 2nd this year in 2:01.49 for a New Jersey 1-2 finish.

Fallon wasn’t the only history maker on day 2 of the meet. Upper Main Line YMCA’s Brendan Burns started his meet off with a win in the 100 yard fly. He swam a 46.10, which cut a second off his Meet Record of 46.61 from last season. His previous best time, from December, was 46.32.

He now ranks 14th all-time in 17-18 age group history, and is 4th all-time among 17-year olds.

Last season, Burns swam just 4 individual races at this meet: the 100 fly, 200 fly, 100 back, and 200 back. He’s scheduled for 7 individual swims at this meet, including a big 200 IM showdown with Fallon.

Other Day 2 Winners:

• Paige Hetrick of the Bradford YMCA in Pennsylvania defended her title in the 200 backstroke in 1:53.09 to open the individual winners on Tuesday evening. Her time last year, which was her fastest coming into the meet, was 1:54.7 She now ranks 32nd all-time in age group history.
• Another Pennsylvanian, Sam Wesley of the Ridley Area YMCA won the boys’ 200 backstroke in 1:45.04. He went out hard in the race, leading wire-to-wire, and held on for a win over Red Bank’s Paul Retterer, who was 2nd in 1:45.84. Wesley was just 26th in this event at last year’s meet, which left him without an evening swim. This year, he was 5-and-a-half seconds better to win. Ridley didn’t score a single point at last year’s meet, but already have 20 this year thanks to Wesley’s win.
• Blue Ash (Ohio) YMCA’s Megan Glass successfully defended her title in the 100 fly with a 53.24, but this year, she wasn’t alone atop the podium. She shared it with Orlando’s Olivia Taylor, who also went 53.24. The two, both seniors, are committed to Michigan and LSU, respectively. Later in the meet, Glass will also attempt a defense of her 200 fly title.
• Charity Pittard from the Boise YMCA won the girls’ 200 breaststroke in 2:11.54, making yet another defending champion (one of 4 to defend titles in 6 individual races on Wednesday). Her time this year was almost 2 seconds faster than her win from last year, all of which came on the front half, and she needed those 2 seconds: Spartanburg’s Annika McEnroe swam 2:12.68 for 2nd. She also finished 3rd in the 100 fly, which brings anticipation for her IM races later in the week.
• Including a 23.88 fly split from Glass, Blue Ash won the girls’ 200 medley relay in 1:41.51. Blue Ash’s relay included Emma Shuppert (24.89), Kathy Zhao (29.81), Glass (23.88), and Emma Fortman (22.93). Des Moines was 2nd in 1:41.80, and Bath Area Y’s relay was 3rd in 1:41.88.
• The Upper Main Line Y’s A relay won the boys’ 200 medley in 1:30.63. Burns split a 20.89 on the butterfly leg, which was over a second ahead of the rest of the butterfliers in the A final. Somerset was 2nd in 1:30.77, just .14 back, with Roo Fenton splitting 20.21 on their anchor to almost run down Upper Main Line’s relay.
• The Sarasota YMCA, after missing the A final in the girls’ 400 free relay last season, climbed to the top of the podium and tied YOTA for the win in 3:22.38. Sarasota used 3 of the same 4 legs from last season, and put the pressure on 13-year old Addie Sauickie on the anchor. She split 51.42, which was just enough to hold on as YOTA’s Kayla Miller finished hard in 50.45 to earn the tie. There was a ton of young talent on display in this race: the two fastest splits in the field both came from 14-year olds. #1 was a 494.75 anchor leg from Champaign’s Angela Coe, while #2 was a 49.87 anchor from Spartanburg’s Kristi McEnroe (sister of Annika).
• The whole field in the men’s 400 free relay was coming back on Upper Main Line, after Brendan Burns split a 43.60 on their leadoff leg. Somerset Hills, though, had the depth, and came awway with a relatively-comfortable win in 3:00.88. That’s half-a-second slower than their Meet Record set last season. Somerset Hills was actually in 4th place going into the final leg of the race, but 16-year old Jack Alexy split 43.67 on  the anchor to break the race wide open. He and Burns were the only sub-44 splits in the field.

Team Scores

It looks like both the boys and girls trophies will be going to new champions this season. After 2 days, both defending champions, the Cheshire girls and Sarasota boys, are outside of the top 10.

Girls’ Top 5:

1. Sarasota YMCA – 133
2. Greater Spartanburg YMCA – 132
3. Red Bank YMCA – 105
4. Boise YMCA – 68
5. Greater Des Moines YMCA

Boys’ Top 5:

1. Red Bank Branch YMCA – 109
2. Somerset Hills YMCA – 106
3. Upper Main Line YMCA – 92
4. Triangle Area YMCA – 86
5. Somerset Valley YMCA – 71