The top recruit in the high school class of 2014 Caeleb Dressel began his college career on Friday in prelims at the All-Florida Invite in his home pool.
This meet format allows teams to enter an unlimited number of swimmers into each event, but only put two through into the A-Final. That held true until there weren’t enough swimmers to otherwise fill the A-Final, at which point teams were allowed 3rd entries into the A-Final (there are only three men’s teams, so this was often the case).
Dressel earned second swims in two different events: both the 50 free, indicative of where he’s coming from, and the 200 IM, which is indicative of where both he and Gregg Troy have said publicly he’ll be moving toward.
In the 50 free, Dressel was the 2nd-fastest swimmer in prelims behind teammate Corey Main. Main swam a 20.21, and Dressel was 2nd in 20.24.
In the 200 IM, Dressel was 4th in prelims in 1:52.10. That bumped him down to the B-Final, with all three swimmers ahead of him being Florida Gators: Matt Elliott (1:49.08), Eduardo Solaeche-Gomez (1:49.84), and fellow freshman Mark Szaranek (1:50.64).
In the men’s 500 free, the other individual event on Friday morning, Mitch D’Arrigo took the top seed in 4:28.14. That included a rocket of a last 100 yard, where he split 52.4. That’s faster than his first 100 yards were.
Eduardo Solaeche-Gomez was 2nd in that race in 4:31.40, and Austin Manganiello was 3rd in 4:32.59.
On the women’s side, versatile freestyler Cierra Runge, in her second meet as a collegian, rolled to more impressive swims. She took the top seed in the 500 free for the Cal Golden Bears women (the only non-Florida team at the meet).
Florida’s Megan Rankin (4:52.85) and Jess Thielmann (4:52.86) will flank her on either side in the final, with Liz Pelton joining them (4:54.97).
The women’s 200 IM had a lot of big names in it, including Cal sophomore Celina Li in 2:01.15. Li got out to a big lead on the field in the first 100 yards before coming back a little on the breaststroke leg. The only swimmer close to her after 100 yards was Cal’s Missy Franklin. She skipped the 500 free, an event in which she was 2nd at NCAA’s last year, but was solid in the IM to place 4th in 2:02.93. She struggled on the breaststroke leg, but her other three splits looked very good.
That time, however, will leave her back in the B-Final as the 3rd Cal finisher. Liz Pelton (2nd – 2:02.20) and Lindsey McKnight (2:02.48) will be in the A-Final beside Li.
And finally, in the women’s 50 free prelims, which might wind up being the most exciting of the night, Florida’s Natalie Hinds was a 22.77 for the top seed. Hinds was unbelievably-good in the team’s opener against Arkansas last week (she split 21.6 on a relay), and that’s carried over here. Also looking good, though, is Kaitlyn Dressel of Florida State – older sister of Caeleb. She was a 22.94 for the 2nd seed, with All-American Emma Svensson sitting 3rd in 23.03.
Missy Franklin (4th – 23.20), Farida Osman (5th – 23.38), and Sinead Russell (6th – 23.58) all made the A-final as well.
Note that there are no live results for this meet, on the internet or on Meet Mobile.
thetroublewithx….sorry, but he does NOT have a better chance in the 200im than the 50 or 100 free…I don’t care who he is training with…..or who retires/quits in the next two years.
I am pretty sure Troy is just making everyone swim more than one event per session and just using this weekend as a training session.
bobo, usa does things a little different than Europeans. sorry!
Caeleb Dressel in the 200 IM. In long term? 🙄
Please no! His international future is on the 50 free, the 100 free and the 100 fly.
And the 50 free and the 200 IM are on the same day at the NCAA championships.
It would be stupid to kill his best event with a 200 IM just before.
50 free on day 1
100 fly on day 2
100 free on day 3
That’s the usual schedule of a sprinter at the NCAA championships.
It seems obvious.
Bottom line up front: switching focus for a little bit may turn out better long-term than slavishly sticking to what he’s already good at.
Dressel is only 18, has two years until Rio, and he probably won’t hit his peak, Olympic-wise, until 2020. From some of the interviews, he seems to value having fun a lot, and took five months off of swimming to help avoid burn-out. I don’t think we’re going to see Dressel totally forsake the free sprints permanently, but taking a year (or maybe more) to focus on his IM (if that is indeed the plan) could have a lot of benefits. Not just physical, but psychological as well. Again, I don’t know the kid, but just… Read more »
One additional thought…with Troy’s training, he might actually have a better shot at an individual slot for Rio in the 200 IM than the 50 or 100 free. If Phelps or Lochte falter/quit, the 200 IM is pretty wide open, whereas the 50/100 free is going to be a dogfight, with a lot of veterans with proven track records of success (Adrian, Ervin, Feigen, Grevers, Jones, etc.).
Results here –
http://www.gatorzone.com/swimmingdiving/men/stats/box/20141003000000.html
Gators came out to Berkeley last season for a two day meet, so Cal agreeing to come to Florida this season was probably part of the deal between Teri and Troy.
They should probably change the name of the meet with Cal attending. Not sure why they chose to attend. Kind of liked just all the Florida school duking it out like the North Carolina invite.