A long-course meters Speedo Champions Series event kicked off Thursday night in Plantation, Florida with some big names in attendance including Jamaican Olympian Alia Atkinson and NAG record hunter Michael Andrew. Several Club Wolverine pros highlighted the first day of action as well as a number of local Florida relays.
The only two individual events of the night were the first distance races. The women’s 1500 went to Club Wolverine’s Emily Brunemann. She went 16:54.73 and not too far behind her was South Florida Aquatic 16-year-old Melissa Marineheiro. Marinheiro went 17:10.38 to finish almost 40 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.
The men’s 800 also went to a Club Wolverine athlete, Michael Klueh. The former Texas star went 8:08.78 to win the men’s race with 17-year-old Marcelo Acosta second in 8:20.24.
Guelph Marlin Aquatic Club won the women’s 200 medley relay. The team of Emma Ball, Genevieve Robertson, Danielle D’Aoust and Samantha Stratford were the only squad under two minutes, going 1:59.10. The men’s event went to Azura Florida Aquatic. Mateo Gonzalez, Alexander Morgan, Luis Martinez and Carlos Herrera combined to go 1:48.06 and win by two seconds.
South Florida Aquatic Club won the women’s 200 free relay with Marinheiro showing off her short speed and anchoring after her solid 1500 free performance earlier in the night. She was joined by Maria Lopez, Alia Atkinson and Kathleen Golding to go 1:49.40. Atkinson, the Jamaican Olympian, was a fast 26.0 swimming second on the relay. They just touched out Pine Crest by .08 – Pine Crest lead early on Marta Ciesla‘s 26.4 leadoff leg, but couldn’t hold off Marinheiro’s miler speed at the end.
The men’s 200 free relay saw the Blue Dolphins race to victory. That team featured Noah Hensley, Zachary Poti, John Fulginiti and Jackson Auer going 1:38.79.
Full results are available on Meet Mobile under “2014 Speedo Champions Series – SZSS.”
new NAG for MA in 100m fly! 54.59