Federico Burdisso Hits 22.81 50 Free at Senior Midwest Open in Evanston

SENIOR MIDWEST OPEN

• January 11-12, 2019
• Evanston, IL
• LCM
• Results on Meet Mobile

Northwestern University hosted the long course Senior Midwest Open this weekend, giving their team and club swimmers in Illinois the chance to swim an LCM meet in the Olympic year.

The meet is “a chance for the swimmers in our LSC to swim long course,” said NU head coach Jeremy Kipp. The former Boise State head coach is in the midst of his second season leading the Wildcat program. “In Illinois, we don’t have many chances [to race LCM] outside of summer or the Pro Series meets during this time of year and as we know the TYR Pro Series can be tough sledding for inexperienced swimmers. Northwestern and NASA worked with the LSC to make this meet happen.”

NASA is the club team that trains out of Northwestern’s pool.

Wildcat freshman and Italian national record-holder Federico Burdisso raced a big this weekend, his first LCM racing since he got to campus mid-season. He posted a time of 22.81 in the 50 free, and also clocked a 24.20 in the 50 fly, winning both races. He came fairly close to his 50 free best time, a 22.72 from 2018.

Several other NU swimmers put up strong swims this weekend. Swede Hannah Brunzell and Canadian Sophie Angus dominated the 100 breast, going 1-2 with respective times of 1:08.79 and 1:08.89. Third went to Maggie Papanicholas in 1:12.02. The 14-year-old from Glenbrook Swim Club in Illinois also won the 200 breast, going 2:37.49.

Ryan Gridley, a sophomore, posted a 56.30 to get under the Olympic Trials cut in the 100 backstroke. He’s already qualified with a 56.19 from the 2019 US Summer Nationals. The other backstroke events were claimed by NU sophomore Manu Bacarizo, a Spanish national. He was 27.10 in the 50 and 2:00.75 in the 200.

Freshman Kevin Houseman clocked a 1:02.90 to win the 200 breast, and junior Ilektra Lebl posted a 2:02.30 to claim the 200 free.

14-year-old Leah Hayes of Fox Valley Park District Riptide swam a slew of events, winning one. Her event win came in the 200 IM, going 2:18.25 for the win. She was a tad quicker in prelims (2:18.21). She also was second in the 200 free (2:03.06) behind Lebl. Not swimming in several finals, Hayes competed in prelims of the 100 breast (1:12.46), 200 breast (2:41.28), and 400 IM (5:01.83), and split a 26.68 anchoring her club’s 200 medley relay.