Manuel And Comerford Scratch 50 Free At Mission Viejo Day 2 Prelims

2021 PRO SWIM SERIES – MISSION VIEJO (#3)

• April 8-11, 2021
• Marguerite Aquatics Center, Mission Viejo, CA
• LCM
• Prelims – 4:00pm PST/Finals – 10:00am PST
• Meet central
• Meet information
• Psych sheets
• Live stream (USA Swimming – evening prelims & 800 free Thursday)
• Live stream (Olympic Channel – mid-day finals)
• Live results

The biggest scratch heading into the second prelims session of the 2021 Pro Swim Series Mission Viejo in top seed in the 50 freestyle Simone Manuel. Having scratched the 200 freestyle on day one, Manuel will not swim the sprint event on day 2, having entered the meet with a 24.05.

Manuel’s coach Greg Meehan says that she’s out this week with a non-COVID related illness, but will be back racing soon. The Stanford pro group plans to race next at the Pro Swim Series meet in Indianapolis on May 12-15.

In her absence, Abbey Weitzeil will race from lane 4 of the fast heat with a 24.47 while Kasia Wasick and Julia Meyen are now second and third seed in the event. 7th seed Mallory Comerford also dropped the event, having been entered with a 24.89.

The men’s 200 butterfly prelims suffered quite a loss in entrants before day 2 prelims as second seed Miles Smalchlo, fourth seed Trenton Julian, and eighth seed Brooks Fail will no longer swim the event. Smalchlo was entered right behind top seed Zach Harting‘s 1:55.26 with a 1:55.94 while Julian was going in with a 1:56.09. Fail’s eighth-seeded time meanwhile was a 1:57.00.

With Smalchlo and Julian removed from the field, we’ll be looking at a top 3 that features 2019 Worlds A finalist in the event Zach Harting (1:55.26), 2021 NCAA Champion in the event Nicolas Albiero (1:56.05), and 2016 Olympian Tom Shields (1:56.12).

Another big-name scratch for day 2 prelims was Beryl Gastaldello in the 100 backstroke. The French Olympian dropped her 6th seeded spot in the backstroke in favour of the 50 freestyle in which she’ll be 5th seed. Gastaldello’s absence in the 100 back means that Ali DeLoof, Lisa Bratton, and Lucie Nordmann will move up to 6th, 7th, and 8th, respectively. 12th seeded Janelle Rudolph also dropped out of the 100 backstroke, as well as the 50 freestyle in which she was 21st.

Other Day 2 Prelims Scratches

• Men’s 200 butterfly: Dare Rose, Michael Brinegar
• Women’s 50 freestyle: Emma Wheal
• Men’s 50 freestyle: Enzo Martinez Scarpe, Ryan Hoffer
• Women’s 100 backstroke: Aria Bernal, Amy Tang, Meghan Small, Maddie Hart
• Men’s 100 backstroke: Mohamed Hassan, Anthony Rincon, Zachary Tan
• Women’s 200 breaststroke: Laura Morley, Allie Raab, Manuela Mendolicchio
• Men’s 200 breaskstroke: Zachary Tan