Day 2 of the Charlotte UltraSwim, aka the first day with a preliminary session, is a wrap and there’s some incredible finals set up, while others will be one-or-two swimmer battles.
Chief among those on the deep end is the men’s 200 free final, which saw 14 guys sitting at 1:50’s or 1:51’s in the preliminary sessions. Club Wolverine’s Connor Jaeger took the top seed in the 200 in 1:50.27, coming off of his win in the 800, but seven of the eight swimmers in the A-Final are Olympians: Joe Schooling, Conor Dwyer, Michael Klueh (not an Olympian, but swam at Worlds in 2012), Matt McLean, Ryan Lochte, Ricky Berens, and Charlie Houchin. Those 8 were all within 7-tenths of each other in prelims. Expect such a competitive field to push easily into the 1:48 range in finals.
In the women’s race, it’s not quite as loaded, but it’s still an extremely competitive field that includes Georgia Olympians Shannon Vreeland (2:00.37 for the top seed) and Allison Schmitt, who is the Olympic Champion. Chloe Sutton, Leah Smith, and Canadian Sam Cheverton will join them in the final.
Not to be overlooked is that the youngest finalist in either the A or B final is 16-year old Vien Nguyen in a 2:03.06 (10th seed.) The Viatnamese swimmer was a 2012 Olympian for her native country, and though she was born in Vietnam she lives in Florida and is training with the St Augustine Cyclones team. She has a pair of medals from the 2012 Asian Championships.
The women’s 100 breaststroke will see Jessica Hardy facing off with a Texas’ Laura Sogar, with the latter touching for the top seed in 1:08.11 and Hardy just behind in 1:08.18. Micah Lawrence was 3rd in 1:08.91, and Columbia swimmer Katie Meili was 5th in 1:09.85.
The men’s 100 breaststroke is led by a pair of international swimmers. Richard Funk, who competes collegiately at Michigan, took the top seed in 1:02.27 and Colombian Jorge Murillo was 2nd in 1:02.44.
The top American finisher is Tennessee post-grad Brad Craig in 1:02.82, and Mike Alexandrov in 1:02.86. The American breaststroking group that was once so deep is now looking pretty thin, especially as we haven’t seen Cordes at either of the Grand Prix meets since finishing the NCAA season.
The World Record holder Dana Vollmer took the top seed in the 100 fly in 58.43. Claire Donahue from Western Kentucky was the only swimmer to join her under a minute (59.90) and the two US Olympic in the event representatives lead the way into the final.
Louisville freshman Kelsi Worrell just missed breaking a minute for the second time in her career by hitting a 1:00.00.
Bolles School junior Joe Schooling roared to the top seed in the 100 fly with a 52.55, which incidentally knocks six-tenths of a second off of his best time and Singapore National Record in the race.
American Tyler McGill, Olympic finalist, was 2nd in 53.50. To hold serve with where he was at this point last year, expect him to be sitting around a 53.0 or better in finals.
Mario Todorovic, a 24-year old representing Bolles, was 3rd in 53.74, followed by Eugene Godsoe in 4th (53.75). Todorovic is a Croatian Olympian.
Ryan Lochte was 9th in prelims of the 100 fly with a 54.16, and other notable finishes includes NCAP 16-year old Andrew Seliskar in 55.29, and Michigan sophomore Bruno Ortiz in 16th in 55.63. Ricky Berens (55.65) slipped to the C-Final in a race that hasn’t been all that serious for him since graduating from Texas.
Olympic silver medalist Elizabeth Beisel was the top seed in the women’s 400 IM in 4:46.32, followed by Georgia’s Amber McDermott (4:49.38) and SwimMAC 16-year old Kathleen Baker (4:50.62).
The men’s race, which lost some luster with a Tyler Clary no-show and a Sebastien Rousseau DQ, Chase Kalisz took the top seed in 4:19.25. Andrew Seliskar is the second seed in 4:25.97, and Conor Dwyer sits in the B-Final in 11th place with a 4:31.55. At these Grand Prixs, most of the big stars don’t really turn on this 400 IM until finals. Michael Weiss is in the B-Final as well.
In the two sprint races of the day, Glenview Titan Aquatic Club’s Olivia Smoliga is the top seed in 28.34, followed by her future Georgia teammate Megan Romano in 28.56. They were followed by a pair of Colombians: Carolina Colorado of the Davie Nadadores, and Isabealla Arcila, who trains at SMU. Emma Svensson from Florida Gulf Coast, who’s been battling some illness, had a good morning swim for 5th in 28.90. Smoliga is about half-a-second away from Hayley McGregory’s American Record in the event; 27.80 is the target in finals.
David Plummer topped the men’s 50 back in 25.24, followed by Eugene Godsoe (25.34) and Japanese swimmer Junya Koga in 25.37. Cal-bound Ryan Murphy also made that A-Final with a 25.82.
In the women’s 50 breaststroke (this strange four-day schedule has the 50 and 100 breast in the same session), Hardy took the top seed in 30.70, followed by Tennessee’s Molly Hannis. Hannis is coming off of a phenomenal year at Tennessee where she showed that she’s as good as anyone in the coutnry, including the great Breeja Larson, over a 50 breaststroke.
Funk doubled up on top seeds, with a 28.06 in the men’s 50 breaststroke. Mike Alexandrov was 2nd in 28.20; Mark Gangloff and Brad Craig were both also 28.2’s.
stupid question….is there a specific reason why some swimmers are listed as “unattached” at certain meets? I’ve noticed that while looking at psych sheets at various meets. Sometimes swimmers are listed as “unattached” when they are clearly “attached”…ex: Dana Vollmer is listed as “unattached” but Ervin is listed at Cal. Why is this the case? Just curious…
anonymous – it means they are not registered to represent a certain club. Sometimes, they are changing club affiliations. Sometimes, like in the case of California HS swimmers who can’t represent another team during their season, it’s a clerical thing. A lot of time pro swimmers represent home clubs, and will try and switch back and forth. The whole thing is rather silly, in my opinion, and sort of dulls the meaning of representing a team, but it’s the way the rules are. There’s also a waiting period after registering before they are no longer unattached.
All we need to see from Jaeger now, is what feels like will be the first sub3:50 inseason swim by an American since the the suit era.
What country do the Ortiz brothers aim to represent internationally? They never seem to come up in any national championship meets.
Oh, Spain.
Reid – they represent Spain.
Impressive Joseph Schooling in the 100 fly! Big new PB! And after a good 200 free! Is he the biggest rival of Chad le Clos on butterfly for 2016? We’ll see. Unlike his training partners from Bolles he looks well tapered. Or perhaps he isn’t and his 52.55 is even more impressive.
No Tyler Clary in the 400 IM! Was he afraid of Chase Kalisz?
A sub 28 for Miss Smoliga in the 50 back final? It would be great for a mid-season meet.
Connor is one fire …. very encouraging for Barcelona and team Usa .