The Marlins of Raleigh hosted their Atlantic Invite this past weekend (Nov 13-15). The meet drew many of the best swimmers in the area. Topping the participant list were four swimmers who last year qualified for a National Junior team. Ashley McCauley and Madison Homovich, both from the host team, as well as Savanna Faulconer from Spartanburg YMCA and James Murphy of Machine Aquatics all took part in the meet.
McCauley made USA Swimming National Junior team on the strength of her 200 breaststroke, where she swam 2:32.29 this past summer. She swam a big program this weekend, with eight events in all including all four strokes and both medley races. McCauley best swim was in the 200 breaststroke where she won handily in 2:18.60. McCauley would add the 400 IM (4:32.26) later in the meet.
Stepping up to beat McCauley in the 100 breaststroke was her 13 year old teammate Abby Arens. She won that event in 1:04.77, while also taking the 200 IM (2:08.79), 100 butterfly (59.14) and 100 freestyle (54.14) .
Homovich was a member of the 2014-2015 USA Swimming National Junior team on the basis of both her 400 and 800 freestyle. She entered in the 1000 free with a strong 9:42, but ended up beating Faulconer handily with a 10:03.74. She also recorded the top time in the 200 IM (2:04.07), 200 backstroke (2:01.90) and 100 butterfly (56.13).
Faulconer qualified for National Junior status in the 400 IM. She entered the meet as the top seed in that event with a 4:08.59. She’s was also seeded in the 200 breaststroke with a 2:10.79. She ended up taking the 400 IM in 4:20.76, the 200 breaststroke in 2:18.23, as well as the 100 breaststroke (1:05.15), 200 butterfly (2:04.68) and 500 freestyle (4:57.54).
While Murphy has not made the USA Swimming team, he was selected for the NCSA travel team on the basis of his results last spring, traveling to compete in the Irish Open. Murphy was the only swimmer under 1:40 in the 200 free (1:39.27), under 21 in the 50 (20.91) and under 46 in the 100 free (45.37).
He finished second to his teammate- 27 year old former Division III All-American Hugh Anderson– in the 200 fly (1:48.91 to 1:50.81), and third in the 100 fly (50.66) to a nice swim (49.85) from 18 year old Will McMillan of North Carolina Aquatic Club. Another highlight was 18 year old Tyler Silver of the home team who won the 100 backstroke in 49.85.
Full results are here