NCSA Junior Nationals Day 5 Prelims Live Recap

2016 NCSA SPRING JUNIOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

• March 15th-19th, 2016
• Short Course Yards Prelims/Long Course Meters Finals
• Prelims 8:30 AM Eastern Time/Finals 6:00PM Eastern Time (Except Tuesday, where they’re 4:00PM)
• Orlando YMCA // Orlando, Florida
• Live Stream
• Psych Sheets
• Championship Central
• Live Results via MeetMobile: “2016 NCSA Spring Championship”

**Tonight’s finals will be contested in long course after this morning’s SCY prelims session**

The final day of racing Orlando will be the lightest, with just two 50s and the 200 IM to contest to go along with a 400 medley relay. Later in the afternoon, the Olympic distance races will be swum.

At stake on the final day is the team race for the championship. While Nation’s Capital Aquatic Club (NCAP) is running away with the overall and women’s title, they are just 8.5 points ahead of Nova of Virginia Aquatics (NOVA) for the men’s title.

Ozaukee Aquatic’s Katie Drabot is in two more races on the final day, seeded first in both the 50 freestyle and 200 IM. In order to win the IM, she’ll have to hold off double breaststroke champion Margaret Aroesty.

In the men’s pool, Dean Farris is coming off two victories last night. He will look to add to that today in the 50 freestyle, where he finds himself in 1st after Michael Andrew scratched out of the final day.

Women’s 50 Backstroke

Lucie Nordmann will look to sweep the backstroke races this meet after she qualified first this morning. The 15 year old from Magnolia Aquatic Club swam to 25.08 to take the top spot.

Phoebe Bacon showed herself to be a sprint specialist, she’s seeded second here after finishing 14th in the 100. Her time of 25.26 at just 13 years old is likely one of the top times ever in that age group. USA Swimming does not keep official lists of 50s of stroke for 13-14 year old swimmers.

Top eight qualifiers:

1. Lucie Nordmann 25.08
2. Phoebe Bacon 25.26
3. Hannah Lindsey 25.26
4. Emily Ryan 25.57
5. Mikaela Dahlke 25.60
6. Carrie Boone 25.68
7. Abigail Burke 25.78
8. Caroline Famous 25.81

Men’s 50 Backstroke

Dylan Curtis, who finished third in the 100 last night, qualified first this morning in 22.36. 100 Backstroke champion Ethan Young is 4th in 22.69. Young tends to do better the longer the race, whereas Curtis is more of a sprinter.

In the team race, NOVA was able to get a swimmer in both the A and B final and should gain on NCAP in this race.

Top eight qualifiers:

1. Dylan Curtis 22.36
2. Tyler Sesvold 22.62
3. George Wozencraft 22.66
4. Ethan Young 22.69
5. Matthew Novinski 22.81
6. Frederick Schubert 22.81
7. Ryan Baker 22.91
8. Cody Bollinger 22.98

Women’s 200 IM

Margaret Aroesty used her breaststroke to break free from the pack and win the 200 IM. The LIAC star split 33.29 on breaststroke on her way to the top seed of 1:59.41. Katie Drabot was top of the heat sheet, and chances are she can close a lot better than the 27.76 freestyle leg she did this morning.

Drabot’s breaststroke leg also has room for improvement, as she split slower than she did on the 1st lap of breaststroke on the 400 IM.

Aroesty won handily in the 400 edition earlier in the meet.

Top eight qualifiers:

1. Margaret Aroesty 1:59.41
2. Eireni Moshos 1:59.81
3. Katherine Drabot 2:00.23
4. Katherine Douglass 2:00.29
5. Kylie Jordan 2:00.96
6. Halladay Kinsey 2:01.73
7. Alexis Yager 2:01.89
8. Olivia Fisher 2:01.90

Men’s 200 IM

If NOVA takes the team title today, this event will certainly be their turning point. They placed three swimmers in the top eight of this race, including top qualifier Frederick Schubert at 1:47.25.

Schubert will be looking for his first individual title. He was denied in the 400 IM by teammate Charles Swanson, who looked conservative this morning and swims considerably better in long course.

Reece Whitley also added a bit in this race but made the top final. Double winner from night four Dean Farris also qualified

Top eight qualifiers

1. Frederick Schubert 1:47.25
2. Thomas Cope 1:47.36
3. Charles Swanson 1:47.97
4. Reece Whitley 1:48.32
5. Aaron Schultz 1:48.40
6. Daniel Chang 1:48.52
7. Dean Farris 1:48.59
8. Miles Smachio 1:49.40

Women’s 50 Freestyle

The 50 freestyle represented quite a shakeup from the 100 freestyle earlier in the meet. Drabot won easily in that race, but failed to make the championship final in this race. Instead, Mary Smith who finished 55th in the 100, is the top seed going into finals with a 22.72.

Behind her is 100 freestyle consolation finalist Kayla Filipek in 22.82. Morgan Tankersley and Olivia Calegan were the only two swimmers to qualify for both sprint finals.

Top eight qualifiers

1. Mary Smith 22.79
2. Kayla Filipek 22.82
3. Amalie Fackenthal 22.83
4. Casey Fanz 22.84
5. Morgan Tankersley 22.98
6. Olivia Calegan 23.05
7. Katherine Douglass 23.09
8. Ingrid Wall 23.12

Men’s 50 Freestyle

100 freestyle champion Dean Farris qualified in the top position as expected in 20.28. The Harvard bound senior has a personal best of 20.01, and with a long course final tonight will have to wait for his next chance to get under 20 seconds.

The event represented a good comeback for NCAP in the team race, as they were able to qualify two swimmers (Aidan Pastel and James William Jones) for the top final. They probably could have had a third

Top eight qualifiers

1. Dean Farris 20.28
2. Daniel Krueger 20.38
3. Aidan Pastel 20.40
4. James Murphy 20.42
5. James William Jones 20.43
6. Cody Bollinger 20.49
7. Nikolai Syssoev 20.52
8. Jack Dolan 20.53

Women’s 400 Medley Relay

Long Island Aquatic Club emerged victorious thanks to the ace breaststroke leg from Margaret Aroesty. After a long weekend of racing, she wasn’t able to replicate her speed from earlier in the meet, but still split a 1:00.58 to split the race wide open for her team.

Magnolia Aquatic Club took second, they had the lead after the leadoff with Lucie Nordmann swimming 53.07 to put them there. Nation’s Capital was able to put two relays in the top eight, evidence of the depth that has put them so far in front all week.

Top eight finishers:

1. LIAC-MR 3:40.25
2. MAC-GU 3:42.20
3. NCAP-PV 3:42.27
4. CLPR-KY 3:42.76
5. PSDN-VA 3:43.31
6. ACAD-IL 3:43.59
7. OZ-WI 3:43.59
8. NCAP-PV 3:44.55

Men’s 400 Medley Relay

NOVA finished a tremendous morning for them with a decisive win in this relay. Distinguishing them from the rest was their back half, with Frederick Schubert splitting 47.33 on fly and Aaron Schultz at 44.56 on freestyle.

Machine Aquatics in 4th got a good leadoff from James Murphy at 48.70. Thomas Cope of Dayton Raiders swam a 53,84 on breaststroke to catapult them into second place.

Top eight finishers:

1. NOVA-VA 3:15.71
2. DR-OH 3:18.10
3. NCAP-PV 3:18.82
4. MACH-PV 3:21.10
5. SCST-IL 3:22.03
6. NCAP-PV 3:22.42
7. RMSC-PV 3:22.71
8. MACH-PV 3:22.77