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Norvy Clontz Chooses 200 IM Over 800 Free on Final Day of US Juniors

2022 SPEEDO JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

The prelims session on Friday will feature a quick schedule of just two races per gender: the 200 IM and the 50 free in a session that should wrap in under 2 hours.

That will be followed by the boys’ 800 and girls’ 1500 free timed finals, which begin with heats at 2:00 Pacific Time this afternoon.

Friday Prelims/Timed Finals Events:

  • Girls’ 200 IM
  • Boys’ 200 IM
  • Girls’ 50 free
  • Boys’ 50 free
  • Girls’ 1500 free/boys’ 800 free (in alternating heats)

There were more high-seed scratches for Friday morning’s prelims session than we’ve seen for most of the meet this week.

That includes the top two seeds in the boys’ 800 free. #1 seed Matthew Chai won’t swim individually on Friday. He has skipped a few of his other events this week, but did finish 8th in the 400 free. Chai trains locally in Fullerton, California, which is only about 20 minutes from Irvine.

The #2 seed in that race Norvy Clontz has chosen the 200 IM over the 800 free. He is just the 40th seed entering the meet in the 200 IM. This is the second time this week that he has chosen a 200 meter race over a distance freestyle event: he opted for the 200 fly over the 1500 free on the meet’s opening day.

That’s likely because he swam the distance freestyle races, his primary events, at last week’s US National Championships, and so is taking the opportunity to get tapered times in other races.

That worked out for him in the 200 fly, where he dropped 1.3 seconds off his previous best time from May. He did stick with one of his primary events, the 400 free, this week, and posted a historic time of 3:50 in that race, however.

Others to drop the boys’ 200 IM include Keller Morgan (#5 seed) and Ryan Merani (#6 seed). Neither have another individual swim on Friday.

Among the swimmers who will do the 200 IM/800 free double is Mason Edmund. He is just the 96th seed in the 200 IM (a bonus time), but is the 5th seed in the 800 free (3rd after scratches), meaning he’ll race with the finals-session heat.

The only significant girls’ scratch of the day is Lily Christianson from Irish Aquatics in Indiana. She chose the 50 free (#2 seed) over the 200 IM (#9 seed).

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About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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