Notre Dame Commit Luciana Thomas Wins 1000 Free at Columbia Sectionals

2018 Columbia Sectional Championships

• March 8th-11th, 2018
• University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
• 25 yard (SCY) course
• Live results available on MeetMobile, search “2018 Region VIII Speedo Spring Sectionals”

The 2018 Columbia, Missouri Sectional Championships began with relays and distance freestyles on Thursday.

The women’s 1000 free was one by Arkansas AquaHawg swimmer Luciana Thomas, who swam a 9:53.07 to win by about a second ahead of her teammate Hayley Pike (9:54.14). The state of Arkansas, from youth to collegiate levels, has a strong women’s distance swimming tradition even among many coaching changes, and the AquaHawgs 1-2 finish on Thursday is the latest verse in that tradition. For Thomas, this is a new wrinkle in her already-versatile lineup, dropping 39 seconds before heading to swim at Notre Dame in the fall. She projects primarily as a 200 butterflier (1:56.8)/400 IMer (4:13.66), but this distance breakthrough will give the Irish coaches more events to think about during her collegiate career.

The men’s 1000 free was won by 18-year old Dane Florea, a Columbia native and future Missouri Tiger, swimming in his current and future home pool. He swam a 9:04.76, which improved upon his previous best time by 15.51 seconds. That puts him in the top 10 among high school swimmers nationally this season in that event.

Further down the rankings in that men’s 1000 free was a 9:27.19 from Jack Dolan, best known as a sprint freestyler. He’s actually been about a second faster. He’s swimming this weekend before heading to the NCSA Junior National Championships next weekend.

Day 1 Relay Winners:

• The Rockwood Swim Club won the men’s 200 free relay in 1:23.41, which included a 20.43 leadoff from Jack Dolan. The Empire KC Swim Club took 2nd in 1:24.08, with William Bresette anchoring their relay in 20.06.
• The Sooner Swim Club from Oklahoma won the men’s 200 medley relay by more than a second, finishing in 1:31.41. That group included Aiden Hayes (22.52), Alexander Stamatin (25.57), Caleb Sullivan (22.68), and Jonathan Tang (20.64).
• The Arkansas Dolphins Swim Team won the women’s 200 medley relay in 1:34.84, fighting off a 22.86-second anchor from Lincoln Select’s Alana Palmer for the victory.
• Lincoln Select came back later in the session to top the 200 medley relay in 1:43.33, just .11 seconds ahead of the hosts Columbia Swim Club. This time, Palmer led off for LSS in 25.80, followed by Katie Stonehocker (28.09) Berkeley Livingston (25.84), and Anna Heinrich (23.60).