The men’s 100 back prelims on day 2 of the 2011 USA Swimming National Championships was a bit of a redemption story, though that will have to be confirmed in tonight’s finals. The top two seeds headed into that final are the world’s two best 100 backstrokers that didn’t get a chance to swim the distance at the World Championships in Shanghai last week
Matt Grevers of Tucson Ford took the top seed in 53.96, with Ryan Lochte just behind in a 54.00. Those times put them just about exactly a second behind where Nick Thoman (3rd – 54.19) and David Plummer (8th – 55.02) where at Worlds.
The youngest finalist in the 10o back is Mitchell Friedemann, who is about to start his sophomore year at Arizona, in 55.13. He turned out to be one of the most pleasant surprises of last year’s freshman class. The biggest name in next year’s freshman class will be David Nolan, who will be swimming in this pool for Stanford beginning this fall. Many thought that he might run up and chase the country’s best in the A-final, but he will instead be in the second tier tonight with a 55.71 for the 17th seed. That’s nowhere near his career-best time (55.10).
Russia’s Arkady Vyatchanin also swam a very good prelims time of 55.10, though he won’t get another swim.
In the women’s 100 back, a bit of a shock to jump up and take the top seed was Tennessee senior Jenny Connolly in 1:01.05. Connolly placed 6th at last year’s NCAA Championships in this race. Nipping at her heals, like a pack of hounds at a fox, will be some of the most elite backstrokers in the world. That includes Missy Franklin (1:01.09), Liz Pelton (1:01.24), and Rachel Bootsma (1:01.47). Elizabeth Beisel and Cindy Tran, the defending NCAA Champion, will also be lurking towards the outer edges of the pool.
It’s going to take a whole lot faster than a 1:01-flat to win this event tonight, that’s for certain.
In the men’s 200 free, Peter Vanderkaay took the top overall seed in 1:48.07, followed by a trio of World University Games participants in Dax Hill (1:48.38), Matt McLean (1:48.49). For Hill, who’s shown a world of promise since beginning his college career at Longhorn Aquatics, that’s already a big-time career best for him, and he’s still got his big summer meet (the World University Games) coming up.
Tyler Clary also was able to sneak into this A-final in 10th in his first appearance of the meet, after the Fraser brothers (Shaune and Brett) were both removed from the rankings, due to their foreign citizenship.
In the women’s 200 free, Allison Schmitt took another crack after a pretty lackluster performance at the World Championships. She ended up with the top seed in 1:58.59, followed by Virginia’s Lauren Perdue in 1:59.29. Dagny Knutson rounded out the top 3 seeds with a 1:59.74.
And finally, in the men’s 200 fly, Club Wolverine’s Daniel Madwed took the top seed in 1:57.59, followed by SwimMAC’s Davis Tarwater, who is on a bit of a comeback trail, in 1:57.81.
Tyler Clary, swimming his second event of the morning, took 4th in 1:58.17. He’s trying this event again after finishing 9th at World’s, but he seems to have fallen off of his taper pretty hard already.
Finals will begin at 9 PM Eastern Time, 6 PM Pacific Time, tonight.
Maggie is indeed an American citizen but injured her hand and won’t be competing for the remainder of the meet.
i had heard (just heard) that Meyer was Dq’d…i think she was dq’d last summer too if i remember correctly
Regardless, both the results sheets and the SWIMS database list her as a “foreign” athlete.
there are three UVA-class-of-2011-ers in the mens 200 free A final (McLean, Robison, Geissenger)
Any idea why Maggie Meyer is showing as a foreigner/barred from consols? Did she switch sport nationalities?
Noticed that as well, and am working on getting an answer.
In the results submitted to FINA, she’s still listed as a USA swimmer. It may be an error in the SWIMS database…but still working for a definitive answer.