Schanz Doubles on Day 2 of 2015 Federal Way Sectionals

High school senior Emma Schanz was the story of the day on Thursday evening at the 2015 Federal Way Sectional Championship meet hosted in Federal Way, Washington.

The UCLA commit won back-to-back 200 yard races, with each coming in comfortable fashion. First went the 200 breaststroke in 2:09.03, which beat out Kimberly Williams of the hosting Bellevue club (2:11.35) by more than two seconds.

Then, in an unusual double, Schanz swam a 1:54.43 in the 200 yard backstroke to beat out Missoula Aquatic Club’s Hannah Leach (1:55.32) for the title.

Those two swims are both lifetime bests for her by about two seconds, and the 200 breaststroke specifically is faster than any of her future UCLA teammates have been this season by four seconds.

These two events are grouped together at both the Sectional level and the college dual-meet level because it’s very rare for a swimmer to excel in the way Schanz does in both events. At the NCAA Championships, however, they are separated by the 100 free, and based on what she showed on Thursday evening, it’s conceivable that Schanz could take on this very unique double in college.

Also picking up wins in women’s races on Thursday:

• Fort Collins’ Bailey Nero, just a few weeks off of leading Fossil Ridge High School to the 2015 State Championship, took the women’s 200 fly in 1:55.71, with Williams marking another runner-up finish in 1:58.55. That’s a new lifetime best for Nero by 1.3 seconds, despite the swim coming on the back end of her own tough double – sje placed 3rd in the 200 back in 1:56.83, which is also a lifetime best (by three seconds).
• Jillian Visscher from the Oregon City Swim Team won the women’s 100 free in 49.29. The high school junior led three swimmers under 50 seconds: Ashley Sutherland swam a 49.88 and Jamie Stone swam a 49.95. All three were in a near dead-heat at the 50 (along with 4th-place finisher Gillian St. John), but Visscher’s impressive second 50 yards made the difference – she split 23.71/25.58.
• The King Aquatic Club swam a 1:42.29 in the 200 medley relay to just beat out Visscher’s Oregon City Swim Team (1:42.97). Sutherland anchored for King in 22.36.

On the men’s side of the pool, the King Aquatic Club boys started out slow, but finished with a bang by winning the last two individual events.

In the 200 backstroke, that win came from Thomas Anderson in 1:44.10, which is a new Summer Nationals cut for him. That’s his first Summer Nationals cut in short course, although he’s already qualified in long course (in the 100 back, which is also an Olympic Trials standard). That’s a welcome sight for the Arizona Wildcats, to whom Anderson has already committed even though he has a full year of high school remaining.

He was followed by teammate Mathias Oh, who won this event for the second-straight year, swimming a 1:45.18. That just missed Oh’s best time, which is a 1:45.08 done at this meet in 2014. Abrahm DeVine took 2nd in 1:47.45, and Max Holter took 3rd in 1:46.39.

The dauy ended on a run of three-straight with a 1:31.49 200 medley finishing the day for King. That relay included both Anderson and Oh, along with Mitchell Hovis and Kevin Dang.

Those three wins helped lead King to the overall team scoring lead after two days. Their 468.5 points put them well ahead of the 2nd-place Fort Collins (298), 3rd place Bellevue (282), and 4th-place Jeffco Hurricanes (272).

Other winners on the men’s side on Thursday:

• Aukai Lileikis won the men’s 100 free in 44.30, beaing out a deep field that saw 1st-7th separated by only half a second. John Holler placed 2nd in 44.56 and Anderson was 3rd in 44.57.
• Tommy Brewer from Current Swimming took 4th in the 100 free, and came right back to win the 200 breaststroke in 1:58.15. Brewer is an Auburn commit.

The meet runs through Sunday. Full, live results can be found here.