ATLANTA, Georgia, December 4. IN the first major competition for the U.S. since an incredible run at the 2008 Beijing Games, some of the best swimmers in the nation have come to Atlanta, Ga., for the USA Swimming Short Course National Championships. The first day of preliminary swimming started off with some top times.
SwimAtlanta's Amanda Weir proved to be on fire with a pair of sub-22 times in the 50 free as she has Natalie Coughlin's American record of 21.46 in her cross hairs heading into finals. Although, Lara Jackson upped the ante at the Texas Invitational by claiming the American record first with a 21.37 in prelims.
Women's 200 freestyle relay
Auburn's squad of Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, Melissa Marik, Jenny Von Jouanne and Emile Ewing topped qualifying with a time of 1:31.24, but Amanda Weir provided the fireworks with a blistering leadoff time of 21.94 for SwimAtlanta, that took second in 1:31.90.
Other teams making the A final were Florida (1:32.30), Louisville (1:32.61), De Anza Cupertino (1:33.81), Florida State (1:33.84), Badger Aquatics (1:33.93) and Georgia Tech (1:34.08).
Men's 200 freestyle relay
Michigan's foursome of Charlie Houchin, Chris Brady, Jamie Martone and Alon Mandel led the way during prelims with a top time of 1:19.96.
Gideon Louw of Auburn, which finished second in 1:20.17, was the fastest split of the morning with a lighting-fast time of 19.36. Meanwhile, Garrett Robberson of Georgia Tech, which took third in 1:20.18, anchored his team with a 19.46.
Other championship final spots went to Florida State (1:20.60), Michigan B (1:20.74), Seton Hall (1:22.36), Louisville (1:22.44) and Florida (1:23.11).
Women's 500 freestyle
Nikki White, an impact freshman at Indiana University, qualified first in the middle distance preliminary round with a time of 4:41.70. Mary DeScenza of Athens Bulldog placed second in 4:42.01, while Allison Schmitt of Michigan (4:42.48) and Maggie Bird of Auburn (4:42.65) took third and fourth.
Auburn also took fifth through seventh as Ava Ohlgren (4:44.83), Chelsea Haser (4:45.04) and Caitlin Geary (4:45.06) finished one after the other. Jamie Bohunicky of Gator Swim rounded out the top eight in 4:45.97.
Men's 500 freestyle
Michigan's Matt Patton (4:18.01) and Andrew Schultz (4:18.13) led a near Ann Arbor sweep of the A final in the middle distance event.
Charlie Houchin (4th/4:21.43), Tyler Clary (5th/4:21.58) and Adam DeJong (7th/4:22.54) swam under the University of Michigan cap, while Alex Vanderkaay (3rd/4:21.22) represented Club Wolverine.
The only non-Michigan swimmers in the championship heat were Mark Randall of Alabama (6th/4:22.44) and William Dove of Auburn (8th/4:22.98).
Women's 200 IM
Dagny Knutson of Minot remained on fire as she is in the midst of a sudden emergence as a future face of women's swimming in the U.S. She clocked a swift time of 1:55.56 to lead qualifying, while KING's Ariana Kukors took second in 1:56.51.
Suburban's Corrie Clark (1:57.80), KING's Lindsey Marchand (1:58.21), Auburn's Ava Ohlgren (1:58.58), Texas Longhorn's Tanica Jamison (1:58.64), SwimFlorida's Erika Erndl (1:59.02) and Auburn's Melissa Marik (1:59.74) all went sub-2:00 to make up the championship heat.
Men's 200 IM
Magnus Aquatics' Nick D'Innocenzo posted a top time of 1:45.44, while Dallas Mustang Matt Thompson placed second in 1:45.84.
Hidemasa Sano of Trojan (1:46.07), Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte (1:46.11), Michigan's Andre Schultz (1:46.43), Australia's Leith Brody (1:46.49), Eric Shanteau of Texas Longhorn (1:46.55) and Adam Ritter of Tucson Ford (1:46.59) completed the rest of the top eight.
Women's 50 free
SwimAtlanta's Amanda Weir proved that her 21.94 relay leadoff wasn't a fluke as she edged closer to Natalie Coughlin's American record of 21.46 with a preliminary scorcher of 21.62. That was nearly a full second ahead of second-place qualifier Whitney Campbell of Louisville (22.60).
Rachel Komisarz took third in 22.61, while Wisconsin's Jackie Vavrek finished fourth in 22.64.
Auburn's Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace (22.79), Auburn's Melissa Marik (22.81), Springfield YMCA's Margo Geer (22.85) and SMU's Candace Blackman (22.88) rounded out the championship heat.
Men's 50 free
In a preliminary round that took a 19.60 to make the championship heat, Auburn's George Bovell topped qualifying in 19.38. Kyle Bubolz of New Trier finished second just behind in 19.39.
California's William Copeland (19.43), Auburn's Alexei Puninski (19.46), Yale's Alex Righi (19.53), Daytona Beach's Ryan Lochte (19.57) and Tucson Ford's Masayuki Kishida (19.59) and Matt Grevers (19.60) took the rest of the transfer spots.
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December 4, 2008 Great swim for Weir, considering she's coming back from just being kept off the Olympic team. She does seem to often go her best times in the morning, though. Submitted by: SwimDER94
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