2015 USA Swimming Summer Long Course Nationals: Day 1 Finals Live Recap

Photo Courtesy: USA Swimming

Women’s 100-meter Fly

Kelsi Worrell unsurprisingly crushed the women’s 100-meter fly final at USA Nationals. Worrell entered finals with a 57.53 seed time, and lowered it to a blistering 57.27 this evening. She blazed the first 50 meters in 27.06, and returned in a 30.01. Although she won handily, the Louisville standout actually added 0.03 seconds from her entry time of 57.24.

Felicia Lee vaulted to a second-place finish in 58.54. Propelled by a strong second 50 split, Lee was able to overcome touching last at the first 50. Lee took the race out in 28.59, but brought it home in a scorching 29.95. University of Kentucky’s Christina Bechtel jumped three spots to finish third in 58.74.

American Record-holder Dana Vollmer fell to fourth place in 58.94. Vollmer raced aggressively the first half of the race (27.71), but was unable to maintain the same strength on the final leg (31.23).

Cassidy Bayer (59.00), Amanda Kendall (59.12), Hali Flickinger (59.64), and Kara Kopcso (1:00.00) rounded out the championship final.

Men’s 400-meter Free

Zane Grothe held on to his top spot to take the men’s 400-meter free in a gutsy 3:45.98 performance at USA Nationals. He clocked the ninth fastest time in the world this year. Grothe, who clinched the top seed this morning with a 3:48.93, stormed from behind to take down an ambitious Clark Smith. Smith finished second in 3:47.10, but their splits tell a tale of two halves:

Grothe: 54.22/57.39/57.98/56.39

Smith: 53.18/57.43/58.36/58.13

Townley Haas maintained his third-place seed to nab the bronze medal in 3:48.69. Haas was able to hang with Grothe and Smith for the first 200-meters, touching at 1:52.20 at the halfway point. He also swam the 4^th fastest time for 17-18-year olds in U.S. history. Matthew Hutchins lost the bronze medal by 0.01 seconds, finishing with a 3:48.70. The youngest swimmer in the field, 17-year old Nicholas Sweetser, pumped out a 3:49.33 to take fifth.

Frank Dyer (3:54.90) and Jonathan Roberts (3:58.46) fell to sixth and seventh, while Bobby Hurley ended up with a disqualification. It’s unknown what the DQ is at this point, but given the nature of the race, it could be a false start.

Women’s 200-meter IM

Caitlin Leverenz avenged her prelims loss to Madisyn Cox to take the women’s 200-meter IM final in 2:10.70 at USA Nationals. Cal’s Leverenz entered finals with a 2:11.71, 0.10 seconds behind Cox’s prelim swim. Cox halved that difference tonight to finish second in 2:10.75. Side-by-side, the two swam an incredibly exciting race.

Leverenz: 28.25/33.81/36.98/31.66

Cox: 28.60/34.20/37.51/30.44

Bethany Galat (2:12.13) and Sarah Henry (2:12.25) fell to third and fourth, out of range of Leverenz and Cox. Emily Cameron touched right after Henry in 2:12.54. Karlee Bispo had hung with Leverenz and Cox until the breast leg, posting a 28.43 and 33.58 on her first two 50s.

Meaghan Raab (2:13.37) and Justine Bowker (2:14.21) punctuated the championship final.

Men’s 100-meter Breast

Andrew Wilson set the bar high this morning with his 59.68 prelims swim in the 100-meter breast at USA Nationals. Tonight, Wilson lowered that impressive mark to a 59.65 while winning the race ahead of Craig Benson. After a summer of training with the Texas Longhorns, the Emory University swimmer improved his 100 breast time by 2.22 seconds at Nationals. Wilson clocked a 27.87 on the first 50 then turned around with a 31.78. Benson lowered his prelims time as well to a 1:00.13 after taking it out in 28.47 and returning in 31.66.

Brad Craig (1:00.63) edged Chuck Katis (1:00.69) for the bronze medal. Nicholas Schaefer swam a 1:00.78 to best Michael Jameison‘s 1:00.82 effort. Marcus Titus hit seventh in 1:00.99, while Samuel Tierney wound up eighth with a 1:01.17.

In the B Final, Michael Andrew torched a 1:00.68 new National Age Group Record. Andrew rose to the occasion at finals, taking the race out in 28.53 and returning in 32.15. He would have finished fourth in the championship final, but will instead have to settle for ninth place.

Women’s 400-meter Free

Lindsay Vrooman entered the meet as the top seed in the women’s 400-meter free, and she will remain at the top. After a lackluster 4:12.09 swim this morning, Vrooman busted out a 4:07.88 and moved up six spots to take gold from lane one. She was in an extremely tight duel against Hali Flickinger, who clocked a 4:07.93. They battled back and forth throughout the race until the Indiana University alum Vrooman claimed the victory.

Vrooman: 1:00.28/1:02.72/1:03.12/1:01.76

Flickinger: 1:00.68/1:02.85/1:02.80/1:01.60

Courtney Harnish jumped two spots to claim bronze in 4:08.22. She found herself in close contention with Stephanie Peacock, who fell to fourth in 4:08.50. Sierra Schmidt took fifth with a 4:09.52.

After taking the top spot in prelims, Allison Schmitt fell to sixth with a 4:09.59. She added nearly half of a second from her morning swim and continued to struggle on the final 200 meters. Schmitt’s last two 100 splits ended up being 1:03.30 and 1:02.06. Hannah Cox boldly raced to a 59.47 start, but fell to seventh with a 4:09.61 final time. Yawen Hou finished eighth in 4:10.15.

Men’s 400-meter IM

Gunnar Bentz took gold in the 400 IM final at USA Nationals in convincing fashion. Bentz torched the field with a 4:14.16 finish. He began the race with a 58.39 fly split and never looked back. He split a 1:07.41 back, 1:10.50 breast, and topped it off with a 57.86 free leg. Travis Mahoney (4:17.00) topped Sean Grieshop (4:17.02) by an ever-so-slim margin. Their splits were tight through most of the race.

Mahoney: 58.58/1:05.49/1:13.77/59.16

Grieshop: 59.46/1:05.97/1:13.89/57.70

Stanford’s Max Williamson held on to his fourth place spot with a 4:17.65. Curtis Ogren trailed behind Williamson to fifth place in 4:18.23. John Martens wound up sixth in 4:20.87, while Andrew Seliskar took seventh with a 4:21.16. Corey Okubo rounded out the top eight and closed the individual events for the evening.

Men’s 4 x 100-meter Free Relay

California Aquatics topped the men’s 4 x 100 free relay with 1.43-second cushion over Auburn University Swim Club. Cal’s relay combined for a 3:18.53 finish, and was comprised of the following swimmers:

Justin Lynch – 49.78

Trent Williams – 49.43

Jacob Pebley – 49.76

Long Gutierrez – 49.56

Auburn took second with a total time of 3:19.96 (Michael Duderstadt, Jacob Molacek, Hugo Morris), and were anchored by Kyle Darmody‘s 49.06. Wisconsin Aquatics rounded out the top three with a 3:20.74. North Carolina Aquatic Club (3:21.15) and Stanford Swimming (3:22.00) followed to take fourth and fifth, respectively. Club Wolverine and the University of Alabama tied for sixth with a 3:22.31. Indiana University rounded out the top eight with a 3:23.14.

2015 USA Swimming Long Course Summer Nationals: Live Results – Results

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