American Short Course Championships: Amanda Weir Strong in 100 Free

By David Rieder

AUSTIN, Texas, March 5. THE American Short Course Championships concluded tonight at the Lee and Joe Jamail Swim Center on the campus of the University of Texas with one final session of short course yards racing. Olympian Amanda Weir provided the fireworks tonight, posting a blazing 100 freestyle.

SwimAtlanta's Weir clocked a 47.35 100 free, the 13th-fastest performance of all time. Weir's personal best is 47.15 from 2008 Short Course Nationals, and she sits third all time behind Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace's U.S. Open record of 46.81 set at SECs two weeks ago, and Natalie Coughlin's American record of 46.85.Tonight, Weir's teammate Taylor Schick ended up finishing second in 49.68, while Brea's Gretchen Jaques earned third in 50.52.

Longhorn's Garrett Weber-Gale remained unbeaten, adding the men's 100 free win to his earlier wins in the 200 and 500 free races. Weber-Gale clocked 42.33, not far off his lifetime best time of 41.94 posted all the way back in 2006, when he became NCAA Champion. Teammate Dale Rogers grabbed second place in 44.04, and Swim Atlanta's Andrejs Duda took third in 44.38.

Olympian Kathleen Hersey cruised in the women's 200 back. Hersey clocked 1:53.31, defeating Amber McDermott, who took second in 1:57.01. Texas' Melanie McClure grabbed third in 1:57.51. Longhorn's Matt Lowe put on a show in the men's 200 breast, clocking 1:55.53. Boulder City Henderson's Robert Hommel finished closest to Lowe, at 1:58.99, and The Dolphins' Cole Hurwitz took third in 2:03.86.

Heat took 1-2 in the men's 200 back. Austin Ringquis won in 1:46.22, and teammate Connor McDonald took second in 1:47.39, while CLSS' Jesse Ryckman grabbed third in 1:50.71. Jaques won the women's 200 breast in 2:14.59, followed by SwimAtlanta teammates Madison Horton and Olivia Boggs, who took second and third, respectively, with times of 2:16.67 and 2:17.18.

SwimAtlanta swept the women's 200 fly. Mary Elizabeth edged teammate Lydia Jones, 2:00.45 to 2:00.75, while Kate Brandus took third in 2:04.04. Boulder City Henderson's Jacob Luna won the men's 200 fly in 1:47.66. Texas' Andrew Tran took second in 1:49.13, defeating North Palm Beach's Connor Knight, who clocked 1:49.77.

McDermott cruised in the women's 1650 free, posting a swift time of 16:08.80. Boulder City Henderson's Sammy Harrison clocked 16:34.73 for second, and SwimAtlanta's Shelby Hoyt finished in third place at 17:14.86. Only Boulder City Henderson's Dylan Bunch broke 16:00 in the men's 1650, winning in 15:45.08. Texas' Reid Walker held off Swim Atlanta's Aidan Sweeney for second, 16:22.28 to 16:25.28.

Boulder City Henderson completed the meet with a sweep of the 400 free relays. Megan Purdy, Cori Molisee, Amy Lubawy, and Carlee Oswald won the women's relay in 3:33.98, while Hommel, Drew Peterson, Gunner Braden, and Luna took the men's in 3:06.48.

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