North Baltimore Continues Domination During Night Two At NBAC Christmas Meet

BALTIMORE, Maryland, December 14. NORTH Baltimore continued its domination in the senior events at the NBAC Christmas Meet, as Yannick Agnel and Cierra Runge won their fourth individual events of the meet, while Conor Dwyer picked up his third win. Lauren James, Gillian Ryan and Tom Luchsinger also picked up their second wins of the meet during tonight’s finals session.

North Baltimore’s Gillian Ryan, last night’s winner in the 200 free, added a second victory tonight, coming from behind on the final 100 to win the women’s 400 IM in 4:18.11. Ryan trailed three swimmers after the breaststroke leg but put together an incredible final split of 54.33 to overtake the field. Germantown’s Madison Visco settled for second in 4:21.22, while her teammate Sierra Schmidt was right behind in 4:21.44.

In the men’s distance medley, individual medley ace Conor Dwyer gradually increased his lead over each 50 on his way to completely dominating the event in 3:38.94. His breaststroke split may have been the most impressive, as his split of 1:01.68 was five and a half seconds faster than the next-best breast split. NBAC teammate Tom Luchsinger finished a distant second in 3:50.18, ahead of Cole Buese (3:55.96), also of NBAC. Notably, Dwyer’s time was just off his personal best of 3:37.75 from the 2011 SEC Championships.

Cierra Runge, who last night won the 1000 free and 200 IM, demonstrated her versatility by winning the 50 free this evening. The North Baltimore swimmer turned in a time of 22.97, comfortably ahead of Germantown’s Shannon McKernan (23.55) and North Baltimore’s Mary Pelton (23.68). That marks Runge’s first time under 23, as her previous best had been a 23.11 from the 2011 NBAC Christmas Meet.

North Baltimore’s Yannick Agnel added another freestyle victory to his repertoire with a dominant performance in the men’s 50. Agnel nearly broke 20 with a 20.06, well ahead of teammate Matt McLean’s 20.84. Andrew Sanchez of the Retrievers rounded out the top three in 21.24.

Lauren James of NBAC swept the breaststroke events, adding a victory in the 200 to her win in the 100 last night with a final time of 2:16.00. That was slightly off her prelim performance of 2:15.42, but still well in front of Germantown’s Emily Erwin, who posted a 2:17.61 for second. Hayli Randolph, also of Germantown, took third in 2:18.50.

Meanwhile, the men’s 200 breast came down to the finish in an exciting race. North Baltimore’s Connor Kalisz took the race out first and led at each of the first three turns before Long Island Aquatic Club’s Delaney Hall ran him down in the final 25 yards. Hall hit the pads in 2:05.87, just a hair ahead of Kalisz’s 2:05.94. Carter Center’s Maicoll Gomez pulled away for third in 2:06.96.

Mary Pelton, who has already garnered a few top three finishes in the meet thus far, finally earned an individual win, touching first in the women’s 100 back in 56.38. Pelton flipped third at the halfway point but out-split the entire heat on the second 50 to beat Germantown’s Shannon McKernan (56.73) and Chesapeake Bay’s Mairyn Branaman (56.90) to the wall. North Baltimore’s Tom Luchsinger added a second win to his victory in the 200 IM last night, out-racing teammate Conor Dwyer in the men’s 100 back, 48.37 to 48.65. Connor Kalisz picked up yet another top three placing with a 51.08 for third.

Cierra Runge earned her second win of the evening and fourth of the meet with a solid effort in the 500 free. Runge dropped six seconds off her previous lifetime best with a 4:37.14, which clears the NCAA A cut in the event and will make her a solid contender in the 500 next year at California. Gillian Ryan, who is headed to Michigan next fall, posted a 4:41.74 for second, while Long Island’s Molly Treble took third in 4:47.67.

So far every freestyle victory on the men’s side has gone to Yannick Agnel, as the Frenchman added another win in the 500 free to go along with his earlier wins in the 50, 200 and 1000. His time of 4:10.77 easily topped teammate Matt McLean’s 4:15.62 and Cole Buese’s 4:30.56. Agnel is not scheduled to swim the 100 free or 1650 tomorrow, so he will not be able to sweep the entire freestyle lineup.

The 800 freestyle relays closed out the evening. In the women’s race, NBAC’s Cierra Runge (1:45.52), Mary Pelton (1:50.87), Korby Simpson (1:51.39) and Gillian Ryan (1:45.82) crushed the field in 7:13.60. Long Island (7:37.44) and Badger (7:39.92) took second and third. On the men’s side, Connor Kalisz (1:42.19), Cole Buese (1:40.47), Jason Ewart (1:43.36) and Billy Cadigan (1:46.95) topped the field in 6:52.97, while the Naval Academy (6:55.61) and Carter Center (7:05.73) followed in second and third.

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