USA Swimming Short Course Nationals Day 2 Prelim Heat Sheets Available

(140817) -- NANJING, Aug. 17, 2014 (Xinhua) -- Meghan Small of the United States swims during the women's 200m individual medley final at Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, August 17, 2014. Small won the bronze medal of the event. (Xinhua/Ding Xu) (txt)

Photo Courtesy: Xinhua/Ding Xu

GREENSBORO – Tomorrow’s prelims at the USA Swimming short course nationals will feature two Olympic champions setting up the opportunity to chase some fast American records, with college swimmers aiming for times that will get them into the NCAA championships.

Men’s heat sheet

Women’s heat sheet

Katie Ledecky already owns the American and U.S. Open record in the 500 freestyle, with her 4:28.71 from this past February as the new standard. Will Ledecky be able to approach that time here? She’ll likely cruise through the ninth of nine heats in the preliminaries, and let loose in the final.

Nathan Adrian will try to erase Cesar Cielo’s 18.47 from the books as the U.S. Open record in the 50 freestyle, and in the process lower his American record of 18.66. Adrian is one of the few people who knows exactly what he needs to do just to get a lane in the final, and rarely puts forth 100 percent in prelims at nationals. His competition will do everything they can get a lane in the final, including Derek Toomey, the only other swimmer in the meet who has broken 19 seconds. Cullen Jones, the American record holder in the long course 50 free, will likely move up from the seventh seed in an attempt to get under 19 seconds for the first time in his life and lower his lifetime best of 19.37, which he swam last year at nationals.

The women’s 200 IM will feature high schooler Meghan Small as the top seed ahead of a lot of college swimmers looking to move up the college ranks. Small won the bronze medal in this event at the 2014 Youth Olympics, so she knows how to race in pressure-packed situations.

In the men’s 200 IM, swimmers with ties to Big Ten schools could dominate in the final. We’ll see if Matt Josa, the star sophomore at Queens University of Charlotte, can break the Big ten stranglehold in this event and earn his first national title.

The women’s 50 free prelims will see if N.C. State can get many swimmers into the final, with Riki Bonnema, Lauren Poli, Natalie Labonge and Lotta Nevalainen all seeded in the top 10.

The prelim session begins at 9 a.m. Eastern time. The men’s heats will be run in one course, while the women will swim in a separate course.

Live stream

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use