YMCA National Long Course Championships: Joe Bonk Doubles to Bring Win Total to Four

ATLANTA, Georgia, July 26. JOE Bonk of the Triangle Area YMCA won two events, his third and fourth of the meet, during the second to last night of racing in Atlanta. Middle Tyger still sits atop the team standings heading into tomorrow.

One night after winning the women's 800m free crown, Orlando's Kendall Dawson picked up a second win in the 400m IM with a time of 4:57.86, two seconds ahead of Triangle Area's Kiera Molloy (4:59.91). Madeline Hoch of West Shore rounded out the top three in 5:00.30. In the men's race, Sava Turcanu took control from the start and never faltered, winning in 4:29.19. Christopher DePietro of Lancaster touched three seconds back in 4:32.01, while Huntington's Nate Carr swam a 4:33.07 for third.

In the women's 100m free, five swimmers finished within half a second of each other, with Wilton's Madeline Smart leading the way at 57.38. Katrina Konopka of Middle Tyger placed second in 57.54, while Jenna Immormino of Somerset Hills wound up third in 57.69. Joe Bonk of Triangle Area lowered the national YMCA record in the men's 100m free by a whopping .55, swimming a 50.17 to top Tim Phillips' record of 50.72 from 2009. Upper Main Line's Vlad Komarov finished a distant second in 52.10, followed by James Ross of Somerset Hills (52.54).

After finishing third and second at this meet already, Waynesboro's Remedy Rule finally moved up to the top step of the podium with a winning time of 2:18.22 in the women's 200m back. That beat out Elkins' Maggie Miller by about four tenths (2:18.69), while Ali Galyer of Middle Tyger touched in 2:19.10 for third. On the men's side, Gregoriy Tarasevich of Orlando swam a dominating race to win in 2:01.01, four seconds ahead of second and .32 under Steven Zimmerman's national record of 2:01.33 from last summer. Nic Graesser of Upper Main Line followed in 2:05.49, with West Cook's Kyle Patnode in third (2:07.03).

Greater Flint's Courtney Weaver earned her second first place finish of the meet after winning the 50m fly comfortably in 27.47. Upper Main Line's Maddie Zimmerman touched second in 28.08, while Morgan Contino of ME Lyons was third (28.26). The men's race was too close to call, as Powel Crosley's Eric Lethander and Triangle Area's Joe Bonk tied for first in 25.29. It marked Bonk's fourth win of the meet and Lethander's first.

Tonight's finals session concluded with the women's and men's 800m free relays. Middle Tyger's foursome of Haley Lips, Katrina Konopka, Ali Galyer and Annie Gillig smashed the national record in the women's race with an 8:20.61, more than eight seconds under their own 8:28.90 from 2009. Triangle Area's Macon Crowder, Joe Bonk, Colin Ellington and Ben Mayes lowered the men's record from 7:45.59 to 7:44.53. Middle Tyger had set the previous record last July.

Middle Tyger maintained their lead heading into the final day with 897 points, with Wilton in second (719.5) and Triangle Area third (681.5).

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