Zane Grothe Wins 400 Free With World-Ranked Time at USA Nationals

Photo Courtesy: Griffin Scott

Zane Grothe held on to his top spot to take the men’s 400-meter free in a gutsy 3:45.98 performance. 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.

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

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