Arena Grand Prix, Santa Clara: Connor Jaeger Rocks Meet Record in 800 Free

For full coverage of the Arena Grand Prix, Santa Clara, including video interviews, full recaps, etc., check out our event coverage page.

SANTA CLARA, California, May 30. AFTER an epic run of world-class meets all throughout the United States, the Arena Grand Prix has finally hit its final stop with the Santa Clara International Invitational. Connor Jaeger put on a clinic in the men's 800-meter freestyle event with a meet-record performance.

Women's 1500 free
Canada's Tabitha Baumann took home the top time in the women's 1500-meter freestyle with a victorious 16:37.03. That swim fell just a few seconds off her personal best effort of 16:34.29 from the Canadian World Championship Trials earlier this year.

1 Baumann, Tabitha 17 CAN 16:34.29 16:37.03
31.10 1:04.77 (33.67)
1:38.15 (33.38) 2:11.77 (33.62)
2:45.57 (33.80) 3:19.16 (33.59)
3:52.68 (33.52) 4:26.03 (33.35)
4:59.60 (33.57) 5:32.97 (33.37)
6:06.34 (33.37) 6:39.35 (33.01)
7:12.51 (33.16) 7:45.58 (33.07)
8:18.89 (33.31) 8:52.37 (33.48)
9:25.84 (33.47) 9:59.22 (33.38)
10:32.92 (33.70) 11:06.39 (33.47)
11:39.69 (33.30) 12:12.94 (33.25)
12:46.32 (33.38) 13:19.41 (33.09)
13:52.72 (33.31) 14:25.98 (33.26)
14:59.47 (33.49) 15:32.80 (33.33)
16:06.02 (33.22) 16:37.03 (31.01)

Charetzeni Escobar Torres turned in a second-place time for Mexico with a 16:40.53, while Minas' Carolina Queiroz rounded out the top three in 17:00.42. The women's metric mile definitely gave credence to the name of the meet as the Santa Clara International Invitational with the first U.S. swimmer finishing fifth as 15-year-old Moriah Simonds of the Pleasanton Seahawks cut 20 seconds off her lifetime best with a fifth-place 17:02.92.

Men's 800 free
He didn't manage to move up from his fifth-fastest ranking in the world in the event, but Michigan's Connor Jaeger did put up a career time in the first heat of the men's 800-meter freestyle.

Jaeger has scary amounts of potential as he continues to drop huge amounts of time from his best. Even though he already earned an Olympic berth last year, he's still pretty new to the sport. He only had five 800-meter freestyle swims to his credit in the USA Swimming database coming into tonight, and his 7:50.14 tonight smashed his previous best of 7:53.35 from the Charlotte stop of the Arena Grand Prix. Before that, he's only cleared 8:00 twice with split times from the 2012 London Olympics with a 7:58.02 and 7:58.42 to his credit.

Jaeger only trails four swimmers this year heading into the World Championship Trials with Ryan Cochrane (7:43.61), Sun Yang (7:45.60), Gregorio Paltrinieri (7:48.22) and Gabriele Detti (7:48.43) ahead of him. Notably, Jaeger also crushed the meet record of 7:52.07 set by Tae Hwan Park last year.

1 Jaeger, Connor 22 Club Wolverine-M 7:53.35 7:50.14M
28.00 58.48 (30.48)
1:28.42 (29.94) 1:58.76 (30.34)
2:28.04 (29.28) 2:58.18 (30.14)
3:27.26 (29.08) 3:57.11 (29.85)
4:26.04 (28.93) 4:55.43 (29.39)
5:24.58 (29.15) 5:54.14 (29.56)
6:23.07 (28.93) 6:52.66 (29.59)
7:21.76 (29.10) 7:50.14 (28.38)

Cochrane, meanwhile, wound up taking third overall with a 7:59.71 as he cruised throughout the first heat. Australia's Mack Horton posted a 7:59.64 to clinch second overall in the event.

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