Smith, Legge, Payne Highlight Fast Night Of Swimming At Cary Futures

Photo Courtesy: Nicholas McMillan

By Kevin Donnelly, Swimming World College Intern.

The 2018 Cary Futures Championships kicked off today with the women’s 800 free, the men’s 1500 free, and the women’s and men’s 800 free relays. Fast swimming was abound today, with some big time drops highlighting our distance freestyle events.

Women’s 800 Free

Addison Smith of Baylor Swim Club came in seeded 4th with a 9:03.53 in the women’s 800, but cracked the 9:00 barrier for the first time with her effort of 8:54.55. Smith swam an aggressive race, having the fastest first 400 in the field at 4:25.40, and came back strong with a 4:29.15 on the back half to crush the 9:00 barrier.

Michelle Morgan of Pipeline Swimming narrowly missed her personal best of 8:55.19, but placed second and joined Smith under 9:00 with an 8:55.28. Morgan swam a completely different race, negative-splitting her way through (4:28.81/4:26.47 by 400).

Alixandra Roy of Highlander Aquatic Club took third with a 9:01.14, a two-second drop from her entry time of 9:03.76. Adrianna Cera of the Marlins of Raleigh was fourth, dropping a whopping nine seconds from her seed time of 9:10.90 and achieving her first Winter Juniors time standard with a 9:01.29.

Men’s 1500 Free

The men’s 1500 saw top-seeded Joshua Legge of the Marlins of Raleigh take a lead 300 meters into the race, and hold strong from the front en route to a six-second time drop and victory with a time of 16:07.59. Legge won the race convincingly, outpacing second-place Zachary Brewer of Fast Lane Aquatics by over four seconds.

Brewer finished with a 13-second time drop of 16:12.36, achieving his first-ever Winter Junior Nationals qualifying time in the process. Lance Norris of Rocky Mount Family YMCA took third, dropping almost two seconds from his entry time with a 16:13.90.

Women’s 800 Free Relay

In the women’s 800 free relay, the TAC Titans and Dynamo Swim Club fought hard against one another the last 200 meters, with TAC ending up victorious over Dynamo by just eleven hundredths (8:25.37 to 8:25.48). Sydney Morgan (2:06.91), Brooke Zettel (2:04.68), and Ana Pozder (2:05.84) worked their way into the lead at the 600 mark, sitting at 6:17.43 to Dynamo’s 6:21.55.

But Dynamo’s Abigail Pilkenton made up ground quickly, splitting a 59.90 on the first 100 meters to TAC anchor Sarah Pilecki‘s 1:02.26. Pilkenton continued to close the last 100, outsplitting Pilecki 32.27-33.27 on the third 50, but Pilecki was able to find just enough energy the last 50 meters to close out the race and win for TAC. Pilkenton’s split time of 2:03.93 was the fastest in the field and is faster than her personal-best of 2:04.30; Pilecki split a 2:07.94 on the anchor leg for TAC, faster than her best time of 2:08.68.

The fastest split in the field, however, belonged to Aquatic Team of Mecklenburg’s leadoff leg Katie Rauch, who busted out with a 2:03.27 to achieve her first-ever Summer Junior Nationals and Winter Senior Nationals time standard. Rauch entered the day with a personal-best time of 2:09.70. ATOM’s relay team took third with a time of 8:27.61, while the Marlins of Raleigh A team was fourth, at 8:28.76.

Men’s 800 Free Relay

The men’s 800 free relay saw another battle between the TAC Titans and Dynamo Swim Club emerge, and once again the TAC Titans were victorious. This time however, Dynamo would edge out to a big lead, with TAC having to edge their way back into the race on the back half.

Campbell Auerbach led Dynamo out with a 1:55.33, followed by Jonathan Vater, who split a 1:56.49, and Matthew Gaines, with a 1:55.58. Meanwhile, TAC was paced by Michael Cotter, leading out in a 1:55.87; Kevin Plewniak, at 1:57.42; and Braeden Haughey, at 1:55.53.

At the 600 wall, Dynamo held a 1.42 second lead over TAC, 5:47.40 to 5:48.82. But Davis Payne, TAC’s anchor leg, dove in and went right to work making that up. Payne, who entered the day with a personal-best time of 1:54.83, split 55.35/57.37 en route to a 1:52.72 and a relay victory for his team. TAC finished with a time of 7:41.54. Nicholas Goudie, Dynamo’s anchor leg, finished with a 1:55.43 to bring Dynamo in for second at 7:42.83.

Aquatic Team of Mecklenburg again took third, with a final time of 7:48.67. Their fastest split was their second leg, swam by Garrett Boone, who swam a 1:54.33 to far outpace his best time of 1:57.34.

Team Scores

Through Session 1, Dynamo Swim Club is clinging to a tight lead over the Marlins of Raleigh, 130-125. The TAC Titans, largely on the strength of their relays, are sitting third at 94 points; SwimMAC Carolina (79) and Aquatic Team of Mecklenburg (64) round out the top five.

2018 Cary Futures Day One – Results

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