Lilly King Enters 100 Breaststroke World Rankings in Atlanta

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

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Competition resumed this morning at the 2017 Arena Pro Swim Series stop in Atlanta, featuring a multitude of Olympic greats.

Katie Ledecky swam in the morning heats of the women’s 800-meter freestyle and will not be returning for finals, but her time of 8:15.71, just off her world-leading time of 8:15.44 she swam in Mesa last month, should be good for first place in the event.

The men’s 200-meter butterfly will feature several Olympians, including Chase Kalisz (second seed), Tom Shields (third seed), Jack Conger (sixth seed), Gunnar Bentz (seventh seed), and Olympic champion Joseph Schooling (eighth seed).

Lilly King, looking for redemption after her second-place finish in the 200-meter breaststroke, put up the 13th fastest time in the world so far this year in the women’s 100-meter breaststroke. Her swim of 1:07.07 claimed her the top seed in the event by over a second, and puts her just behind Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania in the world rankings.

Cody Miller, Olympic bronze medalist in the event, was disqualified in the men’s 100-meter breaststroke. Emory’s Andrew Wilson claimed the top seed, while Kevin Cordes sits fourth heading into finals this evening.

Club Wolverine’s Ali Deloof claimed the top seed in the women’s 100-meter backstroke with a 59.86. Although she was a bit off of her season-best time of 59.43, which puts her 5th in the world rankings so far this year in the event, her time this morning still ranks 11th in 2017 world rankings.

See below for full event-by-event coverage:

Women’s 200-meter butterfly

To kick off the final day of competition, Cardinal Aquatics’ Kelsi Worrell claimed the top seed in the women’s 200-meter butterfly with her time of 2:09.44. Athens Bulldog’s Hali Flickinger came in right behind with her time of 2:10.36 for the second qualifying spot, and third seed went to Cassidy Bayer of Nation’s Capital in 2:11.22.

Club Wolverine’s Vanessa Krause sits in the fourth qualifying spot with her time of 2:11.83, while Ruby Case of Iowa Flyers holds the fifth seed in 2:12.16. Lauren Case grabbed the sixth qualifying spot with her time of 2:12.45.

Rounding out the top eight qualifiers are Oakville’s Mabel Zavaros in 2:13.09 and Northwestern’s Valerie Gruest Slowing in 2:13.18.

Men’s 200-meter butterfly

The men’s event saw a high caliber of competition including multiple Olympians. Marcos Lavado of Azure Florida Aquatics claimed the top seed in the event with his time of 1:57.54, almost two seconds ahead of second-place seed North Baltimore Aquatic Club’s Chase Kalisz, who swam a 1:59.17. Tom Shields, swimming for Cal, touched in 1:59.66 for the third qualifying spot.

Fourth seed went to Zach Harting in 1:59.76, and Oakville’s Mark Darragh was close behind in 2:00.32 for fifth place heading into finals. Texas’s Jack Conger swam a 2:00.71, putting him in the sixth qualifying spot.

Athens Bulldog’s Gunnar Bentz snagged an outside lane in the competitive final with his time of 2:00.89 for seventh seed, while Olympic champion Joseph Schooling just snuck in to the A-final with his swim of 2:01.21 for eighth.

Women’s 100-meter breaststroke

Lilly King, looking for redemption after her second-place finish in the 200-meter breaststroke, put up the 13th-fastest time in the world so far this year in the women’s 100-meter breaststroke. Her swim of 1:07.07 claimed her the top seed in the event by over a second, and puts her just behind Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania in the world rankings. Second seed went to Andrea Cottrell with her time of 1:08.43, and Club Wolverine’s Miranda Tucker snagged the third qualifying spot in 1:08.67.

Melanie Margalis of Saint Petersburg Aquatics sits in the fourth spot heading into finals with her 1:09.52, and Margaret Aroesty of Long Island Aquatic Club’s swim of 1:09.98 puts her in fifth place after prelims.

Olivia Anderson was close behind in 1:10.01 for the sixth qualifying spot. Elizabeth Roberts of Savannah Swim Team touched about a second later in 1:11.05 for seventh seed, and Club Wolverine’s Emily Kopas rounded out the top eight with her time of 1:11.32.

Men’s 100-meter breaststroke

Division III swimmer Andrew Wilson, competing with Texas Longhorn Aquatics, nabbed the top spot in the men’s 100-meter breaststroke in similar dominant fashion to King, touching in 1:00.45. Second seed Richard Funk of Hpc Ontario was almost a second behind with his time of 1:01.22. Mauro Castillo Luna of Texas A&M claimed the third qualifying spot with his time of 1:01.73.

Kevin Cordes, fourth place finisher at Rio in the event, sits in fourth place heading into finals this evening with his swim of 1:01.81. Just 0.06 later was Nicolas Fink of Athens Bulldogs, his time of 1:01.87 good for fifth seed. Carlos Claverie touched in 1:01.93 for the sixth qualifying spot.

Moises Loschi finished in 1:02.14 for an outside lane in the A-final, and in the eighth qualifying spot is Miguel de Lara Ojeda with his time of 1:02.28.

Olympic bronze medalist Cody Miller was disqualified in the event.

Women’s 100-meter backstroke

Ali Deloof of Club Wolverine was the top qualifier in the women’s 100-meter backstroke, and the only swimmer under 1:00.00, with her time of 59.86. Although she was a bit off of her season-best time of 59.43, which puts her 5th in the world rankings so far this year in the event, her time this morning still ranks 11th, right behind 15-year-old Regan Smith‘s time of 59.74.

A second behind DeLoof was 16-year-old Grace Ariola of Waves Bloomington in 1:00.99, good for second place heading into finals. The third qualifying spot went to Claire Adams, swimming for the University of Texas, with her time of 1:02.21. Flickinger, swimming a tough double, nabbed the fourth qualifying spot in 1:02.42.

North Carolina Aquatic Club’s Hellen Moffitt was close behind in 1:02.44 for fifth seed. Club Wolverine’s Gabby Deloof will be swimming against her sister in the A-final, as she sits in sixth place with her time of 1:02.60. Tied for sixth seed with Deloof is Alina Kendzior. The eighth qualifier was Erin Voss, in 1:02.91.

Men’s 100-meter backstroke

The men’s 100-meter backstroke was a close battle, with David Gamburg coming out on top in prelims with his time of 54.84. Close behind was Ryosuke Irie of SwimMAC Carolina in 54.88 for the second seed, and third seed went to Jacob Pebley in 54.89.

200-meter champion Ryan Murphy was close behind teammate Pebley with his time of 54.94, good for fourth seed. Sean Lehane of Academy Bullets Swim Club grabbed the fifth qualifying spot in 55.30, while sixth seed went to Missouri State’s Paul Le in 55.45.

Rounding out the top eight qualifiers are Brock Bonetti in 56.05 for seventh seed, and Arkady Vyatchanin of New York Athletic Club in 56.13 for eighth.

Women’s 200-meter IM

Margalis took the top qualifying spot in the women’s 200-meter IM, touching in 2:14.50. Second seed went to Katie Drabot in 2:15.15, while Club Wolverine’s Siobhan Haughey took the third qualifying spot in 2:15.57.

Aroesty sits in fourth place heading into finals after her swim of 2:16.80, just ahead of Texas A&M’s fifth seed Monika Gonzalez-Hermosillo, who touched in 2:16.85. Sixth-place qualifier Bethany Galat finished in 2:16.91, with Nashville Aquatic Club’s Meaghan Raab close behind in 2:16.96, good for seventh place heading into finals.

Eighth seed went to Brooke Forde with her time of 2:17.32.

Men’s 200-meter IM

Kalisz, coming off of a win in the 400-meter IM, again proved his dominance with the top qualifying time in the men’s 200-meter IM of 2:01.87. He swam a 1:57.71 in Mesa, the number five time in the world this year, so it should be interesting to see how fast he can go at finals tonight.

Racing Kalisz in the A-final will be Texas A&M’s Angel Martinez in the second qualifying spot with 2:02.31, fellow Olympian Jay Litherland of Dynamo Swim Club with the third seed in 2:02.95, and fourth-seed Irie with his time of 2:03.10.

Grant Sanders of Saint Petersburg Aquatics grabbed the fifth qualifying spot, touching in 2:03.65. Double finalist Darragh’s time of 2:03.76 was good for the sixth seed.

Cal’s Matthew Josa and Bentz will be in the outside lanes for tonight’s final event, as they touched in 2:03.93 and 2:04.11, respectively.

Women’s 800-meter freestyle

Timed finals for the slower two heats of the women’s 800-meter freestyle were this morning, featuring a few familiar faces. Katie Ledecky and Katie Drabot of Stanford swam in the morning session for the 800, as the Stanford team is leaving this afternoon and will not be returning for finals. Ledecky’s time of 8:15.71, however, was just off the world-leading time of 8:15.44 that she swam last month in Mesa, and should be good to win the event.

Drabot sits in sixth place after prelims with her time of 8:51.15. Club Wolverine teammates G Ryan and Rose Bi sit in second place and third place, respectively, with their times of 8:36.40 and 8:36.96. Sierra Schmidt, also swimming with Club Wolverine, swam a time of 8:38.92, good for fourth place after the prelims heats.

Megan Byrnes‘s time of 8:40.77 puts her in fifth place in the event. Seventh place went to Kensey McMahon of the Bolles School Sharks in 8:55.51. Sitting in eighth place as of now is Athens Bulldogs’ Meg Finnon, who touched in 8:57.48.

Swimming this evening and looking to place in the top eight of the event will be standout North Baltimore teenager Easop Lee, York YMCA’s Leah Braswell, Maria Alvarez, Joanna Evans, Saint Petersburg Aquatics’ Summer Finke and Peyton Palsha, and Brooke Zeiger.

Men’s 1500-meter freestyle

Club Wolverine’s Felix Auboeck sits in first place after the morning heats of the men’s 1500-meter freestyle, as he finished in 15:16.63. Salvadorian swimmer Marcelo Acosta of Louisville swam the second-fastest time of the morning, a 15:16.95. Auboeck’s teammate PJ Ransford finished in third place after prelims with his time of 15:44.35.

Walker Higgins swam a time of 16:05.48, good for fourth place. Dynamo’s Ian Grum was close behind in 16:06.31 for fifth place after the morning session, and Garrison Johnson sits in sixth place with a 16:09.68.

Seventh and eighth place went to Indiana Swim Team’s Andrej Ivanovic (16:16.59) and Long Island Aquatic Club’s Timothy Marski (16:16.88).

The rankings will likely be upset after the finals heat swims this evening. Notable names include South Korea’s Park Tae Hwan, 200 and 400-meter freestyle champion, Saint Petersburg Aquatics’ Robert Finke, Germany’s Poul Zellmann, and Zane Grothe of Badger Swim Club.

Competition will resume this evening at finals, beginning at 7pm EST.

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