Katie Ledecky Tops 200 Free and 400 IM Prelims in Mesa

Photo Courtesy: Reginald Dunwoody

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Katie Ledecky posted a strong second morning at the arena Pro Swim Series meet in Mesa, Ariz., qualifying first for finals in both the 200 free and 400 IM. But she figures to have some strong competition in the evening finals, and also competing in championship heats will be Nathan Adrian, Simone Manuel and Chase Kalisz.

Read below for full coverage of the morning’s events.

Women’s 200 Free

Stanford’s Katie Ledecky pulled away from teammate Simone Manuel in the final heat of the women’s 200 free and earn the top qualifying mark for the evening final. Ledecky touched in 1:57.63, putting her 13th in the world rankings for 2017. She qualified almost a full second ahead of Virginia’s Leah Smith.

Smith came in second at 1:58.57, and the third seed went to Manuel in 1:59.44. St. Petersburg’s Melanie Margalis also got under 2:00, finishing in 1:59.66.

Louisville’s Mallory Comerford was fifth in 2:00.41, and she was followed by another Stanford swimmer, Katie Drabot (2:00.53). Also making the A-final were USC’s Louise Hansson (2:00.76) and Texas’ Madisyn Cox (2:00.82).

Men’s 200 Free

A pair of Trojans were the only two swimmers to get under the 1:50-barrier in the 200 free. Dylan Carter qualified first in 1:48.99, and Cristian Quintero took second in 1:49.73. Louisville’s Marcelo Acosta (1:50.36) and Joao De Lucca (1:50.61) took third and fifth, respectively, while Dynamo’s Matias Koski was fourth in 1:50.58.

Also getting into the final were Cal teammates Long Gutierrez (1:50.68) and Jacob Pebley (1:50.97), and Michael Weiss was eighth in 1:51.01.

Women’s 200 Back

17-year old Eva Merrell finished with the top seed coming out of prelims of the women’s 200 back, posting a time of 2:13.55. Merrell, representing Aquazot, led a trio of teenagers in the top three as she was followed by Stanford’s Erin Voss (2:14.29) and Texas’ Claire Adams (2:14.39).

IA’s Alice Treuth finished fourth in 2:14.54, ahead of Tide’s Callie Dickinson (2:15.45), Vietnam’s Vien Nguyen (2:16.86), New Zealand’s Annabelle Paterson (2:17.04) and Houston’s Eleanna Koutsouveli (2:17.62).

Men’s 200 Back

Cal’s Jacob Pebley, currently ranked No. 4 in the world at 1:55.56 from the last stop of the arena Pro Swim Series in Indianapolis, cruised into the final as the top seed with his time of 1:58.98. He was well ahead of Academy Bullets’ Sean Lehane (2:00.57) and New York Athletic Club’s Arkady Vyatchanin (2:00.59), who finished second and third, respectively.

Auburn’s Peter Fredricksson took fourth in 2:00.72, and FAST’s Omar Pinzon was well back in fifth in 2:04.37. Also making the final were Zheng Wen Quah (2:05.56), David Cespedes Echeverry (2:06.32) and Barkley Perry (2:06.70).

Women’s 50 Free

Stanford’s Simone Manuel will go for the sprint double in the 50 free final. After winning the 100 free on day one, she qualified first in the 50 free in 25.34. SwimMAC’s Madison Kennedy qualified second in 25.46, and Stanford’s Lia Neal came in third at 25.62.

New Zealand’s Gabrielle Fa’amausili and Cardinal’s Kelsi Worrell tied for fourth in 25.69, ahead of Brazil’s Etiene Medeiros (25.72), Louisville’s Mallory Comerford (25.80) and Canyons’ Amanda Kendall (25.81).

Notably, Cal’s Dana Vollmer finished 55th in 27.59. Vollmer swam the race six months pregnant, and she announced by wearing a green TYR techsuit that her second child will be a boy.

Men’s 50 Free

Finland’s Ari-Pekka Liukkonen led the way into the men’s splash-and-dash final in 22.41, well ahead of Race Pace Club’s Michael Andrew (22.65) and New Zealand’s Daniel Hunter (22.68).

Wolfpack Elite’s Cullen Jones took fourth in 22.71, and lurking from lane two will be Cal’s Nathan Adrian. Adrian won the 100 free on day one and then cruised into the finish in the 50 prelims with a time of 22.78.

King’s Dillon Virva (22.88), New York Athletic Club’s Josh Schneider (22.92) and Luke Pechmann (22.96) also made the final.

Olympic gold medalist Anthony Ervin just missed the final, tying for ninth with Joao De Lucca in 22.97.

Women’s 400 IM

Katie Ledecky was well behind Stanford teamate Ella Eastin and St. Petersburg’s Melanie Margalis at the 300-meter mark in their heat, but Ledecky stormed back on the free and captured the top seed. She touched in 4:42.33, well ahead of the previous top time of 4:42.92 recorded by Neptune Natation’s Mary-Sophie Harvey.

Harvey ended up qualifying second in 4:42.92, followed by Margalis (4:43.34) and Eastin (4:43.72). Fifth went to Texas’ Madisyn Cox in 4:46.39, and she was followed by Lakeside’s Brooke Forde (4:48.74), Vietnam’s Vien Nguyen (4:49.20) and Trojan’s Haley Anderson (4:50.95).

Men’s 400 IM

Cal’s Josh Prenot finished as the top seed in the final race of the morning, touching in 4:22.26. Olympic silver medalist Chase Kalisz, officially representing North Baltimore, was two tenths back in 4:22.46, and Louisville’s Etay Gurevich was third in 4:22.84.

Nitro’s Sean Grieshop qualified fourth in 4:26.78, followed by Pitchfork’s Jarod Arroyo (4:28.31), Hector Ruvalcaba Cruz (4:32.45), Louisville’s Zach Harting (4:33.06) and SMU’s Jonathan Gomez (4:33.14).

Full results

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Michael Maloney

7 years ago

Time for Greavers to retire….just saying