Winter Nationals Day 3 Finals: Ledecky, Masse, Pebley Among National Champs

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

During the Friday night finals session at the 2018 U.S. Winter Nationals, Katie Ledecky took the win in the women’s 200 free, while other notable victors included Kylie Masse in the women’s 100 back and backstroker Jacob Pebley in an unusual event for him, the 200 free. Meanwhile, Madisyn Cox and Christopher Reid each won their second titles of the meet.

Read below for an event-by-event recap of the 10 races contested.

Full results

Women’s 400 IM

Madisyn Cox, competing this weekend at Nationals for the first time since a six-month substance-related suspension and clearing her name of any wrongdoing, won her second title of the weekend in the 400 IM. Cox trailed early in the race but ended up pulling away to win in 4:38.52. That clipped her previous lifetime-best time of 4:38.85 that she had set back in 2016.

Cox now ranks as the fifth-fastest American this year. She won the race by almost three seconds as Sarasota Y’s Emma Wyant touched out Athens Bulldogs’ Hali Flickinger for second, 4:41.20 to 4:41.24. Flickinger opened up a big lead after her butterfly and backstroke legs, but she quickly faded on the breaststroke as Cox took over.

NC State’s Makayla Sargent took fourth in 4:45.79, followed by HPC-Victoria’s Emily Overholt (4:45.93). Also in the final were Meg Bailey (4:48.00), Sandpipers’ Reese Hazan (4:50.72) and Greenwich WYCA’s Meghan Lynch (4:52.38).

women-400-im

Men’s 400 IM

Jay Litherland has been as quick as 4:10.21 in the 400 IM this year, a time bettered by only his Georgia training partner Chase Kalisz and Japan’s Daiya Seto. He was not nearly that quick in winning the event at Winter Nationals, as he swam a time of 4:20.16. But Litherland never had any serious competition and was not pushed down the stretch.

In a field packed with teenagers, Long Island’s Jason Louser finished second in 4:23.99, and Tristan Cote claimed third in 4:24.61. Fourth went to Phoenix Swim Club’s Zachary Tan in 4:25.28.

Nation’s Capital’s Sean Conway took fifth in 4:28.49, ahead of Matt Fallon (4:30.06), Paige Dacosta (4:30.80) and Nick Vance (4:31.05).

men-400-im

Women’s 100 Fly

Amanda Kendall, a 27-year-old now training at Indiana, put up a lifetime best to take the win in the 100 fly at Winter Nationals. Her time of 57.80 bumped her up to No. 4 in the country this year behind Kelsi Dahlia, Katie McLaughlin and Kendyl Stewart.

Teenager Olivia Bray of the Virginia Gators put together a very impressive 58.55 to take second, making her the ninth-fastest American this year and the fastest under the age of 18. Torri Huske took third in 59.27.

Dana Vollmer, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist and the second-fastest swimmer all-time in the event, took fourth in 59.38. Vollmer has competed sparingly since the 2016 Olympics. She gave birth to her second son in 2017 and has not competed at a Nationals since 2016.

Canadian Rebecca Smith took fifth in 59.42, followed by TAC’s Claire Curzan (59.82), Athens Bulldogs’ Megan Kingsley (1:00.40) and Leah Gingrich (1:00.78).

women-100-fly

Men’s 100 Fly

Phoenix Swim Club’s Giles Smith, always strong over the first part of his races, blasted out to a 24.27 first 50 split in the 100 fly final, and he held on to take the title even as he faded down the stretch. Smith came in at 52.94, four tenths slower than his 52.54 prelims time.

Grand Canyon’s Daniil Antipov finished fast and ended up taking second in 53.38, and Imperial Valley’s Kevin Mendoza took third in 53.64.

Yoessek Tibazi finished fourth in 54.09, just ahead of Canadian Josiah Binnema (54.14), Noah Bowers (54.20), Brendan Burns (54.25) and Noah Henderson (54.80).

men-100-fly

Women’s 200 Free

Katie Ledecky was her usual dominant self in the women’s 200 free final in Greensboro, leading by a half-second early and pulling away. Always fast year-round, Ledecky swam a time of 1:55.32, less than a second off her 2018 best time of 1:54.56 from June. The title was Ledecky’s third of the meet after previously winning the 800 free and 400 free.

Simone Manuel was the only other swimmer to even break 1:58, touching in 1:57.92 for second. Athens Bulldogs’ Hali Flickinger took third in 1:59.34, beating out Canadian Rebecca Smith (1:59.71) and Club Wolverine’s Gabby Deloof (1:59.93) on the last 50. Deloof will join Ledecky and Manuel as part of the U.S. 4×200 free relay at the 2019 World Championships.

Canada’s Kennedy Goss (2:00.60), Boilermaker’s Kaersten Meitz (2:01.11) and Nashville’s Meaghan Raab (2:02.61) were the other A-finalists.

women-200-free

Men’s 200 Free

Jacob Pebley, last year’s World Champs bronze medalist in the 200 back, gave the 200 free a shot at Winter Nationals, and he ended up pulling out a victory with a lifetime-best time of 1:49.33. Pebley led wire-to-wire and held off a quick last 50 from Gator’s Mitch D’Arrigo, who settled for second in 1:49.63.

Canada’s Carson Olafson took third in 1:49.84, while New Jersey teenager Dare Rose, representing Scarlet, put up an impressive time of 1:50.45 to take fourth.

Dynamo’s Kevin Litherland took fifth in 1:51.08, while brother Jay took seventh in 1:52.12 after winning the 400 IM earlier in the night. Jonathan Rutter took sixth (1:51.26), and Destin Lasco was eighth (1:52.81).

men-200-free

Women’s 100 Breast

Micah Sumrall finished strong over the final 25 meters to take a Winter Nationals win in the 100 breast. Considered better at the 200-meter distance, Sumrall has been as quick as 1:06.34 this season, good for eighth in the year, and this time she finished in 1:07.51.

NC State’s Sophie Hansson took second in 1:08.14, and Canada’s Kelsey Wog was third in 1:08.58. Emily Escobedo took fourth in 1:09.00.

Marlins of Raleigh’s Abby Arens finished fifth in 1:09.21, and Longhorn’s Madisyn Cox, fresh off a 400 IM victory, was sixth in 1:09.51. Also in the final were Cardinal Community’s Emily Weiss (1:10.56) and Gamecock’s Rachel Bernhardt (1:10.66).

women-100-breast

Men’s 100 Breast

Athens Bulldogs’ Nic Fink touched out Phoenix Swim Club’s Kevin Cordes by four hundredths to top the National final of the 100 breast. Fink, who was sixth at the 50-meter mark, came in at 1:00.18, while Cordes touched in 1:00.22. Cordes swam two tenths faster in prelims, when he nearly broke 1:00 with his mark of 1:00.04.

Aggie’s Jonathan Tybur came in third at 1:00.11, while Chuck Katis, who was second at the halfway mark, faded to fourth in 1:01.28.

The rest of the finalists included Ben Cono (1:01.59), Eli Wall (1:01.59), Alex Evdokimov (1:02.06) and Zane Backes (1:02.24).

men-100-br

Women’s 100 Back

Canada’s Kylie Masse made an appearance at U.S. Winter Nationals in Greensboro and was the class of the field in her signature event, the 100 back. The World Champion and former world record-holder touched in 59.27, less than a second off her season best of 58.29.

Nation’s Capital’s Phoebe Bacon almost got under 1:00 as she chased Masse down the stretch. Bacon, who was fourth at this summer’s Nationals at 59.12, finished this time in 1:00.02. Ali DeLoof took third in 1:00.53.

Kentucky’s Bridgette Alexander took fourth in 1:01.51, and then there was a big gap back to the rest of the field. That included Caroline Bentz (1:02.07), Nebraska’s Autumn Haebig (1:02.18), Kentucky’s Ali Galyer (1:02.27) and Drexel’s Alexa Kutch (1:02.76).

women-100-back

Men’s 100 Back

Christopher Reid, a South African Olympian and member of the Alabama Crimson Tide, used a strong burst over the final 15 meters to hold off Jacob Pebley to win the 100 back national title. Reid finished in 53.95, just ahead of Pebley in 53.99. Pebley was going for his second win of the evening after earlier winning the 200 free.

In a tight finish among four swimmers, HPC-Victoria’s Markus Thormeyer took third in 54.09, and Grand Canyon’s Mark Nikolaev was just behind in 54.12. Luke Kaliszak, Reid’s teammate at Alabama, finished fifth in 54.87.

Rounding out the top eight were Kane Follows (55.68), Gator’s Corey Main (55.97) and UNCW’s Will Countie (56.16).

men-100-bk

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use