Blake Pieroni, Lilly King Win Trials Tune-ups at Speedo Sectionals

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Lilly King and Blake Pieroni turned in victories at the first two days of the Speedo Sectionals meet at the IUPUI Natatorium this week in a potential preview of the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Pieroni outdueled Zach Apple in the 200 freestyle Friday night, his time of 1:48.37 well ahead of Apple’s 1:49.81 in what could be battle for relay spots in Omaha this summer.

King got the better of 200 breaststroke rival Annie Lazor by a tenth of a second in a race Thursday night, the 24-year-old clocking in at 2:22.13. Lazor, 26, wasn’t far back, using finishing 1.2 seconds faster on the final 50 (35.69) to close the gap. King’s time took down a meet record set in 2015 by Miranda Tucker (2:27.82). Tucker was third in 2:30.87.

Anna Peplowski outraced Gabi DeLoof in the women’s 200 free, Peplowski clocking in at 2:00.66 to win by .11 seconds. Kelsi Dahlia set down a quick in-season time with a 58.25 in the 100 butterfly, the 26-year-old winning her race by nearly three seconds. It set a meet record, trouncing the 59.66 that had stood since 2009 in the hands of Margaret Kelly.

The Speedo Sectionals meet mark also went down in the men’s 100 fly, with Miles Smachlo of Club Wolverine going 51.98, nearly two seconds quicker than the mark of 53.72 set in 2013 by Kyler van Swol. Aaron Sequeira was second in 53.95. Bailey Andison won the women’s 400 individual medley in 4:39.54, outdistancing the field by 12 seconds and downing a meet record in the process (4:43.41, Mariah Denigan, 2019). Likewise, Club Wolverine’s Charlie Swanson clocked in at 4:20.81 to take the mark set by Kevin Vargas in 2019 (4:21.49).

Josh Matheny, the 18-year-old breaststroker and Indiana University signee swimming for Team Pittsburgh Elite Aquatics, put down an early marker in the men’s 200 breast Thursday, winning in a time of 2:11.05. That was .66 ahead of Cody Miller. Max Reich was third in 2:13.02. (All three swims took down the meet record of 2:15.38 by Derek Maas dating to 2019.)

Andrej Barna won the men’s 50 free on Thursday in 22.50 seconds, outdueling Apple (22.58). Josephine Ramey of Fisher Area Swimming Tigers notched a very fast time of 2:09.72 in the 200 backstroke, cutting nearly four seconds off her seed time. The 15-year-old took down a meet record (2:09.79) set by Regan Smith in 2017.

The Speedo Sectionals continue through Saturday. They’re being held at four locations, though only the Indianapolis one is in short-course meters.

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