El Kamash, Sims Take 800 Frees on Night One of Socially-Distanced US Open
The 2020 Toyota US Open began Thursday night across seven different sites in the United States as USA Swimming will be compiling results into one file in order to simulate what a normal US Open meet would feel like.
Thursday night just consisted of the 800 frees with Sandpipers’ Arabella Sims won the women’s race from Irvine with an 8:27.01. She was ahead of some big names including 2019 national champ Ally McHugh (8:29.36), teammate Erica Sullivan (8:31.38) and open water Olympian Ashley Twichell (8:33.58). Sarasota’s Emma Weyant, who is taking a gap year to train at home instead of at the University of Virginia, won the race in her home pool with an 8:34.93 while Indiana commit Mariah Denigan finished sixth overall at 8:36.72.
The time for Sims puts her fifth all-time in the 15-16 age group behind Olympic gold medalists Katie Ledecky (8:13.86), Janet Evans (8:17.12) and World champion Kim Linehan (8:24.70). Becca Mann sits third all-time at 8:22.45. Her previous best time was an 8:35.96.
Marwan El Kamash won the men’s 800 out of Indianapolis with a 7:52.19, pulling along Indiana teammate Michael Brinegar (8:03.00) and Michigan freshman Jake Mitchell (8:03.11) in the top eight with him. 2019 national champ Bobby Finke finished second overall and was the only other man under 8:00 with his 7:53.05 from Sarasota, finishing ahead of Florida teammates Kieran Smith (8:00.05) and Alfonso Mestre (8:00.49).
Open water Olympian Jordan Wilimovsky won the Irvine race with an 8:01.40 for fifth overall.
Women’s 800 Free Top Eight:
- 8:27.01, Arabella Sims, Irvine
- 8:29.36, Ally McHugh, Indianapolis
- 8:31.38, Erica Sullivan, Irvine
- 8:33.58, Ashley Twichell, Greensboro
- 8:34.93, Emma Weyant, Sarasota
- 8:36.72, Mariah Denigan, Indianapolis
- 8:44.45, Caroline Pennington, Greensboro
- 8:45.15, Paige Kuwata, Irvine
Men’s 800 Free Top Eight
- 7:52.19, Marwan El Kamash, Indianapolis
- 7:53.05, Bobby Finke, Sarasota
- 8:00.05, Kieran Smith, Sarasota
- 8:00.49, Alfonso Mestre, Sarasota
- 8:01.40, Jordan Wilimovsky, Irvine
- 8:02.15, John Gallant, Irvine
- 8:03.00, Michael Brinegar, Indianapolis
- 8:03.11, Jake Mitchell, Indianapolis
