Ella Eastin Holds Off Leah Smith for Santa Clara 400 IM Win

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Editorial content for the 2018 TYR Pro Swim Series Santa Clara is sponsored by SwimOutlet.com. Visit SwimOutlet.com for more information on our sponsor. For full Swimming World coverage, check out our event coverage page.

The second night of the 2018 TYR Pro Swim Series Santa Clara will feature men’s and women’s finals of the 400 IM, 100 Fly, 200 Back, 200 Breast and 200 Free. After the Indiana post-graduate group dominated the 1500 on night one, future and current Stanford swimmers took three of the top seeds for tonight’s finals.

Katie Ledecky, in her first professional race associated with TYR, claimed the top seed in the 200 Free – as did future Cardinal Jack Levant in the men’s race. Ella Eastin will start the session off with her top seed in the 400 IM, looking for the win in this event after narrowly losing out on the victory to Melanie Margalis in Indianapolis.

Veteran Chase Kalisz will set out to keep his 400 IM win streak alive, as will Kelsi Dahlia in the 100 fly. Cal’s Andrew Seliskar leads a competitive 100 Fly men’s field after the morning heats including the likes of Caeleb Dressel and Jack Conger.

16-year-old Regan Smith and reigning Olympic-Champion Ryan Murphy hold top honors in the 200 Back while Lilly King and Miguel de Lara Ojeda did likewise in the 200 Breast.

Women’s 400 IM

After an exact three-way tie after the fly leg between Eastin, Leah Smith and Sarah Darcel and a late charge from Smith on the freestyle, Eastin was able to hang on for the win in this event in 4:38.99. The swim was about half a second off her swim from Indianapolis which puts her eleventh in the world rankings so far this year.

Smith’s time of 4:39.37 was a season-best and bumped her into the top twenty world rankings as well. The freestyle star blasted a 1:00.76 free split to earn runner-up honors and nearly catch Eastin. Darcel kept her place at the top of the heat with a third place finish in 4:44.79 – about five seconds off her best time from the Commonwealth Games.

Meaghan Raab (4:48.13), Monika Gonzalez-Hermosillo (4:49.03), Emma Barksdale (4:49.16), Leah Stevens (4:53.05), Esther Gonzalez Medina (4:53.94) and Nora McCullagh (5:56.54) rounded out the top nine.

 Event 3  Women 400 LC Meter IM
==================================================================
        World: W 4:26.36  8/6/2016  Katinka Hosszu, HUN
     American: A 4:31.12  6/29/2008 Katie Hoff, North Baltimore
     Pro Swim: M 4:31.07  2015      Katinka Hosszu
    Name                  Age Team              Prelims     Finals        
==================================================================
                    === Championship Final ===                    
 
  1 Eastin, Ella           21 Stanford Swimmin  4:40.17    4:38.99  
    r:+0.71  29.70      1:03.47 (33.77)
        1:39.53 (36.06)     2:14.49 (34.96)
        2:55.25 (40.76)     3:35.44 (40.19)
        4:08.10 (32.66)     4:38.99 (30.89)
  2 Smith, Leah            23 Tucson Ford Deal  4:40.53    4:39.37  
    r:+0.72  30.22      1:03.47 (33.25)
        1:40.62 (37.15)     2:16.41 (35.79)
        2:57.28 (40.87)     3:38.61 (41.33)
        4:09.72 (31.11)     4:39.37 (29.65)
  3 Darcel, Sarah          20 Una CAL           4:48.70    4:44.79  
    r:+0.62  29.77      1:03.47 (33.70)
        1:40.23 (36.76)     2:16.34 (36.11)
        2:56.41 (40.07)     3:37.58 (41.17)
        4:11.45 (33.87)     4:44.79 (33.34)
  4 Raab, Meaghan          22 Nashville Aquati  4:49.09    4:48.13  
    r:+0.76  31.69      1:06.59 (34.90)
        1:45.50 (38.91)     2:22.81 (37.31)
        3:02.84 (40.03)     3:42.99 (40.15)
        4:16.71 (33.72)     4:48.13 (31.42)
  5 Gonzalez-Hermosillo,   22 Mexico            4:51.62    4:49.03  
    r:+0.74  31.48      1:06.31 (34.83)
        1:45.07 (38.76)     2:22.61 (37.54)
        3:03.15 (40.54)     3:44.15 (41.00)
        4:17.49 (33.34)     4:49.03 (31.54)
  6 Barksdale, Emma        20 Gamecock Aquatic  4:51.14    4:49.16  
    r:+0.68  30.37      1:04.82 (34.45)
        1:42.74 (37.92)     2:19.41 (36.67)
        3:00.28 (40.87)     3:41.52 (41.24)
        4:16.28 (34.76)     4:49.16 (32.88)
  7 Stevens, Leah          21 Stanford Swimmin  4:55.20    4:53.05  
    r:+0.65  31.78      1:07.56 (35.78)
        1:47.08 (39.52)     2:24.14 (37.06)
        3:07.10 (42.96)     3:48.19 (41.09)
        4:21.50 (33.31)     4:53.05 (31.55)
  8 Gonzalez Medina, Esth  22 Mexico            4:54.41    4:53.94  
    r:+0.69  31.69      1:08.24 (36.55)
        1:49.19 (40.95)     2:28.07 (38.88)
        3:08.27 (40.20)     3:47.77 (39.50)
        4:21.59 (33.82)     4:53.94 (32.35)
  9 McCullagh, Nora        21 Una TXLA          4:57.24    4:56.54  
             30.59      1:06.83 (36.24)
        1:45.95 (39.12)     2:23.92 (37.97)
        3:06.40 (42.48)     3:48.00 (41.60)
        4:22.73 (34.73)     4:56.54 (33.81)

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