Josh Prenot, Andrew Seliskar Bust Up World Rankings On Second Morning in Irvine

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Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

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The second morning of the 2018 Phillips 66 USA Swimming Nationals kicked off with stellar swims from Cal Golden Bears Josh PrenotAndrew Seliskar and Ryan Murphy. Prenot and Seliskar shook up the world rankings list as they could have more left in the tank tonight. Regan Smith also moved up in the world rankings along with Micah Sumrall.

The second night of swimming from the National Championships could see some even more fast times as well as some world leading swims.

Heat Sheets
Results
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Women’s 200 Free

There were four total swimmers under 1:57 in the heats of the 200 free on Thursday morning at the Phillips 66 National Championships in Irvine, California. Surprisingly it was not the reigning Olympic Champion Katie Ledecky. Nor was it veteran distance swimmer Leah Smith. Was it Melanie Margalis, who has made it on a number of 4×200 free relays? American record holder Allison Schmitt?

Nope, it was Michigan’s Gabby DeLoof, who swam a 1:56.76 to lead the 200 free heats on the second morning of the Phillips 66 Nationals.

DeLoof is ahead of three other swimmers who swam 1:56’s. Smith(1:56.78), Ledecky (1:56.83) and Margalis (1:56.84) follow her and will be vying for a spot on the 4×200 free relay for Pan Pacs tonight. The top four in the 100 and 200 free automatically qualify for Tokyo.

The rest of the field is stacked as the American Record holder Schmitt is in fifth at 1:57.12. Simone Manuel (1:57.20), Mallory Comerford (1:57.92) and Virginia’s Paige Madden (1:58.50) will also swim in tonight’s A-Final.

Notable A-Final misses came from Katie McLaughlin (1:58.61) in 13th, Katie Drabot (1:58.68) in 14th and Missy Franklin (1:59.56) in 18th. Olympian and World Championship team member Cierra Runge placed 20th at 1:59.63.

Also notable was 14-year-old Claire Tuggle who swam a 1:58.59 to qualify tied for 11th with Meaghan Raab. Tuggle moved ahead of Franklin in the all-time 13-14 NAG rankings and sits just behind Sippy Woodhead (1:58.53) from 1978. Woodhead was the silver medalist in the 200 free at the 1984 Olympics.

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Men’s 200 Free

The men’s 200 free heats were expected to be tight as any number of sixteen guys across the board could sneak into the A-Final and get on the Pan Pac team. Seliskar was the only swimmer under 1:46 in the heats with a 1:45.77 to lead the tight field on Thursday morning in Irvine at the Phillips 66 USA Swimming Nationals. Seliskar is ahead of Olympians Blake Pieroni (1:46.26) and Conor Dwyer (1:46.34).

Seliskar is now third in the 2018 World Rankings behind Lithuania’s Danas Rapsys (1:45.12) and Australia’s Kyle Chalmers (1:45.56). Pieroni moved up to ninth in the world rankings.

2018 World Rankings:

  1. Danas Rapsys, LTU, 1:45.12
  2. Kyle Chalmers, AUS, 1:45.56
  3. Andrew Seliskar, USA, 1:45.77
  4. Mack Horton, AUS, 1:45.89
  5. Katsuhiro Matsumoto, JPN, 1:45.93
  6. Sun Yang, CHN, 1:46.07
  7. Fernando Scheffer, BRA, 1:46.08
  8. Aleksandr Krasnykh, RUS, 1:46.25

Stanford commit Jack LeVant is the fourth seed at 1:46.39. He moved to second all-time in the 17-18 NAG rankings behind Michael Phelps (1:45.99). LeVant also just dipped under the World Junior Record of 1:46.40 held by Russia’s Ivan Girev from last year’s World Junior Championships. LeVant is on a roll this week after he took a lot of people by surprise last night in the 200 fly when he got in the final. He ended up eighth in the final last night.

The rest of the 200 free field is stacked with Texas Olympians Townley Haas (1:47.55) and Jack Conger (1:47.63) sneaking into the final in fifth and seventh. Haas’s best time is a 1:45.04 from World Championships last year so he could have more left in the tank for tonight’s final.

Jay Litherland (1:47.58) and Trey Freeman (1:47.70) also will swim in the A-Final tonight.

There were a couple big A-Final misses with Zane Grothe placing 18th at 1:48.32 and Gunnar Bentz placing 25th at 1:49.47. Clark Smith was 66th at 1:51.87.

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Women’s 200 Breast

A lot of people thought she was done after the 2016 Olympic Trials when she failed to make the Rio team. But Micah Sumrall quickly showed she is still a great world class swimmer after some time away from the sport. Sumrall posted the quickest time of the morning in the 200 breast at the Phillips 66 USA Swimming National Championships in Irvine. Sumrall swam a 2:23.27 to lead the qualifiers and to sit sixth in the world rankings for 2018.

Sumrall is ahead of four girls who swam a 2:25 with Annie Lazor (2:25.01), Bethany Galat (2:25.23), Lilly King (2:25.33) and Emily Escobedo (2:25.73) bunched up together. Most swimming fans remember Sumrall as Micah Lawrence, the 2015 silver medalist in this event at the World Championships and the top 200 breaststroker in the United States after the retirement of Rebecca Soni after the 2012 Olympics.

Ella Nelson (2:26.47), Riley Scott (2:26.55) and Zoe Bartel (2:26.66) will also swim in the A-Final tonight.

Notable A-Final misses came from Katie Meili in 14th at 2:28.02 and Miranda Tucker in 22nd at 2:29.46.

2018 World Rankings:

  1. Yulia Efimova, RUS, 2:20.72
  2. Reona Aoki, JPN, 2:21.85
  3. Tatjana Schoenmaker, RSA, 2:22.02
  4. Kanako Watanabe, JPN, 2:22.88
  5. Satomi Suzuki, JPN, 2:23.19
  6. Micah Sumrall, USA, 2:23.27
  7. Molly Renshaw, GBR, 2:23.28
  8. Chloe Tutton, GBR, 2:23.42

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Men’s 200 Breast

The men’s 200 breast was expected to be a stacked field and it delivered. 2016 Olympic silver medalist Josh Prenot had a big swim on Thursday at the Phillips 66 USA Swimming National Championships with a 2:07.69 to swim the second fastest time of the 2018 calendar year. Prenot only sits behind Ippei Watanabe of Japan at 2:07.56 and is the third swimmer to go a 2:07 this year after Anton Chupkov of Russia went 2:07.81 at Russian Nationals.

Prenot will not have it easy tonight as a lot of guys behind him are ready to pounce with Will Licon (2:08.92), Kevin Cordes (2:09.58), Nic Fink (2:09.61) and Andrew Wilson (2:10.14) all sitting in the final as spoiler potentials.

Daniel Roy (2:10.18), Jonathan Tybur (2:10.55) and Cody Miller (2:10.59) also placed in the final and could sneak into the top three and snag a spot on the Pan Pac team.

Notable A-Final misses came from Reece Whitley (2:11.32) in 10th.

2018 World Rankings:

  1. Ippei Watanabe, JPN, 2:07.56
  2. Josh Prenot, USA, 2:07.69
  3. Anton Chupkov, RUS, 2:07.81
  4. James Wilby, GBR, 2:08.05
  5. Matthew Wilson, AUS, 2:08.31
  6. Ross Murdoch, GBR, 2:08.32
  7. Kirill Prigoda, RUS, 2:08.32
  8. Yasuhiro Koseki, JPN, 2:08.45

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Women’s 200 Back

16-year-old Regan Smith posted a very strong and solid 200 back in the heats of the 2018 Phillips 66 USA Swimming Nationals with a 2:07.03. She is well ahead of the rest of the field as she was the only one under 2:08 in the heats and one of three swimmers under 2:09. Smith is ahead of US National Team member Kathleen Baker (2:08.14) and fellow Minnesota native Isabelle Stadden (2:08.48).

Smith’s time is a new personal best and is now fifth in the world for 2018.

The rest of the final is full of swimmers looking to make their international debuts as Ali Galyer (2:09.77) and Katharine Berkoff (2:09.84) have yet to make a major international team.

Lisa Bratton (2:09.03), Asia Seidt (2:09.29) and Olivia Smoliga (2:09.81) will be looking to make their first Pan Pac roster.

Notable A-Final misses came from Beata Nelson (2:09.92) in 9th and Amy Bilquist (2:13.00) in 22nd.

2018 World Rankings:

  1. Kylie Masse, CAN, 2:05.98
  2. Taylor Ruck, CAN, 2:06.36
  3. Emily Seebohm, AUS, 2:06.82
  4. Kathleen Baker, USA, 2:07.02
  5. Regan Smith, USA, 2:07.03
  6. Margherita Panziera, ITA, 2:07.16
  7. Peng Xuwei, CHN, 2:07.27
  8. Kaylee McKeown, AUS, 2:07.65

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Men’s 200 Back

Cal backstroke came to play in Irvine with four total A-finalists in the men’s 200 back at the Phillips 66 USA Swimming National Championships on Thursday morning. The usual suspects of Ryan Murphy (1:56.39) and Jacob Pebley (1:56.88) posted the top two times as expected.

The Golden Bears put two other guys in the top eight with undergrads Bryce Mefford (1:57.66) and Daniel Carr (1:57.69) sneaking into the final, showing that Cal backstroke is here to play.

NCAA champion Austin Katz (1:56.97) also came to play in Irvine putting up the third seed this morning as he could play spoiler to get on the Pan Pac team.

Clark Beach (1:57.06), Nick Alexander (1:57.18) and Carson Foster (1:57.70) also placed in the top eight this morning. Foster is not far off of the NAG record for the 15-16 age group as he sits behind Aaron Peirsol (1:57.03) and Murphy (1:57.39) in the all-time rankings.

There were no notable A-final misses.

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Women’s 50 Fly

Louisville has gotten off to a good start at the Phillips 66 National Championships in Irvine, California. A day after Zach Harting and Mallory Comerford placed in the top two in their individual events, Kelsi Dahlia swam to the top seed in the 50 fly heats on Thursday morning.

Dahlia swam a 25.97 as she was the only swimmer under 26 seconds in the heats. The winner of the 50 stroke events automatically qualifies for the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea. Dahlia is in line to make her second World Championship team.

Kendyl Stewart (26.16) is the second seed and could beat Dahlia to the wall tonight in the final.

Hellen Moffitt (26.71), Sarah Gibson (26.73), Veronica Burchill (26.77), Torri Huske (26.81), Amanda Kendall (26.84) and Christie Jensen (26.90) also placed in the top eight this morning.

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Men’s 50 Fly

The final event of the morning was the men’s 50 fly. The two big names in the field ended up tying for the top seed with Michael Andrew and Caeleb Dressel swimming a 23.33 to share the top spot. Both swimmers have a chance to clinch a spot on the 2019 World Championship team that will travel next summer to Gwangju, South Korea. The winner of the 50 stroke events automatically qualifies for the 2019 World Championships.

Andrew and Dressel are seeded ahead of Tucson Ford’s Chatham Dobbs (23.73) and Texas’ John Shebat (23.86). Giles Smith (23.88), Jack Saunderson (23.89), Matthew Josa (23.90) and Tate Jackson (23.95) will also swim in the top eight tonight.

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Michael Maloney
Michael Maloney
5 years ago

A touch sad…not one interview..chat or picture of the great Missy Franklin….and this is why she will leave the “What have you done for me lately” sport of swimming…just saying

Rachel
Rachel
5 years ago
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