Leah Smith Experiments With 200 Fly/200 IM Double On Second Night of Mesa Pro Swim Series

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The second night of finals from the 2018 TYR Pro Swim Series Mesa featured some solid racing as Chase Kalisz and Leah Smith were the main stars of attraction on Friday night in Arizona. Smith won the 800 free and also swam unconventional events in the 200 IM and 200 fly. Kalisz continued his strong meet with wins in the 200 fly and 200 IM as well.

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Women’s 800 Free

Leah Smith is swimming her first meet as an Arizona post grad swimmer as she moved to Tucson in October. Smith drove shortly down the road to Mesa as she won the 800 free final on Friday night at the TYR Pro Swim Series with an 8:31.79.

Smith won by almost ten full seconds over another swimmer who made post grad training changes Ashley Neidigh, who moved from Auburn to IU over the summer. Neidigh was second at 8:41.23. Yet another swimmer who changed locations, Cierra Runge, was third at 8:48.65.

Olivia Anderson (8:50.46), Sophie Cattermole (8:51.54), Amanda Nunan (8:54.06), Emma Sundstedt (8:58.77) and Juli Arzave (9:04.60) also placed in the top eight.

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Men’s 800 Free

Last night in the 200 free final, it was Marwan El Kamash who got the upper hand over Zane Grothe at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Mesa. On Friday night, the two went at it again, this time it was Grothe who got the upper hand with a 7:55.53 to defeat El Kamash. The Egyptian was second at 7:55.75.

Those two swam away from Jordan Wilimovsky who is swimming his first pool competition since the French Open in July 2017. Wilimovsky was third at 7:58.10.

Marcelo Acosta (8:04.24), Robert Finke (8:07.53), Rafael Davila (8:10.08), Gordon Mason (8:16.40) and Chris Wieser (8:20.29) also placed in the top eight.

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Women’s 100 Back

Olivia Smoliga has had a pretty impressive meet in Mesa already as the 23-year-old Georgia post grad swimmer won her second event of the meet. Smoliga won the 200 back on Thursday night and followed that with a more familiar win in the 100 on Friday. She won the 100 final with a 1:00.08 in a comfortable win over Ali DeLoof (1:01.27).

Katharine Berkoff, the daughter of two time Olympian David Berkoff, finished in third at 1:01.69, ahead of Keaton Blovad (1:01.77).

Amy Bilquist (1:01.99), Isabella Arcila (1:02.55), Hellen Moffitt (1:03.02) and Sonnele Oeztuerk (1:03.32) also swam in the A-final.

Men’s 100 Back

Ryan Murphy never ceases to amaze. The Cal post grad swimmer won the 100 back final on Friday night at the 2018 TYR Pro Swim Series in Mesa with a 53.98 to beat Matt Grevers (54.51). Murphy was out in a 26.67 and came back in a 27.31 as he almost even split a 100 back. It isn’t uncommon to see splits that close together in a 100 back, but Murphy was the only one in the field in Mesa tonight to get his two 50’s that close together.

Murphy also won the 200 back last night. His Cal teammate Jacob Pebley also swam in the final tonight as he placed fourth with a 54.88.

Mark Nikolaev (54.77), Zachary Poti (56.24), Youssef Said (56.47), Nikkos Sofianidis (56.70) and Joey Reilman (57.12) also swam in the A-final.

Women’s 200 Fly

Hali Flickinger has been the premiere 200 butterflyer in the USA since she was second at the Olympic Trials in 2016. Flickinger is the face of an event that the United States has not had a gold medal internationally in since Misty Hyman in 2000, and she has showed consistency so far the last few years. Flickinger won the 200 fly at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Mesa with a 2:09.77 on Friday night.

Flickinger won the final ahead of another main stay on the national team in Kelsi Dahlia (2:11.48).

Another couple of promising 200 flyers, Ruby Martin (2:12.74) and Olivia Carter (2:12.87), who will be college freshmen in the fall, placed third and fourth.

800 champ earlier in the night, Leah Smith placed sixth (2:16.06) in an unconventional event, as she is testing her versatility here in an in-season meet.

Isabella Paez (2:14.00), Sarah Gibson (2:16.15) and Grace Oglesby (2:18.69) also swam in the A-final.

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Men’s 200 Fly

Chase Kalisz continues to be an in-season monster as he muscled his way through his second win of the TYR Pro Swim Series in Mesa. He won the 400 IM on Thursday night, and won the 200 fly on Friday night. He won the 200 fly with a 1:56.69 as he won ahead of Arizona’s Justin Wright (1:57.77).

Kalisz led from start to finish as he will be looking to fill the void in the 200 butterfly left by three-time Olympic champion Michael Phelps. Kalisz was third at World Championship trials last summer, missing a chance to swim the race in Budapest.

Someone who did swim the 200 fly in Budapest, fellow Bulldog Pace Clark (1:59.67) placed third here in Mesa as he just barely broke two minutes. South Carolina’s Fynn Minuth finished in fourth at 1:59.86.

Zach Harting (2:01.40), Camden Murphy (2:03.79), Daniel Sos (2:04.00) and Jarod Arroyo (2:04.51) also swam in the A-final.

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Women’s 100 Breast

26-year-old Molly Hannis has almost been reborn in 2018 after missing out on the World Championships in 2017. She has been on fire every time she steps in the pool after she already put the world on notice in January after swimming one of the fastest 50 breasts of all-time.

Hannis continued her strong season with a 1:06.65 in the 100 breast in Mesa on Friday night. Hannis finished ahead of a pair of 2012 Olympians in hometown hero Breeja Larson (1:08.28) and Micah Sumrall (1:08.43) [the artist formerly known as Micah Lawrence]

Zoe Bartel (1:09.44), Emily Escobedo (1:10.24), Peyton Kondis (1:10.33), Silja Kansakoski (1:10.63) and Angela Mavrantza (1:11.52) also swam in the A-final.

Men’s 100 Breast

18-year-old Michael Andrew has also had a pretty solid 2018, along with Molly Hannis, the winner in the previous event. Andrew won the 100 breast handily on Friday night at the 2018 TYR Pro Swim Series meet at Mesa as he just missed breaking a minute in the event with a 1:00.16. Andrew won the race by almost a full second over Grand Canyon’s Youssef El Kamash (1:01.05) and Kevin Cordes (1:01.19).

Andrew beat a pretty stacked field that included the fastest man in short course yards, Ian Finnerty, who placed fifth at 1:01.39.

Josh Prenot (1:01.28), Cody Miller (1:01.47), Carlos Claverie (1:01.53) and Andrew Wilson (1:02.12) also swam in the stacked A-final.

Women’s 100 Free

Mallory Comerford ran down the likes of Margo Geer on Friday night in the 100 free final at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Mesa. Comerford won the 100 free final with a 54.30 ahead of Geer (54.42) and Lia Neal (54.75).

Comerford is now one of the premiere amateur swimmers and is no longer considered the underdog in the United States realm of swimming. Comerford is now one of the go-to swimmers in the free relays and she has showed she isn’t slowing down in that role.

Other American Olympians Olivia Smoliga (55.30) and Allison Schmitt (55.32) put up decent times in the event, considering Smoliga swam her second race of the night and Schmitt is swimming her first meet since the 2016 Olympics.

Louise Hansson (55.14), Veronica Burchill (55.54) and Abbey Weitzeil (55.83) also swam in the A-final.

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Men’s 100 Free

There are few things in the sport of swimming that stay true year after year.

Cal swimming will place in the top two at NCAA’s
Emory women’s swimming will be national champions
Nathan Adrian will swim a 48 second in-season 100 free

It has become almost expected that Adrian will post a solid in-season 100 free at these Pro Swim Series meets. That did not change on Friday night in Mesa as Adrian posted a 48.84 to win the 100 free final.

Adrian finished ahead of fellow 2017 World Championship team member Michael Chadwick (49.17). Adrian is now 29 years of age and is still a force to be reckoned with in the world of swimming. That won’t change in 2018, even despite Caeleb Dressel breaking every barrier imaginable in the sport.

Bruno Blaskovic (50.01), Jesse Novak (50.69), Andrej Barna (51.01), Ryan Murphy (51.18), Matias Koski (51.35) and Scott Mcgillivary (51.52) also swam in the A-final.

Women’s 200 IM

26-year-old veteran of the sport Melanie Margalis has also been showing consistency in the 200 IM and other events as she won the 200 IM final on Friday night at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Mesa, Arizona with a 2:13.90. Margalis has been one of USA Swimming’s best in season swimmers the last few years, as well as one of the most versatile.

Perhaps the most versatile is Leah Smith, who swam her third race of the night, and finished in second place at 2:16.68. Smith has usually been known as a distance freestyler but has since moved to the 400 IM and other events since exhausting her eligibility at Virginia in the spring of 2017.

400 IM champion Vien Nguyen finished in third at 2:16.99, just ahead of 400 IM runner-up Connie Dean (2:17.10).

Ilektra Lebl (2:18.00), Emily Escobedo (2:19.42), Callie Dickinson (2:22.10) and Zoe Bartel (2:23.71) also swam in the A-final.

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Men’s 200 IM

Chase Kalisz won his second final of the night and his third race of the TYR Mesa Pro Swim Series. He won the 200 IM on Friday night with a 1:57.68 after he earlier won the 200 fly. Kalisz, along with Nathan Adrian and Melanie Margalis has been one to count on in these in-season meets to put up very strong swims, despite being in the middle of training.

Kalisz won the final pretty comfortably as he was the only one to break two minutes as Josh Prenot (2:00.57) finished in second.

Prenot also was well ahead of the rest of the field as Louisville’s Daniel Sos (2:04.34) was third in the final.

Gianluca Urlando (2:05.35), Danny Comforti (2:05.38), Carlos Claverie (2:05.42), Isaac Stump (2:06.50) and Jarod Arroyo (2:07.38) also swam in the A-final.

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