Melanie Margalis Continues To Shine On Day 2 Prelims In Athens

Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr

Melanie Margalis of St. Petersburg Aquatics set up the opportunity to score another win and another lifetime best as the top seed in the women’s 200 freestyle in today’s preliminary session in Athens, Ga., at the USA Swimming sectionals.

Margalis, who won the 200 IM and 50 free last night, posted a 2:00.66 in the 200 free, just two seconds of her best time of 1:58.07 that she posted this past January. Perhaps she can bring Louisville’s Andrea Kneppers along with her under the 2:00 barrier. Kneppers swam a 2:02.02 in prelims, but has a lifetime best of 2:00.62 from 2012 waiting to be broken. Kristen Wilson of the University of Kentucky also broke 2:03 with a 2:02.72.

Five swimmers broke 1:50 in the prelims of the men’s 200 free, led by the 1:48.68 by SwimMAC Carolina’s Ryan Lochte. Lochte, who is swimming this event at the world championships, is looking to beat his season best of 1:48.35 and try to get into global top 10 rankings before heading to Russia. Lochte will have to swim faster than 1:46.65 to earn a spot in the world’s top 10. Matias Koski of Dynamo (1:49.02), Club Wolverine’s Bobby Hurley (1:49.85), Connor Jaeger (1:49.87) and Justin Glanda (1:49.98) rounded out the top five qualifiers.

Another member of Team USA’s world championship squad had an impressive prelim swim. Kathleen Baker of SwimMAC swam a 1:00.88 to lead the women’s 100 back qualifiers. We’ll see how close she gets to her lifetime best of 59.86 from this past May as the 18-year-old prepares for her long course world championship debut. SwimMAC teammate Kirsty Coventry, the 2008 Olympic silver medalist in the 100 back for Zimbabwe, qualified second with a 1:01.06. Club Wolverine’s Ali DeLoof was third with a 1:01.18.

Junya Koga, a Japanese native swimming for Club Wolverine, led the men’s 100 back prelims field with a 54.25. It was the only swim under 55 seconds, as Louisville’s Grigory Tarasevich (55.14) and Georgia’s Taylor Dale (55.26) rounded out the top three.

Cammile Adams of SwimMAC is also looking for a lifetime best in the 400 IM after posting a 4:42.78. Adams was once a top swimmer in the event before shifting her major focus to the 200 fly, and should challenge her personal best of 4:38.27 from 2012. As was the case in the 200 fly, Adams might be racing only the clock. Chelsie Miller qualified a distant second with a 4:49.19, while Emily Cameron was third with a 4:49.24.

Ian Rainey and Sam Stewart both posted 4:23s in the men’s 400 IM prelims, with Rainey taking the top seed for finals with a 4:23.10 to Stewart’s 4:23.21. Stewart’s swim was a lifetime best by 1.5 seconds, while Rainey was three seconds off his personal best. Mick Litherland qualified third with a 4:24.30, also a major lifetime best. Litherland was likely inspired by his brother Jay’s win in the same event halfway around the world at the World University Games, and will try to give the Litherland family another win in the 400 IM.

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