Sarah Henry now leads the women’s 800-meter free after her 8:35.64 performance in prelims at USA Nationals. She will be flanked at finals by Sierra Schmidt, who finished a mere tenth of a second behind Henry with an 8:35.74. Both swimmers added a chunk of time in a controlled prelims swim, but remained tight throughout the 800 meters.
Henry: 1:02.36/1:04.60/1:04.43/1:05.03/1:05.22/1:05.58/1:05.25/1:03.17
Schmidt: 1:01.28/1:04.26/1:04.69/1:05.14/1:05.70/1:06.17/1:05.50/1:03.00
Schmidt entered the meet as the top seed with an 8:27.54, and will have to battle her way past Henry and the rest of the field to reclaim her top spot.
Stephanie Peacock is positioned third with an 8:37.90, while Gabrielle Kopenski finished outside the top three with an 8:39.87. Maddy Tenger (8:40.04) and Lindsay Vrooman (8:40.12) finished a close fifth and sixth place. Leah Stevens (8:41.72) and Courtney Harnish (8:43.24) rounded out the top eight to qualify for the Monday’s championship final.
Barring any earth-shattering swims outside the circle seeded heats, these will be the swimmers competing in the final.
2015 USA Swimming Long Course Summer Nationals: Live Results – Results
Nice :/