The Week That Was: World Rankings Shake Up In Indy and Down Under

Photo Courtesy: Melissa Lundie

Swimming across the globe got a lot more interesting this week, with the Arena Pro Swim Series in Indianapolis and the NSW Open Champs in Australia giving swimmers from around the world a chance to test the waters as we begin to creep toward this summer’s World Championships. Read about those meets and more in The Week That Was!

The Week That Was #5 – Indian River Extends NJCAA Streak

Photo Courtesy: NJCAA

Indian River extended their streak of NJCAA Championships this weekend, bringing their number of consecutive championships to 43 for the men and 39 for the women. The Pioneer men and women more than doubled the points of their next closest competitors, totaling 1293 and 1210 points respectively. Indian River’s Nicholas Loomis set two new NJCAA records in the 50 (21.27) and 200 butterfly (1:46.10), while Osianna McReed set a new NJCAA record in the 50 butterfly (24.62). You can check out full recaps of all days of competition on our Event Landing Page.

The Week That Was #4 – NC State Men Wins Third Consecutive ACC Title

ryan-held-celebrate-100-fly-acc-championships

Photo Courtesy: Todd Kirkland, theACC.com

The men of NC State joined their women’s team in celebrating a ACC conference championship this week, earning the third consecutive win for the men’s team. Olympic gold medalist and NC State junior Ryan Held had a standout meet, starting it off with a new ACC meet and conference record in the 50 free (18.68). He did the same in the 100 fly (44.79) before setting a new meet record in the 100 free (41.61). Held also contributed to four relay wins for the Wolfpack. All of this came with a full beard, signaling he has plenty left to drop come NCAAs in a few weeks. Held was named Most Valuable Swimmer of the Meet for his performances. You can catch up on all of the meet coverage from the 2017 ACC Championships on our Event Coverage Page.

The Week That Was #3 – Stanford Holds Off Cal At Pac-12 Championships

Photo Courtesy: Chuckarelei/Pac-12

The Stanford Cardinal held off a late charging Cal-Berkeley team to win the 2017 Pac-12 Conference Championships, finishing with 784 points over Cal’s 767. Stanford displayed impressive depth across the meet, particularly in the distance freestyle events. That was kicked off by freshman Grant Shoults who threw down a new Pac-12 record in the 500 free (4:10.67), and was joined in the A final by freshman True Sweetser junior Liam Egan, and freshman James Murphy. Sweetser himself would come back to lead a 1-2-3 Cardinal finish in the 1650 en route to setting the championship record, just sneaking past Erik Vendt’s legendary record from 2003. Other notable performances included Cal senior Ryan Murphy reset both of his backstroke meet records, posting a 44.76 and 1:38.07 to win the 100 and 200. Arizona State University freshman Cameron Craig was another standout from the meet, winning the 200 free in the 8th fastest time in history over USC’s Dylan Carter, 1:31.72 to 1:31.98. You can check out full recaps of all days of the meet on our Event Landing Page.

The Week That Was #2 – NSW Open Champs Features Fast Swims

Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr / Swimming Australia Ltd.

The Aussies were joined by a few fellow international swimmers this week at the 2017 New South Wales Open Championships, with several athletes throwing down world leading times. Cameron McEvoy was one of those athletes, throwing down a 48.13 in the prelims of the 100 freestyle before winning the event in 48.66. Both of those times were faster than the previous world best that had been set hours earlier at the Indy Grand Prix meet. Cate Campbell made a similar statement in the women’s event, taking the 100 free in a world leading 53.15 on the heels of announcing that she will not be competing at the World Championships in Budapest this summer. The Aussie also won the 50 free in 24.47. Also notable was Emily Seebohm, who posted a world leading time in the 100 back (59.28). Those should be confidence boosters for all three Australians following this summer’s Olympics, as each went in as a presumptive individual gold medal favorite and were each left off the podium.

The Week That Was #1 – Arena Pro Swim Series Stops In Indy

Photo Courtesy: Melissa Lundie

The Arena Pro Swim Series continued in Indianapolis this week, with many U.S. and international stars coming together to post more leading world times on the other side of the globe. In his first competition on U.S. soil, British star Adam Peaty set a new U.S. Open record in the 100 breast in addition to improving his own #1 time in the world, touching the wall in 58.86. Japan’s Daiya Seto was another big winner on the men’s side, posting a world leading time in the 400 IM (4:10.22) that cut more than a second from his previous top ranked time. Canada’s Hilary Caldwell also posted a world leading time in the 200 back (2:08.68), just edging out Emily Seebohm’s top time in the world from earlier in the day. Molly Hannis did the same thing in the 100 breast, just edging out the previous time in the world that had been set by Yulia Efimova in Australia when she won in 1:06.47. China’s Xu Jiayu battled Jacob Pebley down to the wire to best Pebly’s previous world best in the 200 back, touching in 1:55.04. Xu also moved past Matt Grevers’ top time in the 100 back when he won in 53.04. You can see full recaps and results from the meet on our Event Landing Page.

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Kim

7 years ago

Correction: Hungarian David Verraszto swam a 4.10.01 in Marseilles, France, this weekend, putting him, and not Seto, on top of the world ranking 🙂