TYR Pro Series: Claire Curzan Wraps Up Stellar Weekend By Powering to Victory in 100 Freestyle

TYR Pro Series: Claire Curzan Wraps Up Stellar Weekend By Powering to Victory in 100 Freestyle

Consider momentum built as Claire Curzan heads toward the USA Swimming International Team Trials later this month in Greensboro.

One of the brightest rising stars in the American arsenal, Curzan capped a spectacular showing at the TYR Pro Series in San Antonio on Saturday night when she won the 100-meter freestyle in 53.68. Curzan’s latest triumph was her fourth of the weekend, complementing earlier first-place efforts in the 50 freestyle, 100 backstroke and 100 butterfly. A Stanford recruit and Tokyo Olympian, Curzan is obviously well-positioned with the World Championships in Budapest looming in June.

En route to her win in the 100 freestyle, Curzan used her early speed to go out in 25.60 and build a .30 lead on Natalie Hinds and a .35 edge over Erika Brown. Over the closing 50 meters, Curzan slightly expanded her margin to beat Brown (54.08) and Hinds (54.30) to the wall. Seven-time Olympic champion Katie Ledecky opted to skip the 800 freestyle and 1500 freestyle this weekend and placed fourth in the 100 free, going 54.93.

Curzan did a little bit of everything over the past three days. In addition to clocking 57-low in the 100 butterfly and breaking the 59-second barrier in the 100 backstroke, Curzan set a National Age Group (17-18) record during her victory in the 50 freestyle. Her 100 freestyle simply wrapped up a dominant meet that will allow the youngster from North Carolina to enter Greensboro on a roll and carrying confidence.

Live Results

Double-backstroke Olympian Rhyan White was the class of the field in the 200 backstroke, as the Alabama standout led wire to wire to win in 2:07.92, more than a second clear of Phoebe Bacon (2:09.52). The fourth-place finisher in both backstroke events at last summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, White had a lead of nearly a second at the midway point and continued to add to her advantage through the back half of the race.

As was the case at last year’s Olympic Trials, the backstroke events at the International Team Trials are expected to be some of the most hotly contested. The United States’ depth in the women’s backstroke disciplines is incredible, with several World Championships medal cotenders likely to be left off the plane to Budapest.

Melanie Margalis used a strong freestyle leg to track down Leah Polonsky in the 200 individual medley and prevail in 2:12.39. Polonsky, who finished in 2:12.85, had a .33 advantage at the 150-meter mark, but Margalis was too much on the final length, where she split 31.26, to the 32.05 of Polonsky.

In the opening event of the night, Sierra Schmidt easily won the 1500 freestyle in a time of 16:35.94.

 Event 21  Women 1500 LC Meter Freestyle
==================================================================
        World: W 15:20.48  5/16/2018 Katie Ledecky, USA
     American: A 15:20.48  5/17/2018 Katie Ledecky, Stanford
    U.S. Open: O 15:20.48  5/17/2018 Katie Ledecky, Stanford
     Jr World: J 15:28.36  8/24/2014 Katie Ledecky, USA
     Pro Swim: P 15:20.48  5/16/2018 Katie Ledecky, Stanford Swimmin
    Name            Age Team                 Seed     Finals              
==================================================================
  1 Sierra Schmidt   23 Scottsdale Aquat 16:06.85   16:35.94        
    r:+0.72  30.09      1:03.04 (32.95)
        1:36.01 (32.97)     2:09.34 (33.33)
        2:42.45 (33.11)     3:15.99 (33.54)
        3:49.11 (33.12)     4:22.60 (33.49)
        4:55.56 (32.96)     5:28.87 (33.31)
        6:01.89 (33.02)     6:35.21 (33.32)
        7:08.11 (32.90)     7:41.37 (33.26)
        8:14.32 (32.95)     8:47.79 (33.47)
        9:20.82 (33.03)     9:54.39 (33.57)
       10:27.77 (33.38)    11:01.46 (33.69)
       11:34.74 (33.28)    12:08.38 (33.64)
       12:41.78 (33.40)    13:15.52 (33.74)
       13:49.01 (33.49)    14:22.84 (33.83)
       14:56.53 (33.69)    15:30.10 (33.57)
       16:03.45 (33.35)    16:35.94 (32.49)
  2 Jillian Cox      16 Longhorn Aquatic 16:52.20   17:13.12        
    r:+0.75  30.62      1:04.56 (33.94)
        1:38.27 (33.71)     2:11.82 (33.55)
        2:45.54 (33.72)     3:19.27 (33.73)
        3:53.51 (34.24)     4:26.93 (33.42)
        5:00.42 (33.49)     5:34.03 (33.61)
        6:07.43 (33.40)     6:41.64 (34.21)
        7:15.55 (33.91)     7:49.77 (34.22)
        8:24.06 (34.29)     8:58.66 (34.60)
        9:33.49 (34.83)    10:08.35 (34.86)
       10:43.40 (35.05)    11:18.53 (35.13)
       11:54.23 (35.70)    12:30.21 (35.98)
       13:06.06 (35.85)    13:42.44 (36.38)
       14:18.74 (36.30)    14:54.65 (35.91)
       15:30.54 (35.89)    16:05.46 (34.92)
       16:39.66 (34.20)    17:13.12 (33.46)
  3 Abby Grottle     20 Texas A & M Univ 16:22.37Y  17:15.92        
    r:+0.71  31.91      1:06.69 (34.78)
        1:41.71 (35.02)     2:16.88 (35.17)
        2:51.06 (34.18)     3:26.83 (35.77)
        4:01.85 (35.02)     4:36.87 (35.02)
        5:11.99 (35.12)     5:46.90 (34.91)
        6:21.50 (34.60)     6:56.10 (34.60)
        7:30.79 (34.69)     8:05.55 (34.76)
        8:40.35 (34.80)     9:15.07 (34.72)
        9:49.97 (34.90)    10:24.47 (34.50)
       10:59.17 (34.70)    11:33.87 (34.70)
       12:08.62 (34.75)    12:42.90 (34.28)
       13:17.63 (34.73)    13:51.93 (34.30)
       14:26.51 (34.58)    15:00.72 (34.21)
       15:34.88 (34.16)    16:08.95 (34.07)
       16:43.09 (34.14)    17:15.92 (32.83)
  4 Frederica Kizek  20 Unattached-NT    16:27.69Y  17:30.21        
    r:+0.65  31.64      1:06.13 (34.49)
        1:40.86 (34.73)     2:15.82 (34.96)
        2:50.75 (34.93)     3:25.98 (35.23)
        4:00.96 (34.98)     4:36.24 (35.28)
        5:11.24 (35.00)     5:46.41 (35.17)
        6:21.52 (35.11)     6:56.79 (35.27)
        7:31.92 (35.13)     8:07.28 (35.36)
        8:42.60 (35.32)     9:17.82 (35.22)
        9:53.12 (35.30)    10:28.47 (35.35)
       11:03.89 (35.42)    11:39.15 (35.26)
       12:14.23 (35.08)    12:49.41 (35.18)
       13:24.56 (35.15)    14:00.00 (35.44)
       14:35.23 (35.23)    15:10.44 (35.21)
       15:45.55 (35.11)    16:20.74 (35.19)
       16:55.74 (35.00)    17:30.21 (34.47)
  5 Mollie Wright    22 Texas A & M Univ 16:44.19Y  17:35.55        
    r:+0.71  32.21      1:07.54 (35.33)
        1:42.83 (35.29)     2:18.36 (35.53)
        2:54.07 (35.71)     3:29.61 (35.54)
        4:05.30 (35.69)     4:40.80 (35.50)
        5:16.40 (35.60)     5:52.19 (35.79)
        6:27.77 (35.58)     7:03.70 (35.93)
        7:39.43 (35.73)     8:14.85 (35.42)
        8:50.62 (35.77)     9:26.29 (35.67)
       10:02.03 (35.74)    10:37.43 (35.40)
       11:12.92 (35.49)    11:48.77 (35.85)
       12:24.17 (35.40)    12:59.54 (35.37)
       13:35.07 (35.53)    14:10.07 (35.00)
       14:45.30 (35.23)    15:20.15 (34.85)
       15:54.77 (34.62)    16:29.38 (34.61)
       17:03.05 (33.67)    17:35.55 (32.50)
  6 Annabelle Corco  21 Unattached-NT    17:17.80   17:40.56        
    r:+0.81  31.99      1:06.67 (34.68)
        1:41.47 (34.80)     2:16.63 (35.16)
        2:51.60 (34.97)     3:26.88 (35.28)
        4:02.04 (35.16)     4:37.27 (35.23)
        5:12.69 (35.42)     5:48.09 (35.40)
        6:23.37 (35.28)     6:59.15 (35.78)
        7:34.68 (35.53)     8:10.49 (35.81)
        8:46.21 (35.72)     9:22.01 (35.80)
        9:57.92 (35.91)    10:33.69 (35.77)
       11:09.45 (35.76)    11:45.39 (35.94)
       12:21.27 (35.88)    12:56.87 (35.60)
       13:32.58 (35.71)    14:08.32 (35.74)
       14:44.01 (35.69)    15:19.74 (35.73)
       15:55.44 (35.70)    16:31.12 (35.68)
       17:06.44 (35.32)    17:40.56 (34.12)
  7 *Ximena Conde M  21 Streamline Aquat 16:48.05Y  18:51.56        
    r:+0.69  33.21      1:09.26 (36.05)
        1:45.64 (36.38)     2:22.22 (36.58)
        2:59.16 (36.94)     3:36.15 (36.99)
        4:13.41 (37.26)     4:51.16 (37.75)
        5:28.57 (37.41)     6:06.23 (37.66)
        6:43.27 (37.04)     7:21.26 (37.99)
        7:58.94 (37.68)     8:37.02 (38.08)
        9:14.88 (37.86)     9:53.41 (38.53)
       10:31.66 (38.25)    11:10.46 (38.80)
       11:48.86 (38.40)    12:27.75 (38.89)
       13:05.75 (38.00)    13:44.52 (38.77)
       14:22.86 (38.34)    15:01.60 (38.74)
       15:39.93 (38.33)    16:18.93 (39.00)
       16:57.33 (38.40)    17:36.09 (38.76)
       18:13.90 (37.81)    18:51.56 (37.66)

 Event 23  Women 200 LC Meter IM
==================================================================
        World: W 2:06.12  8/3/2015  Katinka Hosszu, HUN
     American: A 2:06.15  7/27/2009 Ariana Kukors, USA
    U.S. Open: O 2:08.32  7/29/2018 Kathleen Baker, Team Elite-NC
     Jr World: J 2:09.98  1/29/2017 Rikako Ikee, JPN
     Pro Swim: P 2:08.66  2015      Katinka  Hosszu
         Pool:   2:10.70  8/6/2015  Caitlin Leverenz, California Aquat
    Name            Age Team              Prelims     Finals              
==================================================================
                         
                        === A - Final ===                         
 
  1 Melanie Margali  30 Saint Petersburg  2:15.58    2:12.39        
    r:+0.68  28.89      1:03.42 (34.53)
        1:41.13 (37.71)     2:12.39 (31.26)
  2 *Leah Polonsky   19 Unattached-PC     2:17.41    2:12.85        
    r:+0.68  28.65      1:02.80 (34.15)
        1:40.80 (38.00)     2:12.85 (32.05)
  3 Beata Nelson     23 Wisconsin Aquati  2:15.98    2:13.56        
    r:+0.73  27.88      1:02.11 (34.23)
        1:41.74 (39.63)     2:13.56 (31.82)
  4 *Diana Petkova   21 Univ Alabama Swi  2:17.61    2:16.11        
    r:+0.71  29.95      1:04.11 (34.16)
        1:44.51 (40.40)     2:16.11 (31.60)
  5 Mackenzie Looze  22 Indiana Universi  2:18.66    2:18.29        
    r:+0.67  29.80      1:06.65 (36.85)
        1:45.50 (38.85)     2:18.29 (32.79)
  6 *Gabriella Grob  22 Unattached-NT     2:18.94    2:19.79        
    r:+0.61  29.20      1:06.97 (37.77)
        1:45.91 (38.94)     2:19.79 (33.88)
  7 Lindsay Looney   20 Unattached-AZ     2:21.03    2:21.08        
    r:+0.66  29.07      1:06.12 (37.05)
        1:48.73 (42.61)     2:21.08 (32.35)
  8 *Nicole Frank R  18 Azura Florida Aq  2:19.42    2:21.56        
    r:+0.65  30.68      1:06.99 (36.31)
        1:47.97 (40.98)     2:21.56 (33.59)

 Event 25  Women 200 LC Meter Backstroke
==================================================================
        World: W 2:03.35  7/26/2019 Regan Smith, USA
     American: A 2:03.35  7/26/2019 Regan Smith, USA
    U.S. Open: O 2:05.68  6/25/2013 Missy Franklin, Colorado STARS-C
     Jr World: J 2:03.35  7/26/2019 Regan Smith, USA
     Pro Swim: P 2:05.94  1/19/2020 Regan Smith, Riptide-MN
         Pool:   2:09.44  8/9/2015  Claire Adams, Carmel Swim Club
    Name            Age Team              Prelims     Finals              
==================================================================
                         
                        === A - Final ===                         
 
  1 Rhyan White      22 Univ Alabama Swi  2:10.88    2:07.92        
    r:+0.65  30.05      1:02.38 (32.33)
        1:35.26 (32.88)     2:07.92 (32.66)
  2 Phoebe Bacon     19 Una WA-WI         2:10.66    2:09.52        
    r:+0.63  30.62      1:03.22 (32.60)
        1:36.27 (33.05)     2:09.52 (33.25)
  3 *Aviv Barzelay   19 Texas A & M Univ  2:13.41    2:10.79        
    r:+0.67  30.89      1:03.88 (32.99)
        1:37.15 (33.27)     2:10.79 (33.64)
  4 Hali Flickinger  27 Sun Devil Swimmi  2:13.81    2:11.23        
    r:+0.61  31.24      1:04.76 (33.52)
        1:38.71 (33.95)     2:11.23 (32.52)
  5 Gabby DeLoof     26 Club Wolverine-M  2:13.58    2:13.16        
    r:+0.66  31.52      1:04.80 (33.28)
        1:38.95 (34.15)     2:13.16 (34.21)
  6 *Barbara Schaal  20 Una GWU-PV        2:17.19    2:17.42        
    r:+0.61  31.55      1:06.11 (34.56)
        1:41.94 (35.83)     2:17.42 (35.48)
  7 Anna Peplowski   19 Indiana Universi  2:17.02    2:18.80        
    r:+0.71  32.32      1:07.17 (34.85)
        1:42.89 (35.72)     2:18.80 (35.91)
  8 Anna Freed       20 Indiana Universi  2:17.25    2:18.84        
    r:+0.71  32.67      1:07.49 (34.82)
        1:43.00 (35.51)     2:18.84 (35.84)

 Event 27  Women 100 LC Meter Freestyle
==================================================================
        World: W 51.71  7/23/2017 Sarah Sjostrom, SWE
     American: A 52.04  7/26/2019 Simone Manuel, USA
    U.S. Open: O 52.54  7/25/2018 Simone Manuel, Stanford Swimmin
     Jr World: J 52.70  8/11/2016 Penny Oleksiak, CAN
     Pro Swim: P 53.12  2016      Sarah Sjostrom
         Pool:   54.24  8/10/2015 Amanda Weir, SwimAtlanta
    Name            Age Team              Prelims     Finals              
==================================================================
                         
                        === A - Final ===                         
 
  1 Claire Curzan    17 TAC Titans-NC       54.58      53.68        
    r:+0.61  25.60        53.68 (28.08)
  2 Erika Brown      23 Tennessee Aquati    54.58      54.08        
    r:+0.67  25.95        54.08 (28.13)
  3 Natalie Hinds    28 Una GSC-FL          54.73      54.30        
    r:+0.61  25.90        54.30 (28.40)
  4 Katie Ledecky    25 Una GSC-FL          54.72      54.93        
    r:+0.68  26.76        54.93 (28.17)
  5 Mallory Comerfo  24 Cardinal Aquatic    55.11      54.95        
    r:+0.67  26.56        54.95 (28.39)
  6 Paige Madden     23 Unattached-MR       55.26      54.96        
    r:+0.65  26.60        54.96 (28.36)
  7 Kelly Pash       21 Univ of Texas-ST    55.36      55.55        
    r:+0.66  26.85        55.55 (28.70)
  8 Chloe Stepanek   20 Texas A & M Univ    55.41      55.58        
    r:+0.66  26.81        55.58 (28.77)

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