TYR Pro Swim Series Knoxville Day 3 Men’s Prelims: Jack Alexy Top Seed in 50 Free; Bjorn Seeliger Third

bjorn-seeliger-
Bjorn Seeliger; Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

TYR Pro Swim Series Knoxville Day 3 Men’s Prelims: Jack Alexy Top Seed in 50 Free

Anyone expecting a duel to preview the NCAA final in the 50 free got a slight surprise Friday morning at the TYR Pro Swim Series Knoxville Day 3 men’s prelims. While current collegians occupy the top five spots, the two holdovers from last year’s NCAA final in the 50 free – and the two swimmers in marauding form through the fall invitational season – weren’t the ones leading the way.

Jack Alexy grabbed the top seed in finals, going 22.42, in a field where the top five were spread just .19 seconds apart. Behind him was last year’s NCAA runner-up Bjorn Seeliger in third, with home-pool hope Jordan Crooks fifth.

Full results of TYR Pro Swim Series Knoxville Day 3 Men’s Prelims:

200 Butterfly

Gabriel Jett led the way in the morning session with a time of 1:58.74. That was a half-second quicker than Nicolas Albiero, in a meeting of two swimmers who are plenty familiar with each other from the NCAA pool. Third was Chase Kalisz in 1:59.71.

50 Freestyle

Jack Alexy led the parade of collegians across the line in 22.42. Second was NC State’s David Curtiss in 22.45. Bjorn Seeliger made it two Cal swimmers in the top three in 22.57, followed by the Tennessee pair of Gui Caribe (22.60) and Jordan Crooks (22.63).

That relegated some of the American veterans. Justin Ress was sixth in 22.68, with Ryan Held in 22.74. Kevin Gillooly rounded out the final.

100 Backstroke

With Justin Ress, who had won the 50 back the night before, scratching the 100 in favor of the 50 free, Hunter Armstrong took the initiative in prelims. He went 54.64 to set the pace. That’s a half-second ahead of Destin Lasco, with Hunter Tapp (55.28) in third.

Ryan Murphy eased into the final in fifth in 55.32. Teen phenom Daniel Diehl was .02 ahead of him. Rounding out the final eight is Nicolas Albiero, on the back of a daunting double.

200 Breaststroke

Absent many of the top American names, 34-year-old Brandon Fischer takes top honors in 2:16.93. He was nearly a second up on Thomas Cope for that top seed. Lyubomir Epitropov, the winner of the 100 breast, grabbed the third seed.

Among the wild cards in the final is Trenton Julian, who earned the seventh seed in the final.

50 Butterfly

Gui Caribe added to the home-pool successes for the Vols, with the top seed in the 50 fly in 24.10. Canadian Olympian Finlay Knox was second in 24.22, ahead of Ryan Held (24.29).

Among those missing out on the A final were Coleman Stewart (12th in 24.61) and Jordan Crooks (14th in 24.67).

400 Freestyle

Olympic champion Ahmed Hafnaoui has showed he’s in fine form, setting the prelims pace in 3:53.55. That’s nearly a second ahead of Kieran Smith, who takes the second seed. Another Olympic gold medalist, Bobby Finke, is fourth in 3:56.79, with Zane Grothe (3:56.04) in third.

Drew Kibler, Michael Brinegar and Trenton Julian also are in the A final, with another Olympian in Jay Litherland missing out in ninth by .01 behind Julian.

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