Katie Ledecky and Nathan Adrian Stir The Water At Day 2 USA Nationals Prelims

Greensboro Aquatic Center 2014 USA Swimming nationals

GREENSBORO – Olympians and NCAA champions set themselves up for national titles this morning at the Greensboro Aquatic Center for the first full day of competition at the USA Swimming short course nationals.

Women’s 500 freestyle

Using this morning’s prelims to feel out her pace and do just what was needed, Katie Ledecky cruised to a 4:33.70. Her American record of 4:28.71 from this past February will be on notice. Nine seconds back as the second seed in tonight’s final will be Michigan senior Gillian Ryan, who posted a 4:39.20. She’ll be looking for her lifetime best tonight, trying to be the 4:36.99 she swam in March 2013. She’ll have to swim faster than 4:36.45 to automatically qualify for next spring’s NCAA championships.

Qualifying third was Sarasota YMCA’s Danielle Valley with a 4:39.54, just half a second off her lifetime best. Rounding out the top eight were: Indiana’s Kennedy Goss (4:41.88), UCLA’s Katy Campbell (4:42.27), Indiana’s Haley Lips (4:42.33), Michigan’s Hannah Moore (4:42.98) and York YMCA’s Courtney Harnish (4:43.37). Harnish swam a lifetime best by four seconds to get into her first senior championship final.

Swimming in the B final will be: Hannah Cox (4:43.77), Leah Stevens (4:44.08), Madison Homovich (4:44.53), Lauren Case (4:44.57), Megan Moroney (4:44.60), Patricia Castro Ortega (4:44.74), Isabella Rongione (4:44.78) and Sam Cheverton (4:45.40).

In the C final will be: Andrea Kneppers (4:45.75), Sophie Cattermole (4:46.36), Genevieve Miller (4:46.36), Moriah Simonds (4:46.54), Melissa Pish (4:47.19), Kelsey Cummings (4:47.27), Becca Postoll (4:47.36) and Erin Voss (4:47.40).

Men’s 500 freestyle

It was expected to be a Michigan-dominated championship final field in the men’s 500, and three with ties to the Wolverines placed in the top eight. But the big surprise of the prelims was the 4:16.63 by 17-year-old True Sweetser of Gator Swim Club to top all qualifiers. That’s a drop of nearly five seconds for Sweetser as he prepared to be flanked by two distance freestyle stalwarts in tonight’s final.

Connor Jaeger, the world championship bronze medalist in the 400 free last year, coasted through his swim with a 4:16.76. He’s likely to be much faster tonight, with a 4:10.84 as his lifetime best. Townley Haas, the 15-16 national age group record holder and long course junior champion, qualified third with a lifetime best 4:17.13. Now 17 years old, he’ll be chasing Michael Phelps’ 4:12.33, the NAG for the 17-18 age group.

Joining these three in the final will be: Badger’s Ryan Feeley (4:18.19), Louisville’s Trevor Carroll (4:19.27), Michigan’s Dylan Bosch (4:19.31), Santa Clara’s Aidan Burns (4:19.52) and Indiana’s Jackson Miller (4:20.17).

Taking spots in the B final will be: Michael Wynalda (4:21.09), Jeremy Bagshaw (4:21.29), Dion Dreesens (4:21.38), Thomas Duvall (4:21.52), Jorden Merrilees (4:22.20), Arthur Frayler (4:23.53), Rowan Williams (4:23.59) and Jordan Wilimovsky (4:23.81).

In the C final: Gavin Springer (4:24.17), Nazareno Boscaino (4:24.41), Matthew Hirschberger (4:24.71), Maxime Rooney (4:24.75), Steffen Hillmer (4:24.91), PJ Ransford (4:24.94), Ian Rainey (4:25.19) and Cameron Stitt (4:25.27).

Women’s 200 IM

Katie Meili will take lane four in tonight’s 200 IM final, posting a 1:56.72 that is just off her lifetime best of 1:56.47. The SwimMAC Carolina breaststroke specialist and member of the Team Elite postgrad squad will have a high school Youth Olympic Games medalist next to her, as Meghan Small of York YMCA qualified second with a 1:57.22. That’s about a second off her lifetime best, which she’ll need to swim in order to get a national title.

Katie Ledecky, coming off her easy swim in the 500 free, posted a 1:57.61 for the third-fastest time. Ledecky is likely to scratch the 200 IM, though with it coming after her primary event, might race it for what would be an impressive double. Another high schooler, Miranda Tucker of Livonia Community Swim Club, was fourth with a 1:58.53.

Barring any scratches, the remaining championship final will consist of most high school swimmers. Michigan’s Clara Smiddy is the exception to that, qualifying fifth with a 1:59.54. Caitlin Casazza of SwimMAC Carolina (1:59.68), Lakeside’s Asia Seidt (1:59.78) and Clovis’ Danielle Herrmann also made the top eight.

Bronwyn Pasloski (1:59.88), Nadine Laemmler (2:00.15), Jessica Merritt (2:00.21), Hannah Cox (2:00.23), Sophie Cattermole (2:00.38), Ashley Vance (2:00.48), Erica Belcher (2:00.49) and Leah Stevens (2:00.53) will swim in the B final, barring any scratches.

In the C final will be: Carolina Arakelian (2:00.54), Marni Oldershaw (2:00.60), Allie Duff (2:00.60), Noelle Tarazona (2:00.60), Charlotte Holz (2:00.65), Brooke Forde (2:00.66), Andee Cotterell (2:00.74) and Arlyn Upshaw (2:00.79).

Men’s 200 IM

Kyle Whitaker, in his first short course yards meet as a postgrad swimmer after a successful collegiate career at Michigan, qualified first for the final with a 1:45.00. He has much more in the tank, with a 1:41.14 as a lifetime best. A trio of college swimmers posted times in the 1:45 range as well: Louisville’s Nolan Tesone (1:45.51), Princeton’s Teo D’Alessandro (1:45.52) and Michigan’s Dylan Bosch (1:45.67). Bosch will have a difficult double if he decides to stay with both the 500 free and the 200 IM tonight.

Also swimming in the championship final will be NCAA Division II standout Matthew Josa of Queens University of Charlotte, who posted a 1:46.32. Josh Quallen of Louisville (1:46.46), Evan White of Michigan (1:46.59) and Carlos Almeida of Cardinal Swimming (1:46.92) will also be in the top eight.

Soeren Dahl (1:47.14), Tamas Gercsak (1:47.41), Colin Ellington (1:47.94), Eric Ress (1:48.20), Blake Pieroni (1:48.36), Mike Hurley (1:48.70), Thomas Dillinger (1:48.74) and Daniel Chang (1:48.83) will compete in the B final.

Swimming in the C final will be: David Boland (1:48.84), Ian Finnerty (1:49.01), Steven Zimmerman (1:49.14), Jeremiah O’Donnell (1:49.15), Will Raynor (1:49.20), Christian Garkani (1:49.24), Tristan Sanders (1:49.27) and Richard Funk (1:49.31).

Women’s 50 free

Kelsi Worrell of Louisville is knocking on the door of an automatic qualifying time for the NCAA championships. Her 22.02 in prelims just missed the cut of 21.90, but is a lifetime best by two tenths of a second. She’ll be flanked by two other swimmers looking for their automatic NCAA championship bid. UCLA’s Linnea Mack dropped three tenths off her best time to qualify second with a 22.03 while NCAA finalist Faith Johnson of Tennessee was third with a 22.17. Johnson has a lifetime best of 21.84, and might need that time to get the gold medal tonight.

Just three tenths of a second separated fourth through eighth in qualifying. Carmel Swim Club’s Veronica Burchill (22.47) and Michigan’s Ali DeLoof (22.61) made the final, with NC State taking the remaining three spots. Ashlyn Koletic (22.65), Lauren Poli (22.67) and Natalie Labonge (22.73) gave the Wolfpack a big boost for tonight’s race.

Katie Meili, just off her top-seeded swim in the 200 IM, qualified ninth for the B final with a 22.77. Also joining her will be Megan Howard (22.88), Riki Bonnema (22.91), Rhi Jeffrey (22.93), Brooke Bauer (22.94), Erika Brown (22.95), Monica Dornick (22.96) and Maddy Frost (22.97).

Officially in the C final will be: Morgan Whyte (22.98), Casey Fanz (23.02), Nora McCullagh (23.06), Katie Kinnear (23.07), Lotta Nevalainen (23.10), Grace Vertigans (23.11) and Danyel Johnson (23.11). Jessica Merritt and Melissa Gates tied with times of 23.19 for 24th place, and will participate in a swim-off.

Men’s 50 free

As expected, Nathan Adrian led qualifying in a fast 50 free prelim session, posting a 19.18. He’ll be aiming for his American record of 18.66, and likely Cesar Cielo’s U.S. Open record of 18.47. Twenty-one swimmers broke 20 seconds in today’s prelims, which will make for a lot of wave action in all three heats tonight.

NC State’s Simonas Bilis qualified second with a 19.40, his fastest of the season and now the third-fastest time in the collegiate ranks. He’s just a shade off the NCAA automatic qualifying time of 19.25, which he might get if he can ride Adrian’s wake in the final. Eric Knight of SwimMAC Carolina and Tampa’s Eric McGinnis tied for third with times of 19.45, while three swimmers tied for fifth place to set up a thrilling final. Junya Koga of Club Wolverine (who broke the U.S. Open record in the 50 back last night), Mark Weber of SwimMAC Carolina and Michigan’s Bruno Ortiz each posted a 19.57. And just making it into the final was New York Athletic Club’s Adam Brown with a 19.59, despite announcing two days ago that he was retiring.

Missing the A final by one hundredth of a second was Geoffrey Cheah, who leads qualifiers in the B final with a 19.60. Daniel Kanorr (19.61), Cullen Jones (19.63), Josh Fleagle (19.65), Derek Toomey (19.66), Zach Hayden (19.78), Paul Powers (19.82) and Sidni Hoxa (19.83) will also fight for places in the B final.

Swimming in the C final will be: Vinny Tafuto (19.84), Erik Risolvato (19.91), Thomas Dahlia (19.95), Ryan Held (19.97), Anze Tavcar (19.98), Joe Bonk (19.98), David Williams (20.00) and Sean Fletcher (20.06).

Scheduled Events

500 freestyle
200 individual medley
50 freestyle

Note: Prelims will be run in two courses, separated by gender. The 400 medley relay will be swum as a timed-final event in tonight’s finals session.

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