Photo Courtesy: Azaria Basile<\/p>\n
GREENSBORO \u2013 The crowd gathered around the deck at the Greensboro Aquatic Center to witness an American record chase by Katie Ledecky in the 500-yard freestyle at the USA Swimming short course nationals. Out under pace at 100 yards, Ledecky couldn\u2019t match the speed but posted the second-fastest performance in history with a 4:29.54.<\/p>\n
Ledecky hit the 100-yard mark at 50.89, two tenths under her record pace. After that, she continually fell more off her pace, as much as 1.2 seconds at the 300-yard mark. She did put in a big rally at the finish to get within a second of her American and U.S. Open record of 4:28.71.<\/p>\n
Well behind Ledecky was an exciting battle for second among four swimmers. Gillian Ryan, a mainstay on the national scene now in her freshman year at Michigan, was second with a 4:37.78. Indiana\u2019s Kennedy Goss got the bronze medal with a 4:38.35. Ryan barely gets ahead of Florida\u2019s Jessica Thielmann for the fastest collegiate time so far this season, while Goss is third.<\/p>\n
Sarasota YMCA\u2019s Danielle Valley (4:38.79), Indiana\u2019s Haley Lips (4:39.98), York\u2019s Courtney Harnish (4:40.10), UCLA\u2019s Katy Campbell (4:40.53) and Michigan\u2019s Hannah Moore (4:40.90) rounded out the fast field.<\/p>\n
In the B final, top seed Hannah Cox of Upper Valley Aquatics built up a body-length lead over the field, and nearly kept that at the finish to win with a 4:42.32. Isabella Rongione and Megan Moroney, swimming in lanes one and two, battled through the final 100 with Moroney placing second in 4:43.08 to Rongione\u2019s 4:43.29.<\/p>\n