AUSTIN – Tualatin Hills’ Keaton Blovad and Arizona Gold’s Mark Jurek each won two events to bring their win totals to four during the fourth night of racing at the Austin Sectionals meet at the Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.<\/p>\n
Blovad earned her third win of the meet in the opening event, posting a 53.51 to win the women’s 100 back. Wasatch Front Fish’s Rhyan White dipped under 54 for the first time and finished second in 53.75, while top seed Ann Ochitwa of Denver Swim Academy wound up third in 53.97.<\/p>\n
Patrick Mulcare gave Tualatin Hills a sweep of the 100 backstroke titles with a 47.39 in the men’s race, taking three tenths off his own sectional record of 47.69 from last year in the process. Arizona’s Reid Elliott also got under 48 with a 47.99 for second, while Cheyenne Mountain Aquatics’ Daniel Carr picked up third in 48.14.<\/p>\n
After winning the 1000 free on night one, Arizona Gold’s Adriana Palomino won her second race of the meet in the 500 free after posting a 4:51.59 in finals. Flatiron Athletic Club’s Eleanor Matheson edged fellow Colorado swimmer Shelly Drozda of Front Range Barracudas for second, 4:52.31 to 4:52.72.<\/p>\n
Arizona Gold swept the 500 free titles as Mark Jurek claimed his third win of the meet with a 4:23.67, a four second drop from prelims. Jurek overtook top seed Thomas Ottman of Scottsdale to win, as Ottman touched second in 4:25.00. Brooks Fail of the TJCC Stingrays rounded out the top three in 4:28.83.<\/p>\n
Keaton Blovad continued to rock and roll in the women’s 100 breast final, picking up her fourth win of the meet with a sizzling 1:01.02 in finals. Sisters Mariah and McKenna Gassaway of South Davis Aquatics finished second and third, with Mariah posting a 1:01.60 and McKenna touching in 1:03.48.<\/p>\n
After just missing the sectional record in prelims this morning, Phoenix Swim Club’s Matthew Anderson flew past the record in finals with a 53.53 in the men’s 100 breast. That lowered Eetu Karvonen’s 53.82 from 2011 and was more than a second ahead of teammate James Sheehan’s 54.98 for second. Scottsdale’s Marcello Quaran touched third in 55.57.<\/p>\n
Tualatin Hills’ Sara Metzsch finished in the top three a few times already and finally got a win in the women’s 100 fly, stopping the clock at 54.12 to knock off Denver Swim Academy’s Ann Ochitwa (54.34). Boulder Swimming’s Julia Box, winner of the 200 fly earlier in the meet, came in third with a 54.80.<\/p>\n
Arizona Gold’s Mark Jurek won his second race of the night and fourth of the meet in the men’s 100 fly, posting a 48.26 to take down another multi-event winner in Tualatin Hills’ Patrick Mulcare (48.54). Arizona’s Reid Elliott made the top three for a second time with a 48.56 for third.<\/p>\n
Tualatin Hills’ quartet of Keaton Blovad, Ryan Falk, Emily Cook and Sara Metzsch posted the best time in the 400 free relay with a 3:22.30, just over a second and a half in front of Denver Swim Academy’s Taylor Wilson, Lindsay Painton, Samantha Smith and Ann Ochitwa (3:23.82). Scottsdale rounded out the top three with Samantha Fazio, Victoria Toris, Jocelyn Wang and Emma Broome touching at 3:24.74.<\/p>\n
In the men’s relay, Phoenix Swim Club’s Grady Ottomeyer, Jared Norton, John Morgan and Matthew Anderson out-raced Tualatin Hills’ Evan Carlson, Anthony Nosack, Liam Metzsch and Patrick Mulcare for the win, 3:02.54 to 3:02.90. Arizona Gold swam to a third place finish with Mark Jurek, Brent Creager, Antonio Ramirez and Ben Olszewski touching at 3:05.99.<\/p>\n
With one day to go, Arizona Gold has a 102-point lead over Tualatin Hills in the men’s team standings, 455 points to 353. Scottsdale is right behind in third with 335 points. Scottsdale leads the women’s meet with 561 points, slightly ahead of Tualatin Hills’ 536. Denver Swim Academy is currently third with 346 points.<\/p>\n