Kelsi Worrell<\/strong> unsurprisingly crushed the women\u2019s 100-meter fly final at USA Nationals. Worrell entered finals with a 57.53 seed time, and lowered it to a blistering 57.27 this evening. She blazed the first 50 meters in 27.06, and returned in a 30.01. Although she won handily, the Louisville standout actually added 0.03 seconds from her entry time of 57.24.<\/p>\n Felicia Lee <\/strong>vaulted to a second-place finish in 58.54. Propelled by a strong second 50 split, Lee was able to overcome touching last at the first 50. Lee took the race out in 28.59, but brought it home in a scorching 29.95. University of Kentucky\u2019s Christina Bechtel<\/strong> jumped three spots to finish third in 58.74.<\/p>\n American Record-holder Dana Vollmer<\/strong> fell to fourth place in 58.94. Vollmer raced aggressively the first half of the race (27.71), but was unable to maintain the same strength on the final leg (31.23).<\/p>\n Cassidy Bayer <\/strong>(59.00), Amanda Kendall<\/strong> (59.12), Hali Flickinger<\/strong> (59.64), and Kara Kopcso<\/strong> (1:00.00) rounded out the championship final.<\/p>\n Zane Grothe<\/strong>\u00a0held on to his top spot to take the men\u2019s 400-meter free in a gutsy 3:45.98 performance at USA Nationals. He clocked the ninth fastest time in the world this year. Grothe, who clinched the top seed this morning with a 3:48.93, stormed from behind to take down an ambitious\u00a0Clark Smith<\/strong>. Smith finished second in 3:47.10, but their splits tell a tale of two halves:<\/p>\n Grothe: 54.22\/57.39\/57.98\/56.39<\/p>\n Smith:\u00a0\u00a0 53.18\/57.43\/58.36\/58.13<\/p>\n Townley Haas\u00a0<\/strong>maintained his third-place seed to nab the bronze medal in 3:48.69. Haas was able to hang with Grothe and Smith for the first 200-meters, touching at 1:52.20 at the halfway point. He also swam the 4th<\/sup>\u00a0fastest time for 17-18-year olds in U.S. history.\u00a0Matthew Hutchins<\/strong>\u00a0lost the bronze medal by 0.01 seconds, finishing with a 3:48.70. The youngest swimmer in the field, 17-year old\u00a0Nicholas Sweetser<\/strong>, pumped out a 3:49.33 to take fifth.<\/p>\n Frank Dyer<\/strong>\u00a0(3:54.90) and\u00a0Jonathan Roberts<\/strong>\u00a0(3:58.46) fell to sixth and seventh, while\u00a0Bobby Hurley<\/strong>\u00a0ended up with a disqualification. It\u2019s unknown what the DQ is at this point, but given the nature of the race, it could be a false start.<\/p>\n Caitlin Leverenz<\/strong>\u00a0avenged her prelims loss to\u00a0Madisyn Cox<\/strong>\u00a0to take the women’s 200-meter IM final in 2:10.70 at USA Nationals. Cal’s Leverenz entered finals with a 2:11.71, 0.10 seconds behind Cox’s prelim swim. Cox halved that difference tonight to finish second in 2:10.75. Side-by-side, the two swam an incredibly exciting race.<\/p>\n Leverenz: 28.25\/33.81\/36.98\/31.66<\/p>\n Cox: \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a028.60\/34.20\/37.51\/30.44<\/p>\n Bethany Galat\u00a0<\/strong>(2:12.13) and\u00a0Sarah Henry<\/strong>\u00a0(2:12.25) fell to third and fourth, out of range of Leverenz and Cox.\u00a0Emily Cameron<\/strong>\u00a0touched right after Henry in 2:12.54.\u00a0Karlee Bispo<\/strong>\u00a0had hung with Leverenz and Cox until the breast leg, posting a 28.43 and 33.58 on her first two 50s.<\/p>\n Meaghan Raab<\/strong>\u00a0(2:13.37) and\u00a0Justine Bowker<\/strong>\u00a0(2:14.21) punctuated the championship final.<\/p>\n Andrew Wilson<\/strong>\u00a0set the bar high this morning with his 59.68 prelims swim in the 100-meter breast at USA Nationals. Tonight, Wilson lowered that impressive mark to a 59.65 while winning the race ahead of\u00a0Craig Benson<\/strong>. After a summer of training with the Texas Longhorns, the Emory University swimmer improved his 100 breast time by 2.22 seconds at Nationals. Wilson clocked a 27.87 on the first 50 then turned around with a 31.78. Benson lowered his prelims time as well to a 1:00.13 after taking it out in 28.47 and returning in 31.66.<\/p>\n Brad Craig<\/strong>\u00a0(1:00.63)\u00a0edged\u00a0Chuck Katis\u00a0<\/strong>(1:00.69) for the bronze medal.\u00a0Nicholas Schaefer\u00a0<\/strong>swam a 1:00.78 to best\u00a0Michael Jameison<\/strong>‘s 1:00.82 effort.\u00a0Marcus Titus<\/strong>\u00a0hit seventh in 1:00.99, while\u00a0Samuel Tierney<\/strong>\u00a0wound up eighth with a 1:01.17.<\/p>\n In the B Final,\u00a0Michael Andrew\u00a0<\/strong>torched a 1:00.68 new National Age Group Record. Andrew rose to the occasion at finals, taking the race out in 28.53 and returning in 32.15. He would have finished fourth in the championship final, but will instead have to settle for ninth place.<\/p>\n Lindsay Vrooman<\/strong>\u00a0entered the meet as the top seed in the women’s 400-meter free, and she will remain at the top. After a lackluster 4:12.09 swim this morning, Vrooman busted out a 4:07.88 and moved up six spots to take gold from lane one. She was in an extremely tight duel against\u00a0Hali\u00a0<\/strong>Flicking<\/b>er<\/strong>, who clocked a 4:07.93. They battled back and forth throughout the race until the Indiana University alum Vrooman claimed the victory.<\/p>\n Vrooman: 1:00.28\/1:02.72\/1:03.12\/1:01.76<\/p>\n Flickinger: 1:00.68\/1:02.85\/1:02.80\/1:01.60<\/p>\n Courtney Harnish<\/strong>\u00a0jumped two spots to claim bronze in 4:08.22. She found herself in close contention with\u00a0Stephanie Peacock,\u00a0<\/strong>who fell to fourth in 4:08.50.\u00a0Sierra Schmidt\u00a0<\/strong>took fifth with a 4:09.52.<\/p>\n After taking the top spot in prelims,\u00a0Allison Schmitt<\/strong>\u00a0fell to sixth with a 4:09.59. She added nearly half of a second from her morning swim and continued to struggle on the final 200 meters. Schmitt’s last two 100 splits ended up being 1:03.30 and 1:02.06.\u00a0Hannah Cox<\/strong>\u00a0boldly raced to a 59.47 start, but fell to seventh with a 4:09.61 final time.\u00a0Yawen Hou<\/strong>\u00a0finished eighth in 4:10.15.<\/p>\nMen’s 400-meter Free<\/h3>\n
Women’s 200-meter IM<\/h3>\n
Men’s 100-meter Breast<\/h3>\n
Women’s 400-meter Free<\/h3>\n
Men’s 400-meter IM<\/h3>\n