Competition for the 2016 Speedo Winter Junior Championships West continued in College Station, Texas this morning as athletes vied for the finals spots in the 500 free, 200 IM, and 50 free.<\/p>\n
Evie Pfeifer<\/strong> of CSP Tideriders and\u00a0Zoe Gawronska<\/strong> of Tidal Wave posted close times in prelims of the women’s 500 free, stopping the clock a slim .05 seconds apart to take the top two seeds going into tonight’s finals. Pfeifer claims the top seed with a 4:44.68, followed closely by Gawronska’s 4:44.73.<\/p>\n Kaitlynn Sims<\/strong> of Magnolia Aquatics turned in a time of 4:45.02 to take the third place seed, while\u00a0Taylor Ault\u00a0<\/strong>of La Mirada Armada was fourth with a close 4:45.08.<\/p>\n Austin Swim Club’s\u00a0Dakota Luther<\/strong> (4:45.12), Mansfield Aquatics\u00a0Haley Yelle\u00a0<\/strong>(4:43.63), Texas Ford Aquatics\u00a0Gabrielle Kopenski<\/strong> (4:46.96), and Iowa Flyers’\u00a0Ruby Martin<\/strong> (4:47.47) complete the top eight qualifiers.<\/p>\n Jack Levant<\/strong> of North Texas picked up the top seed in prelims of the men’s 500 free, stopping the clock at a time of 4:18.20.<\/p>\n Lakeside Aquatics’\u00a0Alexander Zettle<\/strong> grabbed the second place seed with a 4:19.73, while\u00a0Patrick Callan<\/strong> of Trident Aquatics turned in a 4:19.86 for third.<\/p>\n Zach Yeadon\u00a0<\/strong>of Alamo Area Aquatics posted a 4:22.21 for fourth, followed by Scottsdale Aquatic Club’s\u00a0Aaron Apel<\/strong> and his time of 4:22.88.<\/p>\n Edina Swim Club’s\u00a0Johnthomas Larson<\/strong> (4:23.52), Empire KC Swim Club’s\u00a0Liam Bresette<\/strong> (4:23.52), and North Texas’\u00a0Colter Carman\u00a0<\/strong>(4:23.62) rounded out the top eight.<\/p>\n 14-year-old\u00a0Regan Smith\u00a0<\/strong>led a trio of swimmers beneath the two-minute mark in prelims of the women’s 200 individual medley. Smith stopped the clock at a 1:59.16 to return as the top seed for tonight’s finals.<\/p>\n Chloe Clark\u00a0<\/strong>of Sierra Marlins and Fort Collins’\u00a0Zoe Bartel\u00a0<\/strong>picked up second and third respectively with times of 1:59.19 and 1:59.43.<\/p>\n CSP Tideriders’\u00a0Evie Pfeifer<\/strong> returned from a short break after the 500 free to grab the fourth place seed with a time of 2:00.07, just ahead of Aggie Swim Club’s\u00a0Julia Cook<\/strong> and her time of 2:00.20.<\/p>\n Longhorn Aquatics’\u00a0Regan Barney\u00a0<\/strong>(2:00.58), Sierra Marlins’\u00a0Dasha Pastushenko\u00a0<\/strong>(2:00.79), and Iowa Flyers’\u00a0Ruby Martin\u00a0<\/strong>(2:01.15) finished sixth through eighth.<\/p>\n Shane Blinkman<\/strong> of St. Croix Swim Club took first in prelims of the men’s 200 individual medley with a top qualifying time of 1:46.03.<\/p>\n Austin Swim Club’s\u00a0Matthew Willenbring\u00a0<\/strong>grabbed the second place seed with a 1:47.00, followed closely by Pikes Peak’s\u00a0Daniel Carr\u00a0<\/strong>and his time of 1:47.03.<\/p>\n Bryce Mefford\u00a0<\/strong>of the Sierra Marlins posted a 1:47.05 for the fourth place seed, just ahead of Palo Alto Stanford’s\u00a0Alex Liang’s\u00a0<\/strong>1:47.47.<\/p>\n Jeffco Hurricane’s\u00a0Michael Zarian<\/strong> (1:47.87),\u00a0Shaine Casas<\/strong> (1:47.90), and Lane Four Aquatics’\u00a0Caleb Aman\u00a0<\/strong>(1:49.02) qualified sixth through eighth.<\/p>\n Grace Ariola<\/strong> of Waves Bloomington led a tightly packed field of 16- and 17-year-olds in prelims of the women’s 50 free. Ariola delivered a top qualifying time of 22.55.<\/p>\n Aquzaot’s\u00a0Eva Merrell\u00a0<\/strong>posted a second place qualifying time of 22.62, followed closely by Aggie Swim Club’s\u00a0Julia Cook\u00a0<\/strong>(22.73) and\u00a0Quicksilver’s\u00a0Lauren Green\u00a0<\/strong>(22.74).<\/p>\n Amalie Fackenthal<\/strong> of Davis Aquadarts grabbed the fifth place seed with a time of 22.76, just ahead of CATs Aquatic Team’s\u00a0Daria Pyshnenko<\/strong> and her time of 22.78.<\/p>\n Fort Collins’\u00a0Kylee Alons<\/strong> and SOCAL’s\u00a0Elise Garcia\u00a0<\/strong>were seventh and eighth respectively with times of 22.84 and 23.02.<\/p>\n Ryan Hoffer<\/strong> of Scottsdale Aquatic Club uncorked a sizzling 18.88 to obliterate the men’s 50 free prelims field. Hoffer’s time is just shy of\u00a0Caeleb Dressel’s\u00a0<\/strong>18.67 National Age Group record from 2015 and improves upon his second place standing in the All-Time Top 100 records. His previous best was a 19.06 making him only the second 17-18 year old to post a sub-19 second swim in the 50 free.<\/p>\n Teammate\u00a0Jack Blake<\/strong> and Dads Club’s\u00a0Clayton Bobo\u00a0<\/strong>delivered matching times of 20.03 to tie for the second place seed in tonight’s final, while North Texas’\u00a0Jack LeVant<\/strong> took fourth with a 20.23.<\/p>\n Cooper Deryk<\/strong> of Truckee-Tahoe turned in a 20.32 for the fifth place seed, just ahead of Sierra Marlins’\u00a0Bryce\u00a0<\/strong>Medford’s<\/b> 20.33.<\/p>\n Shaine Casas\u00a0<\/strong>and Austin Swim Club’s\u00a0Matthew Willenbring\u00a0<\/strong>rounded out the top eight qualifiers with times of 20.34 and 20.38 respectively.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Competition for the 2016 Speedo Winter Junior Championships West continued in College Station, Texas this morning as athletes vied for the finals spots in the 500 free, 200 IM, and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":148076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[59633],"class_list":["post-232590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-usa","tag-2016-speedo-winter-junior-championships-west"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\nMen’s 500 Free:<\/h3>\n
Women’s 200 IM:<\/h3>\n
Men’s 200 IM:<\/h3>\n
Women’s 50 Free:<\/h3>\n
Men’s 50 Free:<\/h3>\n