The 2017 Arena Pro Swim Series kicked off in Austin, Texas this morning for the first session of the series. Prelims began at 9 a.m. CST and finals will run at 6 p.m. CST.<\/p>\n
Olympic gold medalists\u00a0Amanda Weir, Melanie Margalis,\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Ryan Held<\/strong> threw down swift swims, while young stars flexed their competitive edge in the first prelims session of the three-day meet.<\/p>\n Events:<\/strong><\/p>\n Hit refresh for all the latest coverage.<\/p>\n Veteran sprinter\u00a0Amanda Weir\u00a0<\/strong>topped the preliminary heats of the women’s 100 free with a top qualifying time of 55.36.<\/p>\n Michelle Williams<\/strong>\u00a0of HPCO\u00a0qualified a close second with a time of 55.64, while NC State’s\u00a0Alexia Zevnik<\/strong> turned in a 55.81 for the third place seed.<\/p>\n Kayla Sanchez <\/strong>of\u00a0HPCO\u00a0picked up the final sub-56 swim with a qualifying time of 55.93, followed by teammate\u00a0Rebecca Smith’s<\/strong> 56.21.<\/p>\n Scottsdale Aquatics’\u00a0Taylor Ruck<\/strong> (56.34), Great britain’s\u00a0Kathryn Greenslade<\/strong> (56.36), and Texas A&M’s\u00a0Beryl Gastaldello<\/strong>\u00a0(53.98) rounded out the top eight qualifiers.<\/p>\n Olympic gold medalist\u00a0Ryan Held\u00a0<\/strong>of NC State posted the fastest time of the morning in the men’s 100 free, stopping the clock at a 49.45. Held will be joined in the middle of the pool by Japan’s\u00a0Shinri Shioura<\/strong> (49.83) and UBC Thunderbirds’\u00a0Yuri Kisil<\/strong> (50.24).<\/p>\n Daniel Krueger\u00a0<\/strong>of McFarland Spartans picked up the fourth place seed with a time of 50.34, while UBC Thunderbirds’\u00a0Markus Thormeyer\u00a0<\/strong>was fifth with a 50.38.<\/p>\n Race Pace club’s\u00a0Michael Andrew<\/strong> (50.63), California Aquatics’\u00a0Jacob Pebley<\/strong> (50.69), and NC State’s\u00a0Soeren Dahl<\/strong> (50.81) complete the top eight qualifiers.<\/p>\n Sydney Pickrem<\/strong> of Texas A&M cruised to the top seed in prelims of the women’s 200 breast. Pickrem turned in a 2:28.07 to lead the returning field by more than half a second.<\/p>\n Olympians\u00a0Breeja Larson<\/strong> of New York Athletic Club and\u00a0Melanie Margalis\u00a0<\/strong>of Saint Petersburg picked up the second and third place seeds respectively. Larson touched in a qualifying time of 2:28.73, followed by Margalis’ 2:28.91.<\/p>\n Katie Matts<\/strong> of Great Britain finished fourth in prelims with a 2:29.32, while teammate\u00a0Emma Day<\/strong> was fifth with a 2:29.67.<\/p>\n Texas A&M teammates\u00a0Ashley McGregor<\/strong> and\u00a0Esther Gonzalez\u00a0<\/strong>grabbed the sixth and seventh place seeds with times of 2:29.79 and 2:29.91 respectively.<\/p>\n Erika Seltenrei<\/strong> of UBC Thunderbirds qualified eighth with a time of 2:30.10.<\/p>\n Nic Fink<\/strong> of Athens Bulldogs held off the competition in prelims of the men’s 200 breast, finishing over a second ahead of the competition. Fink returns as the top seed for tonight’s finals with a time of 2:15.26.<\/p>\n California Aquatics’\u00a0Josh Prenot\u00a0<\/strong>grabbed the second place seed with a time of 2:16.70, followed by Emory’s\u00a0Andrew Wilson\u00a0<\/strong>and his time of 2:16.97.<\/p>\n Nick Zito\u00a0<\/strong>of West Swim Club earned the fourth place seed with a time of 2:17.01, while Chena Swim Club’s\u00a0James Dergousof\u00a0<\/strong>took fifth with a 2:17.44.<\/p>\n NC State’s\u00a0Patrick Schwarze<\/strong> (2:17.88), HPC-Ontario’s\u00a0Richard Funk<\/strong> (2:18.01), and Mason Manta Rays\u00a0Jake Foster\u00a0<\/strong>(2:19.09) completed the top qualifiers.<\/p>\n 16-year-old\u00a0Eva Merrell\u00a0<\/strong>of Aquazot Swim Club led the field in prelims of the women’s 100 fly with a top qualifying time of 59.34. Merrell is one of four swimmers under the age of 18 returning for tonight’s ‘A’ final.<\/p>\n Texas A&M’s\u00a0Sarah Gibson\u00a0<\/strong>grabbed a close second with a qualifying time of 59.38, while HPCO’s\u00a0Rebecca Smith<\/strong> picked up the third place seed with a 59.66.<\/p>\n Veteran\u00a0Hannah Saiz\u00a0<\/strong>of Scroeder YMCA turned in a 1:00.67 for the fourth place seed, followed by Razorback Aquatics’\u00a0Taylor Pike’s\u00a0<\/strong>1:01.16.<\/p>\n Texas A&M’s\u00a0Beryl Gastaldello<\/strong> (1:01.23), Nation’s Capital’s\u00a0Isabella Gati\u00a0<\/strong>(1:01.45), and NC State’s\u00a0Krista Duffield\u00a0<\/strong>(1:00.78) return as sixth through eighth respectively.<\/p>\n Michael Andrew\u00a0<\/strong>of Race Pace Club turned in the top time of the morning for the men’s 100 fly. Andrew stopped the clock at a time of 53.60 to be the only swimmer beneath the 54-second mark.<\/p>\n Japan’s\u00a0Daiya Seto\u00a0<\/strong>cruised to a second place seed with a time of 54.07, while Azuara Florida’s\u00a0Marcos Lavado\u00a0<\/strong>picked up the third place seed with a time of 54.28.<\/p>\n NC State’s\u00a0Soeren Dahl<\/strong> and\u00a0Ryan Held\u00a0<\/strong>delivered times of 54.44 and 54.67 for the fourth and fifth place seeds respectively.<\/p>\n North Texas Nadadores’\u00a0Jack LeVant\u00a0<\/strong>(54.69), Mission Viejo’s\u00a0Daniel Kim\u00a0<\/strong>(55.49), and japan’s\u00a0Yuki Kobori<\/strong> (55.16) rounded out the top qualifiers.<\/p>\n Great Britain’s\u00a0Holly Hibbott\u00a0<\/strong>maintained her spot as the top seed in the women’s 400 free with a qualifying time of 4:11.60.<\/p>\n Mary-Sophie Harvey<\/strong> of Neptune picked up a close second place seed with a time of 4:11.72, just ahead of NCAC’s\u00a0Ashley Twichell’s\u00a0<\/strong>4:11.96.<\/p>\n Saint Petersburg’s\u00a0Melanie Margalis<\/strong> grabbed the fourth place seed with a 4:12.74, followed by NC State’s\u00a0Hannah Moore<\/strong> who touched in a time of 4:12.87.<\/p>\n Marlins of Raleigh’s\u00a0Morgan Tankersley<\/strong> (4:15.96), Etobicoke’s\u00a0Olivia Anderson<\/strong> (4:16.03), and Chile’s\u00a0Kristel Kobrich<\/strong> (4:16.76) were sixth through eighth.<\/p>\n Anton Ipson<\/strong> of NC State picked up the top seed in prelims of the men’s 400 free with a time of 3:52.93. Teammate\u00a0Adam Linker\u00a0<\/strong>qualified close behind with a 3:53.43.<\/p>\n Japan’s\u00a0Naito Ehara\u00a0<\/strong>turned in a 3:54.13 for third, while Island Swimming’s\u00a0Jeremy Bagshaw<\/strong> grabbed the fourth place seed wit ha 3:5.42.<\/p>\n 16-year-old\u00a0Trey Freeman<\/strong> finished fifth in prelims with a time of 3:57.55, followed by Japan’s\u00a0Tsubasa Amai’s\u00a0<\/strong>3:57.76.<\/p>\n Nitro Swimming’s\u00a0Chris Yeager<\/strong> and Nation’s Capital’s\u00a0Lane Stone\u00a0<\/strong>return as seventh and eighth with times of 3:57.99 and 3:58.06 respectively.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 2017 Arena Pro Swim Series kicked off in Austin, Texas this morning for the first session of the series. Prelims began at 9 a.m. CST and finals will run<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":236744,"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":[3,7],"tags":[59956],"class_list":["post-236743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-usa","tag-2017-arena-pro-swim-series-austin"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n\n
Women’s 100 Free<\/h3>\n
Men’s 100 Free<\/h3>\n
Women’s 200 Breast<\/h3>\n
Men’s 200 Breast<\/h3>\n
Women’s 100 Fly<\/h3>\n
Men’s 100 Fly<\/h3>\n
Women’s 400 Free<\/h3>\n
Men’s 400 Free<\/h3>\n