Speedo Sectionals competition got off to an exciting start in Columbia, MO with the 1000 freestyle and two sets of relays this evening. The Razorback Aquatic Club Aquahawgs racked up gold and silver in the women’s distance event, while Rockwood Swim Club landed on the podium twice in the two relays.<\/p>\n
The women’s competition started off with a photo finish in the 200 free relay. The Arkansas Dolphins Swim Team led the whole way and came away with the gold in 1:34.84. The victory proved to be a true team effort. Angelina Ke <\/strong>and Claire Hyatt <\/strong>both dropped 23-second splits to set up the squad for success.\u00a0Rachel Zhang\u00a0<\/strong>held steady, and\u00a0Alyssa Bloser\u00a0<\/strong>hit the touchpad in 23.35.<\/p>\n The team did not win without putting up a fight, however. Lincoln Select edged closer in the final two legs of the race, as\u00a0Anna Heinrich\u00a0<\/strong>finished her leg in 23.79 and\u00a0Alana Palmer\u00a0<\/strong>laid down a blazing 22.86. Palmer couldn’t quite make up the gap, but the team finished close behind the Dolphins in 1:35.05. The Kansas City Blazers team of\u00a0Olivia Davison<\/strong>,\u00a0Mackenzie Bravence<\/strong>,\u00a0Joely Merriman<\/strong>,\u00a0and\u00a0Katherine Sullivan\u00a0<\/strong>nabbed the bronze in 1:35.74, just ahead of Kansas Splash Club (1:35.80).<\/p>\n On the men’s side, Rockwood Swim Club came away with the win thanks to fast swims from\u00a0Jack Dolan <\/strong>(20.43) and Nicolas Wamsley<\/strong>\u00a0(20.68) on the front half. The team, also composed of\u00a0Andrew Noltkamper <\/strong>and\u00a0Mihir Chandra<\/strong>, posted a 1:23.41.<\/p>\n Empire Swim Club’s team of\u00a0Caleb Musser <\/strong>(21.44),\u00a0Andy Huffman <\/strong>(21.47),\u00a0Lance Godard\u00a0<\/strong>(21.11),\u00a0and\u00a0William Bresette<\/strong>, who charged for the fastest split in the pool, 20.06, and a team time of\u00a01:24.08. The Greater Omaha Aquatics Leopard Sharks team, made up of\u00a0Collin Lafave<\/strong>,\u00a0Javier Quinones<\/strong>,\u00a0Nicholas Soltys<\/strong>, and\u00a0Kayden McCullough\u00a0<\/strong>landed third in\u00a01:24.68.<\/p>\n Luciana Thomas\u00a0<\/strong>of Razorback Aquatic Club Aquahawgs earned the top spot in the women’s 1000 free, posting a solid 9:53.07. Thomas chose to take out the race at an aggressive pace and held steady, with only one 100 over the minute barrier.<\/p>\n Not far behind,\u00a0her teammate,\u00a0Hayley Pike<\/strong>, took a slightly different approach. Pike stayed more conservative on the front and came back strong in 56.51. Pike’s final split landed her with second place and a 9:54.14.\u00a0The rest of the pack followed the two Aquahawgs standouts about seven seconds behind. Fourteen-year-old\u00a0Kate McCarville<\/strong>\u00a0earned the bronze in 10:02.69.<\/p>\n The men’s race was similarly dominated, this time by\u00a0Dane Florea\u00a0<\/strong>of Columbia Swim Club, 9:04.76.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Rec Plex Sharks’\u00a0Adam Grimm\u00a0<\/strong>led a tight-knit group of later finishers. Grimm surged in the final 100 to hit the wall in 9:17.27 for silver.\u00a0Matthew Hillmer\u00a0<\/strong>of Clayton Shaw Park Tideriders was close behind in 9:17.32.<\/p>\n The night of women’s competition wrapped up with an exciting fight for gold in the medley relay.\u00a0Alana Palmer\u00a0<\/strong>led off Lincoln Select Swimming’s team with a blazing 25.80 split in the backstroke.\u00a0Lauren Naeger\u00a0<\/strong>made up significant ground for Columbia Swim Club in the butterfly leg.<\/p>\n Ultimately, though, Lincoln’s\u00a0Anna Heinrich\u00a0<\/strong>brought home the gold with a solid free leg in 23.60. The final marks were Lincoln in 1:43.33 and Columbia in 1:43.44. Meanwhile, American Energy Swim Club made a move for bronze on the back half, stopping the clock in 1:43.82.<\/p>\n On the men’s side, the podium time margin proved greater, as Sooner Swim Club put together an all-around solid squad for the top spot.\u00a0Alden Hayes\u00a0<\/strong>earned a sizeable lead with an impressive 22.52 backstroke split, while\u00a0Alexander Stamatin<\/strong>,\u00a0Caleb Sullivan<\/strong>, and\u00a0Jonathan Tang\u00a0<\/strong>held onto the lead for gold.<\/p>\n The Greater Omaha Aquatics Leopard Sharks were good for silver in 1:32.42, and Rockwood Swim Club settled for the bronze in 1:32.71.<\/p>\n The action will continue in Columbia tomorrow as prelims begin at 9 am.<\/p>\n Live results are available on MeetMobile – 2018 Region VIII Speedo Spring Sectionals.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Speedo Sectionals competition got off to an exciting start in Columbia, MO with the 1000 freestyle and two sets of relays this evening. The Razorback Aquatic Club Aquahawgs racked up<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4275,"featured_media":245623,"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":[49268,8,7],"tags":[66546,66740,59667,31821],"class_list":["post-299719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-meet-coverage","category-high-school","category-usa","tag-2018-speedo-sectionals","tag-2018-speedo-sectionals-columbia","tag-jack-dolan","tag-razorback-aquatic-club"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\nMen’s 4 x 50 Free Relay<\/h2>\n
Women’s 1000 Free<\/h2>\n
Men’s 1000 Free<\/h2>\n
Women’s 4 x 50 Medley Relay<\/h2>\n
Men’s 4 x 50 Medley Relay<\/h2>\n