\u201cI go back to my NBA experience\u2014people said that when Michael (Jordan) left, and all the sudden a guy named LeBron (James) came around. After LeBron, there\u2019s Stephen Curry,\u201d Hinchey said. \u201cEveryone should be really excited because it\u2019s not just about one swimmer\u2014it\u2019s about a team of stars.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But on this night, the first at an all-important Nationals, the stars were quiet. Sure, Katie Ledecky<\/strong> got those in attendance excited when she went out under world record-pace over the first third of her 800 free, but she settled down and ended up with merely the 13th-fastest performance in history at 8:11.98. She now owns the top 19 swims ever in the event.<\/p>\n

Simone Manuel<\/strong> swam a fine 100 free, her 52.54 good for third in the world behind the sisters Bronte<\/strong> and Cate<\/strong> Campbell<\/strong>. Nathan Adrian<\/strong> shrugged off his 48.25 in the men\u2019s 100 free, explaining that he was perfectly happy to have finished second, while Caeleb<\/strong> Dressel<\/strong>, he of seven World Championship gold medals and an American record of 47.17, slumped badly, finishing sixth in 48.50\u2014undoubtedly, the stunner of the night.\u00a0Blake Pieroni\u00a0<\/strong>of the Indiana Hoosiers won the event in 48.0.<\/p>\n

So, no, this one did not belong to the stars. The hyped-up final of the men\u2019s 100 free, seen as the consensus favorite for race of the night, left everyone wondering what exactly had just happened.<\/p>\n

But far less complicated were the emotions from a half-hour earlier, in the first two finals of the meet: The raw elation of a first-timer, an athlete who has gotten over the hump and made the team, in this case for next month\u2019s Pan Pacific Championships\u2014three times over.<\/p>\n

For her first two years at Stanford, Katie Drabot<\/strong> swam in the shadows of Ledecky, Manuel and NCAA swimmer of the year Ella Eastin. Until, that is, she got her own breakthrough moment in an event she never would have expected to find one.<\/p>\n

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Katie Drabot — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick<\/p><\/div>\n
Drabot began swimming the 200 fly this collegiate season because she preferred it as an alternative to the 1650 free. She enjoyed training butterfly, which she found less stressful than her standard freestyle sets.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was still a very fresh event, so there was no real pressure in training,\u201d Drabot said. \u201cAs for freestyle, I feel like I have the times in my head for what I needed to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Drabot didn\u2019t swim the 200 fly long course for several years. She thinks that before this spring, her lifetime best was around 2:25, but she\u2019s not sure. But then she swam a 2:08.38 in the event at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Indianapolis, and she knew what was possible. Ledecky did, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cI pretty much knew she was going to get that done,\u201d Ledecky said with a grin. \u201cI had so much confidence in her and the training she\u2019s put in this past year.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Drabot dropped her time down to 2:07.30 in prelims to qualify second for the final, and at night, she put together a 2:07.18 to touch second\u2014all but certainly securing her spot at the Pan Pacific Championships.<\/p>\n
She walked off the pool deck where her Stanford teammates found her and wrapped her in a massive group hug. It was the break she had targeted and wanted for years, but still, \u201cit\u2019s very surreal.\u201d<\/p>\n
===<\/p>\n
A few moments later, in the men\u2019s equivalent event, two men who hardly anyone predicted to be the top two American 200 butterflyers coming out of Nationals put together the best swims of their lives and, in their minds, validated their swimming careers.<\/p>\n
Justin Wright<\/strong> openly questioned whether he should still be swimming after completing his college career at the University of Arizona with a disappointing fifth-place finish in the 200-yard fly at the NCAA championships.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kind of had a few doubts going into the summer,\u201d Wright said. \u201cMost of my friends were retiring at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, Wright put together the most balanced race in the men\u2019s 200 fly A-final and won his first national title. He was seventh after 50 meters, seventh after 100 and fifth after 150. But he split 29.61 on the way home, a half-second faster than anyone else in the field, to get past pre-race favorite Jack Conger<\/strong> and the entire field to secure his spot at Pan Pacs.<\/p>\n
In his post-race television interview, Wright shouted out his coaches\u2014Arizona head coach Augie<\/strong> Busch<\/strong>, his personal coach Beth Botsford<\/strong> and the entire first-year Wildcats coaching staff\u2014as the key reason behind his breakthrough. And he shared one particular advice he got from them.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018If you\u2019ve got a secret sauce, you\u2019ve got to fully develop it, and in that part of the race, you\u2019ve got to make sure that no one can beat you in it,\u2019\u201d Wright recalled. \u201cI\u2019ve just been working on a lot of bulky fly sets\u2014I mean really bulky fly sets\u2014and making sure I can get home fast.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
On the last 50, Wright admitted, \u201cI was peaking a lot at Jack, just trying to swing my arms as fast as I can.\u201d It worked.<\/p>\n
Wright hit the wall and smashed the water\u2014but his celebration paled in comparison to the man in lane two, Zach<\/strong> Harting<\/strong>, and that of his Louisville team, parked in front of the spectator bleachers on the far side of the pool.<\/p>\n
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After…. #TheDarkKnightRises<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/y8Mo9l9cJi<\/a><\/p>\n
— Louisville Swim & Dive (@LouisvilleSD) July 26, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n