ORLANDO, Florida, March 21. ANDREW Seliskar came late to the party at the 2014 NCSA short course junior nationals, racing only in the final two days of the meet. But he\u2019s making it count with two top-seeded efforts this morning in the 200 breast and 100 fly, and a runner-up time in the 100 back.<\/p>\n
Seliskar, representing Nation\u2019s Capital, qualified first in the 200 breast with a personal best 1:54.32, beating his best by a half second. He\u2019ll need a bigger drop tonight to take down Kevin Cordes\u2019 national age group record in the 17-18 group, which stands at 1:53.55. Seliskar was the class of the field in prelims, beating second qualifier Shane McNamara of Empire Swimming by four seconds. McNamara posted a lifetime best 1:58.21, while 100 breast winner Carsten Vissering of Nation\u2019s Capital qualified third with a 1:58.39.<\/p>\n
Seliskar returned in the 100 fly with a top-seeded time of 47.06, posting another lifetime best by seven tenths of a second. He\u2019ll have a little more competition in this event, with 14-year-old pro swimmer Michael Andrew hot on his heels with a 47.66 for the second seed. Andrew will be chasing his national age group mark of 47.47 in tonight\u2019s finals. Gunnar Bentz of Dynamo Swim Club took the third spot in prelims with a 47.99.<\/p>\n
Baylor\u2019s Luke Kaliszak managed to post the fastest time of the morning in the men\u2019s 100 back with a personal best 46.93, his first time under 47 seconds. Seliskar nearly cracked 47 as well with a personal best 47.09, while Andrew qualified third in 48.27, just off his national age group mark of 48.10.<\/p>\n
In the other men\u2019s event of the day, Tristan Sanders of Palm Harbor YMCA will be looking to add another title to his 200 back win from Wednesday. He swam a 44.21 to lead qualifiers to lower his lifetime best by a half second. James Jones of Nation\u2019s Capital, who was a key leg in his team\u2019s 400 free relay victory last night, was the second-fastest qualifier with a 44.50, dropping his personal best by three tenths. Townley Haas has already won the 200, 500 and 1000 freestyles this week, and will be looking for an unprecedented winning streak after qualifying third with a 44.57. After a 43.97 to lead off Nova of Virginia\u2019s relay last night, Haas looks to be the favorite for a fourth win tonight.<\/p>\n
On the women\u2019s side, several swimmers will be looking to grab their first victories of the meet. Elizabeth Nelson will try to hold off Nation\u2019s Capital\u2019s Janet Hu in the 100 backstroke. Nelson posted a 2.94 in prelims to Hu\u2019s 52.95. It was a drop of two tenths off Nelson\u2019s lifetime best, while Hu has a 52.35 to her credit. Zoe Avestruz will be looking to continue the Aquajets legacy of backstrokers that began with Rachel Bootsma, qualifying third with a 53.15. Her lifetime best is 52.09, so she could find herself at the top of the award podium tonight.<\/p>\n
Nelson and Hu will battle again in the 100 butterfly, where Hu is the top qualifier with a 52.72 in prelims. Nelson swam a 53.49 for the second spot, tying with Saint Andrew\u2019s Megan Moroney. Also under 54 seconds in prelims was Paige Maynard (53.93) and Cassidy Bayer (53.99). <\/p>\n
Sydney Lofquist will be looking to earn her first win after qualifying first in the 500 free with a 4:46.16, just ahead of the 4:46.73 posted by Barrington\u2019s Kirsten Jacobsen and the 4:46.87 by Nation\u2019s Capital\u2019s Megan Byrnes. Isabella Rongione, the co-champion in the 1000 free, qualified fourth with a 4:47.21.<\/p>\n
After placing second in the 100 breaststroke, Riley Scott of Marin Pirates is looking for a win in the 200, posting a 2:12.19 that tied her lifetime best to lead qualifiers. Pauline Kaminski of Academy Bullets makes her first championship final of the meet with a 2:14.74 that is just five tenths slower than her best time. Katherine Drabot, the winner of last night\u2019s 400 IM who used a strong breaststroke to take that title, qualified third with a 2:14.87. She\u2019s got a 2:11.07 as a lifetime best.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ORLANDO, Florida, March 21. ANDREW Seliskar came late to the party at the 2014 NCSA short course junior nationals, racing only in the final two days of the meet. But<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":51701,"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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[54067,28442,28412,33342,4837,26467,32,28366,25405,31089,26466,33450,25176,28894,28870,20953,25426,33449,25824,33290,189,33560,33350,33559,17270,1041,26643,33341,5477,33561,24693,87,142,30397,3798,33349,543,33558],"class_list":["post-52021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-usa","tag-2014-ncsa-junior-nationals","tag-bayer-aktiengesellschaft","tag-carsten-vissering","tag-cassidy-bayer","tag-dynamo-swim-club","tag-elizabeth-nelson","tag-florida","tag-gunnar-bentz","tag-isabella-rongione","tag-james-jones","tag-janet-hu","tag-katherine-drabot","tag-kevin-cordes","tag-kirsten-jacobsen","tag-luke-kaliszak","tag-marin-pirates","tag-megan-byrnes","tag-megan-moroney","tag-michael-andrew","tag-nations-capital","tag-orlando","tag-paige-maynard","tag-palm","tag-pauline-kaminski","tag-pro-swimmer","tag-qualifier","tag-rachel-bootsma","tag-riley-scott","tag-second-qualifier","tag-shane-mcnamara","tag-sports","tag-swimmer","tag-swimming","tag-sydney-lofquist","tag-top-qualifier","tag-tristan-sanders","tag-virginia","tag-zoe-avestruz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n