Zane Grothe Leads 400 Free at Summer Nationals Prelims

Photo Courtesy: Griffin Scott

Zane Grothe exhibited his distance pedigree this morning in winning the 400-meter free prelims at Summer Nationals. The Auburn Record-holder and former SEC Champion posted a 3:48.93 in the morning session to lead the pack heading into finals. Clark Smith finished right behind Grothe with a 3:49.05. Smith actually held a slight advantage on Grothe at the 200-meter mark, but Grothe managed a faster second half than Smith.

NOVA phenom Townley Haas made it a tight top three with his 3:49.38. Haas dropped nearly three seconds from his seed time and jumped six spots to land in the top three. Nicholas Sweetser (3:49.57) and Matthew Hutchins (3:50.97) followed Haas to take fourth and fifth, respectively. Jonathan Roberts (3:51.23), Bobby Hurley (3:51.88), and Frank Dyer (3:52.58) all qualified for the final heat this evening.

Chris Wieser finished just outside the top eight to qualify first in the consolation final with a 3:52.65. He holds nearly a two-second cushion over tenth-place finisher Matthew Hirschberger, a 16-year old from Nation’s Capital who clocked a 3:54.23. Danny Thomson (3:54.28) and CJ Smith (2:54.28) took 11^th and 12^th, respectively. Liam Egan posted a 3:54.37 to get 13^th. The event’s top seed heading into the meet, Ryan Feeley, fell all the way to 14^th with a 3:54.77, a near five-second add. Ty Fowler (3:55.19) and Isaac Jones (3:55.23) rounded out the top 16.

2015 USA Swimming Long Course Summer Nationals: Live Results – Results

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