2015 Arena Pro Swim Series Mesa: Day 3 Finals Live Recap

2015 ARENA PRO SWIM SERIES AT MESA

• Wednesday, April 15 – Saturday, April 18
• Skyline Aquatic Center, Mesa, AZ
• Psych Sheets (as of 4/15/15)
• Day 3 Prelims Recap
• Friday PM Heat Sheet
• Live stream
• Live results from Omega
  • Or search “2015 Arena Pro Swim Series – Mesa” on Meet Mobile

Lots of stacked events tonight, but perhaps the two biggest will be the men’s 100 back, and the women’s 400 free.  In the former, David Plummer will look to hold off Olympians Arkady Vyatchanin, Matt Grevers, and Ryan Lochte.  This morning Katie Ledecky threw down a 4:02.67.  Not only did that time tie Michael Phelps’s time from this morning (he’s not swimming finals tonight, by the way), but that was also faster than her prelims time at Pan Pacs last summer, where she went on to break the world record in finals.

Women’s 200 Butterfly – FINALS

Cammile Adams ran down Katie McLaughlin in the final 50 to win with a time of 2:08.80 to 2:08.86.  Top seed Katinka Hosszu swam a little over a second slower than this morning to finish third (2:11.83).  Maya DiRado and Caitlin Leverenz dropped time from this morning to finish fourth (2:11.91) and fifth (2:11.93). Kelsi Worrell, winner of the 100 fly last night, finished sixth with a personal best of 2:12.42.

The B-final went to Vien Nguyen, who swim almost two seconds faster than this morning to take the win with 2:14.90.

Men’s 200 Butterfly – FINALS

Louis Croenen of Belgium dropped over two seconds from this morning to beat out Tyler Clary, 1:59.61 to 2:00.23.  In third was 17 year-old Grant Shoults, just behind Clary with 2:00.25.  Alexandru Coci was the only other swimmer in the A-final to break 2:01, touching in 2:00.87.

Zheng Wen Quah, who represents Singapore internationally, won the B-final with a time of 2:00.27.  Tom Shields, who will swim this event at Kazan this summer for the US men, came in second with a 2:01.46.

Women’s 50 Freestyle – FINALS

Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace was not quite as fast as this morning, but still defended her top seed, placing first with a time of 24.84.  She was followed by Simone Manuel (24.98), Natalie Coughlin (25.15), and Abbey Weitzeil (25.28).

Minutes after swimming the 200 fly, Kelsi Worrell won the B-final of this event by swimming a 25.27, a time that would have placed fourth in the A-final.  That’s two lifetime bests, in two very different events, in less than twenty minutes.  Finishing second in the heat was Lia Neal with a time of 25.74.

Men’s 50 Freestyle – FINALS

While Josh Schneider might be a coach, he’s not done as a swimmer, and won the A-final by .01 in a time of 22.52.  Just behind him was Renzo Tjon A Joe, with Jasper Aerents finishing third in 22.58.

SwimMAC’s Mark Weber took the B-final with a time of 23.20.  In second was 16 year-old Ryan Hoffer, who set a new personal best with a 23.21.  That swims moves him to eighth all-time in the 15-16 age group, just ahead of Brett Ringgold.

Women’s 100 Backstroke – FINALS

Hosszu won her second event of the meet, beating out Kirsty Coventry 1:00.72 to 1:00.89.  Iryna Glavnyrk came in third with a time of 1:01.84.  Taylor Ruck took the B-final with a 1:02.16.

Men’s 100 Backstroke – FINALS

One year later, not much changed.  The same three men who finished 1-2-3 in the 2014 of this event finished in the same order this year.  Placing first once again was Arkady Vyatchanin.  His time of 53.84 tonight was over half a second faster than his winning time last year.  In second was Matt Grevers, whose time of 54.23 was also faster than his time last year.  Placing third was David Plummer in a time of 54.45, far faster than his 55.85 last year.

The American record holder in the yards version of this event, Nick Thoman, easily won the B-final in 56.14.  Paul Le was the only other swimmer to break 57, finishing with a 56.97.

Women’s 200 Breaststroke – FINALS

Breeja Larson dropped almost three seconds from her time this morning to win the A-final in 2:27.82.  Larson and Katie Meili swam neck-and-neck for most of the race, with Meili finishing second in a new personal best of 2:28.53.  Micah Lawrence closed on the leaders in the final meters of the race, but ultimately placed third in 2:28.73.  Alia Atkinson won the B-final with a 2:32.29.

Men’s 200 Breaststroke – FINALS

Venezuelan record-holder Carlos Claverie completed the breaststroke sweep for this meet, taking the A-final in 2:14.31.  Claverie finished over two seconds ahead of his nearest competition, with Carl Mickelson placing second in 2:16.56, and BJ Johnson placing third in 2:17.63.

In the B-final Mike Alexandrov went out hard and never looked back.  He had almost a body length lead at the 50, and held that to win with a 2:17.50.

Women’s 400 Freestyle – FINALS

Katie Ledecky went out under world record pace in the opening 100, but ended up having to “settle” for “only” a 4:01.95.  That’s still the second-fastest time in the world this year, with Ledecky’s swim at the Austin Pro Series in January still standing as the fastest.  NBAC teammates Lotte Friis and Allison Schmidt placed second and third, finishing 4:10.34 and 4:13.21, respectively.  Hosszu, swimming her third event of the night in under 80 minutes, placed sixth with a 4:17.45.  Patricia Castro Ortega won the B-final in 4:16.75.

Men’s 400 Freestyle – FINALS

Conor Dwyer shot out to an early lead, but Michael McBroom overtook him in the second 100, with those two setting the pace way ahead of the rest of the field.  McBroom ultimately won in 3:50.38, with Dwyer finishing second in 3:51.87.  The rest of the field was well off the top two, with Michael Klueh’s 3:54.99 the only other swim under 3:55.

Continuing what seemed to be a theme of the night, Ryan Lochte went out hard in the B-final, was actually under world record pace early on, and was in first as late as the 350 mark, before getting run down the final 50 meters and fading to fourth with a 4:01.26.  Instead, the heat went to Nezir Karap, won overtook Lochte to win in 3:59.80