2015 Arena Pro Swim Series Santa Clara: Day Two Finals Live Recap

2015 ARENA PRO SWIM SERIES AT SANTA CLARA

WOMEN’S 200 FREESTYLE

This race was all Femke Heemskerk. The Dutch swimmer, who owns the world-leading time in this event this year, was out fast and never looked back, posting a solid 1:55.68 for the win. She now owns the 1st and 3rd fastest times in the world. 2nd place went to Katinka Hosszu in her first big race of the night, and Missy Franklin kicked off her night with a 1:57.02 to take third. That ranks Franklin 12th in the world, the 2nd fastest American behind Katie Ledecky.

Allison Schmitt touched in 4th (1:57.29), and Elizabeth Pelton was 5th in 1:58.30.

The B final was a hotly contested race in the middle of the pool, as Maya DiRado led most of the way. However, distance-oriented Cierra Runge held her speed through the final 50 and edged DiRado to the wall, posting a winning time of 1:59.50. DiRado was 2nd in 1:59.61 followed by Kennedy Goss in 2:00.11.

MEN’S 200 FREESTYLE

Michael Phelps was hungry for a win tonight in the 200 free, and he was right with Nikita Lobintsev the entire time. While Phelps’ underwaters were looking very powerful, Lobintsev kept ahead the further they got from the wall. Connor Jaeger had other ideas, though, and found another gear to push past them both for the win (1:48.66). Lobintsev took 2nd (1:48.86) while Phelps settled for third (1:49.03). Finishing after them were Kyle Whitaker (1:49.24), Clark Smith (1:49.35), and Matias Koski (1:49.42).

Anders Nielsen looked strong the whole way through the B final of this race. He threw down an impressive 1:49.27, followed closely by Maxime Rooney in 1:49.50. Third place went to Michael McBroom, the 800 free winner, with a time of 1:50.07.

WOMEN’S 100 BREASTSTROKE

Yulia Efimova took control of the race early and didn’t let go, nearly breaking 1:06 in the process. She touched in 1:06.13, followed by Jessica Hardy (1:07.53) with a nice drop from prelims, and Alia Atkinson (1:08.21). Efimova now holds the #2 and #3 times in the world this year.

2014-2015 LCM Women 100 Breast

RutaLTU
MEILUTYTE
06/06
1.05.46
2Yuliya
EFIMOVA
RUS1.05.6008/03
3Katie
MEILI
USA1.05.6407/17
4Alia
ATKINSON
JAM1.06.2108/03
5Jinglin
SHI
CHN1.06.2808/03
View Top 26»

Hilda Luthersdottir (1:08.40), Laura Sogar (1:08.88), and Fiona Doyle (1:08.94) all dipped under 1:09 as well.

The B final went to Auburn’s Annie Lazor, who finished with a time of 1:09.92.

MEN’S 100 BREASTSTROKE

Cody Miller got things cooking early in this race, touching out at 28.12 ahead of the entire field. He held his own in the 2nd 50 and charged to the wall in a 59.51, breaking his own personal best and putting him at #3 in the world rankings. That’s four whole tenths off of his best time. Miller’s consistency is going to be good for the U.S. in the future; the breaststroke ranks have not been too solid of late.

2014-2015 LCM Men 100 Breast

AdamGBR
PEATY
04/17
57.92WR
2Cameron
VAN DER BURGH
RSA58.4908/02
3Giedrius
TITENIS
LTU58.9608/02
4Ross
MURDOCH
GBR59.0908/03
5Felipe
FRANCA DA SILVA
BRA59.2107/17
View Top 26»

2nd place went to Brazil’s Felipe Lima (1:00.66) with a nice drop from prelims himself. Josh Prenot turned in a solid 1:01.21 for third, followed by a big swim by Michael Andrew (1:01.70).

Taking the B final was Carl Mickelson (1:02.81), just edging Wisconsin’s Nick Schaefer by three hundredths.

WOMEN’S 50 BACKSTROKE

Etiene Medeiros swam well this morning, but Natalie Coughlin absolutely zoomed this race, going a 27.51 to destroy her own personal best and break the American Record at the same time. She is now ranked 3rd in the world in that event. Medeiros would settle for third, as Rachel Bootsma was 2nd in 28.05. That American Record was previously held by her. Fernanda Gonzalez Ramirez of Mexico grabbed 4th place (28.86) and was the last swimmer to dip below 29 seconds. Medeiros still does own the world’s fastest time this year in this event.

2014-2015 LCM Women 50 Back

YuanhuiCHN
FU
08/06
27.11
2Etiene
MEDEIROS
BRA27.2608/06
3Emily
SEEBOHM
AUS27.4704/07
4Natalie
COUGHLIN
USA27.5106/19
5Xiang
LU
CHN27.5808/06
View Top 26»

Ali DeLoof, who nearly made the World Champs team for the U.S. in the 5o back, grabbed the B final win with a quick 28.97 out of lane 8. Guatemala’s Gisela Morales touched 2nd in 29.14.

MEN’S 50 BACKSTROKE

Junya Koga (25.02) was off of his morning time, but still came through with the win. 2nd was Russian Vlad Morozov (25.19) and 3rd was David Plummer (25.33) of NYAC. Matt Grevers touched 4th (25.35) and Ryan Murphy settled for 5th (25.61), tying with Nick Thoman (25.61). Not a super strong showing for the American backstrokers, but they’ll all try their hand at the 100 later on this weekend.

Young gun Michael Andrew finished first in the B final of this event with a new personal best of 25.72.

WOMEN’S 100 BUTTERFLY

Daynara De Paula had what it took to separate from the tight field in the end, winning in 58.98. 2nd place went to prelims leader Farida Osman (59.05) and Felicia Lee grabbed third (59.51). Hellen Moffitt is starting to make a name for herself, this being the first time getting under the minute barrier (59.52), and she really got under it. She placed 4th; look out for her to make some waves over the next couple years if she can continue to improve like this. 16 year old Lauren Case almost hit her time from Summer Jr Nationals last year for 6th (59.84) behind Kelly Naze (59.69).

Taking the B final was Hang Yu Sze of Hong Kong, winning it in 1:00.79.

MEN’S 100 BUTTERFLY

Giles Smith looked so strong the whole race, but it was Tom Shields who took the win in 52.22 by five hundredths over Smith. Following up behind them were Henrique Martins (52.56) and Santiago Grassi (52.71), the only other swimmers to break 53 seconds.

Geoff Cheah of Hong Kong took the B final in 53.73, edging David Nolan by one hundredth.

WOMEN’S 400 IM

The Iron Lady Katinka Hosszu couldn’t beat her swim from this morning, but we’re not going to hold anything against her. Her 4:34.04 was still a top-5 time in the world, and she won the race by over five seconds. Caitlin Leverenz fought with Canadian 17-year-old Emily Overholt for 2nd, but it was Overholt who ended up on top in 4:39.47 to Leverenz’ 4:39.55. With this being the last stop on the Arena Pro Swim Series, it looks like no other American female will surpass Leverenz in the race for the BMW.

4th place went to Becca Mann (4:42.10) and 5th to Madisyn Cox (4:45.11), each swimming a couple seconds faster than their morning races. Lindsey Clary, who dropped four seconds from her personal best in prelims, lopped off another 1.13 seconds to place 6th (4:46.46).

Hannah Moore topped the field in the B final with a time of 4:50.19, winning by a comfortable margin.

MEN’S 400 IM

Tyler Clary built himself a huge lead going into the breaststroke of this race, as he was out by around four seconds at the half. You can never count out an IM’er with a good breaststroke leg, and Gunnar Bentz and Max Williamson have some KILLER breaststroke legs. The two collegiate swimmers reeled in Clary on the breaststroke, and blew by him in the last 25 meters. Bentz won it in 4:17.73 to Williamson’s 4:18.22, and Clary settled for third (4:20.54). Michael Weiss grabbed 4th (4:23.55), followed closely by 19-year-olds Kei Hyogo (4:23.76) and Curtis Ogren (4:23.96).

Connor Green got out to a huge lead after the backstroke, but it was the late charge from Tristan Cote for the win in the B final (4:24.14). Michael Meyer also got there ahead of Green, touching in 4:24.19, followed then by Green in 4:24.3

 

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carlo
8 years ago

TM, Cody miller took additional dolphin kicks in the breastroke. If the officials are more vigilant at the world championships, he could be disqualified

Without the additional dolphin kicks at the start, Cody miller would have swum a time of around 1:00 minute flat.

Tm
8 years ago

I watched the meet on DVR, glad USN
showed it. Here are my thoughts:
Heemskerk is the favorite in the 200 free and only Ledecky can stop her. Missy I am afraid won’t be a factor in either freestyle events.
Jaeger will be a good option for the 4 x 2 free relay and the us team need a good closer.
Cody Miller could be a better option than dq Kevin in the breast stroke leg in the medley relay. I don’t think he will touch peaty but I see him on the podium in the 100 breast.
Coughlin amazing, what can u say about her other than usa swimming should send her to Kazan… Read more »

weirdo
Reply to  Tm
8 years ago

I guess you didn’t follow Cody in college at IU. It seemed he would always get DQd at conference and/or at ncaa’s for something. I think Kevin is even less risky for a dq.

Not sure about Missy. She might be in hard training or it might be the ‘going pro’ process and doing all that might have given her a slower start? time will tell

Rishabh Meswani
8 years ago

Phelps went 1:48:20 at the 2014 Santa Clara Grand Prix. And at Pan Pacs, he was able to drop to a 1:46:08 in the relay as the third leg (so probably 1:46:70) on a flat start.

Considering he’s put in more work in this year, I think we can definitely expect a high 1:45 at US Nationals.

Justin Thompson
Reply to  Rishabh Meswani
8 years ago

My thoughts exactly. We have to take he and Bowman at their word that they are putting in significantly more work and if that is the case then I can see a 1:45 at Nationals. My hope is that he’s starting to acclimate to the higher work load and a month training at altitude before Nationals will set him up well.

Looking forward to his 200m fly tomorrow. It would be great if he could drop a couple of seconds from his Charlotte time in that event as well.

liquidassets
8 years ago

Tom, I will! That wasn’t the only race where Rowdy blathered on and on about random stuff and failed his duty to call the race. Then he nonchalantly checked in the last 15 seconds after Bentz, and Williamson had already passed Clary. Plus, I’m at the gym and it’s loud in here, but did I actually hear Phelps say he could have broken 4:00 if he’d done some things differently? If so, sorry GOAT, we love you but you did 4:03.8 in a part-rubber suit; not even the equivalent of Lochte’s 4:05 in textile. Focus on the events you got left and give it a rest!!

Justin Thompson
Reply to  liquidassets
8 years ago

Relax a bit. The GOAT mentioned going below 4:00 before the race even started and he did give Ryan props for the 4:05 in London. To their credit they had the greatest 400 im’er in history commenting during the 400IM about the 400IM.

For those in the race yeah it would be nice if they commented on the race, but maybe they’ll clean that up for the TV broadcast. Phelps also complimented Bentz and I’ll bet that means more to him than a play by play.

floppy
8 years ago

Whitaker and C Smith… great freestyles, should be an even better 200 fly this weekend.

Tom
8 years ago

Can someone tell Randy and Phelps their ‘commentary’ was extremely disrespectful to the competing swimmers?

bobthebuilderrocks
Reply to  Tom
8 years ago

What happened? I stopped watching the stream.

Justin Thompson
Reply to  Tom
8 years ago

I must have missed that. Who’s Randy and what happened?

Markster
Reply to  Tom
8 years ago

I personally didn’t have any problem with their commentary. They did talk only a little bit about Clary and Bentz throughout the race. But overall, I found the change of topics quite refreshing. Interesting to hear their opinions on the future of Team USA.

Tom
Reply to  Tom
8 years ago

I don’t know …perhaps I overacted. They did not talk about swimmers swimming the race until very end of the race. They talked about how great Phelps best 400 IM time was.

IR
Reply to  Tom
8 years ago

That’s typical of literally all Rowdy’s commentary. I’ve seen women’s races where he talks about Phelps for 75% of the race.

Steve-O Nolan
8 years ago

Can shut it down after Cody Miller and Natalie Coughlin, those are two swims I did naaaaaaht expect. WHOOP GOOD MEET.

Tim
8 years ago

52.22, not a blazing swim for Shields, but man am I happy to see him die hard on the last 15m! Last year that’s what I saw the few times I got to watch him swim–great first 85, then hitting that wall and really struggling hard on the last 15m. This time around, a much more solid swim, although Smith would’ve gotten it if he hadn’t tightened up as much.

Looking forward to seeing what Shields has in the bag for Worlds!

Tim
Reply to  Tim
8 years ago

*see him *not* die hard on the last 15m…

Gina Rhinestone
Reply to  Tim
8 years ago

I am waiting for someone to have been ‘passed on ‘ in the last lap. I know we are not supposed to find them funny , but ‘dead in the water ‘ , ‘dying on the last 15m ‘ etc are indeed.

About Karl Ortegon

Karl Ortegon

Karl Ortegon studied sociology at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, graduating in May of 2018. He began swimming on a club team in first grade and swam four years for Wesleyan.

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