2015 U.S. Nationals: Conger Scratches 200 Free; Vyatchanin Out of Back

2015 U.S. National Championships

There was nary a scratch in the women’s meet after the morning session of Day Two at U.S. Nationals. Top seed Claire Adams of Carmel Swim Club (1:00.08) will lead the women’s 100m backstroke field, flanked by Team Wales’ Georgia Davies (1:00.11) and Ali Deloof of Club Wolverine (1:00.35).

In the 200m freestyle, Allison Schmitt of North Baltimore Aquatic Club (1:58.12), the American and U.S. Open record-holder in the event, will occupy lane 4 in the championship final. Athens Bulldog Swim Club’s Hali Flickinger (1:58.54) and Sarah Henry of Aggie Swim Club (1:59.42) will challenge Schmitt for the 2015 U.S. National title.

In the men’s 200m freestyle, however, Jack Conger, who improved his lifetime-best by .85 seconds in prelims to lead the field with 1:47.62, has pulled out of the final. Conger also went a personal best 1:56.19 in the 200m butterfly in prelims and has chosen only to swim that event again in tonight’s championship. Conger dropped 1.05 seconds swimming against Michael Phelps in the penultimate heat of the men’s 200 fly, and while he touched the wall 1.04 seconds behind Phelps, Conger outsplit him by .37 over the second half. Conger is likely forgoing the opportunity to be crowned national champion in the 200 free in order to have a crack at beating Phelps in his signature race.

Similarly, Mission Viejo’s Grant Shoults gave up his spot in the B final of the men’s 200m freestyle to concentrate on the 200m butterfly. Shoults dropped .77 to cross the 1:50 barrier for the first time, swimming a 1:49.33 in prelims of the 200 free. Seeded third in the C final of the men’s 200 fly, Shoults has an opportunity to earn the 18-and-Under title in the event if he nails his evening swim.

Moving up to the championship final of the men’s 200m freestyle, then, is Zane Grothe of Badger Swim Club, last night’s 400m freestyle champion. PJ Dunne of Longhorn Aquatics and Matthew Josa of SwimMAC Carolina both move out of the alternate slots to take lanes 1 and 8, respectively, in the consolation final tonight.

While the heat sheet says Arkady Vyatchanin of New York Athletic Club is slated to swim in lane 6 of the championship final of the men’s 100m backstroke, SwimSwam has learned that Vyatchanin is having shoulder pain and has pulled out of the rest of the meet. That would move Palo Alto Stanford’s Eugene Godsoe into lane 8 of the championship final and Greenwood Memorial’s Ryan Harty into the consolation. Otherwise, Junya Koga of Club Wolverine, who put up the top qualifying time this morning (53.63), will be present in lane 4 of the championship final, flanked by Nick Thoman of Tucson Ford (54.03) and Luke Kaliszak of University of Alabama (54.32).

The men’s 200m butterfly final is set to go with all 16 qualifiers, led by Phelps of North Baltimore (1:55.15), Conger and Pace Clark of Athens Bulldog Swim Club (1:59.39).

You can find the complete heat sheet for Day Two finals here.

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Lane Four
8 years ago

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About Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant is the mother of four daughters, all of whom swam in college. With an undergraduate degree from Princeton (where she was an all-Ivy tennis player) and an MBA from INSEAD, she worked for many years in the financial industry, both in France and the U.S. Anne is currently …

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