YMCA Short Course Nationals kicked off this morning at Greensboro Aquatic Center in North Carolina.
Check out our meet preview here
Georgia signee Courtney Weaver took the top seed in the 100 fly, knocking well over half a second off her lifetime-best to go 52.51. The Greater Flint swimmer is the clear-cut favorite, leading the heat by almost two seconds, but some big names will vie for second behind her: Remedy Rule (54.31) of Waynesboro, Middle Tyger’s Katrina Konopka (54.47) and Jessi Snover (54.69) plus York’s Niki Price (54.85).
Brent Benedict of Pennsylvania’s Corry YMCA leads the boys 100 fly. The 17-year-old went 48.84 to nip Schroeder’s Nick Peterson for the top spot by .06. Peterson went 48.90, and three more boys (Tommy Kealy, Bryce Keblish and Brad Oberg) follow, all within .05 of one another.
Sarasota’s Bethany Leap is the top seed in the girls 200 breast. The 17-year-old was just off her YMCA national record from 2013, going 2:12.26 (the record stands at 2:11.85). Close behind is Middle Tyger’s Savanna Faulconer, who went 2:12.70, taking six tenths off her seed time.
17-year-old Jonathan Rutter of Powel Crosley held his top incoming seed in the boys 200 breast. He went 1:58.94, but will have to deal with two other swimmers who cracked 2:00 in the preliminaries. Zack Warner went 1:59.28 for Somerset Valley, a full eight tenths faster than his seed. In addition, Conner McHugh of Door County YMCA in Wisconsin went 1:59.53, and should have some more room to drop tonight, considering he was a half-second off his seed.
Seeded third in the 100 fly, Middle Tyger’s Katrina Konopka is the top 50 free seed coming out of prelims, putting up a 22.88 in the morning. Konopka, 16, was the only swimmer under 23 at prelims, though Somerset Valley’s Holly Christensen was right on the edge at 23.09 after cutting a few tenths off her seed.
Springfield’s Ryan Held sits atop the boys 50. The future NC State Wolfpack member went 20.13, and look for him to crack 20 tonight. Brad Zdroik sits second at 20.53 and Sebastian Lutz cut a half-second off his seed to rise to third in the morning.
York County YMCA leads the girls 200 free relay, the final event of prelims. Anchor Meghan Small did the best work this morning, splitting 22.6 to bring the team home in an overall time of 1:32.78. Courtney Harnish went 23.50 on the leadoff leg, and the middle of the relay was made up of Niki Price (23.01) and Emily Ilgenfritz (23.6).
Somerset Valley is second in 1:34.23, thanks to a 22.8 split from Katrina Kuhn. Middle Tyger sits close behind, going 1:34.48 this morning with a 22.9 anchor leg from Katrina Konopka.
Springfield leads the boys relay, thanks to Ryan Held‘s by 20.14 leadoff leg. The Illinois team also got a 20.6 from Brenton Wilkey and a 20.8 from Stuart Hohm. Weston Stephens split 21.5 for the relay, bringing the team time to 1:23.11.
Wilton Family YMCA is just a few tenths behind in 1:23.43. Dan Krentsa and Tommy Kealy were both 20.7 this morning, with Maxwell Dolan throwing in a 20.8. Leadoff man Hugo Sykes went 21.22.
Boyertown sits third in 1:23.75, and they’ve got a pair of 20.6 seeds on their crew, thanks to Dillon Lancenese and Ryan Owens.
Finals begin at 5:45 Eastern Time tonight and will include the same event order, plus the final heats of the boys and girls 1000 frees.
Full results are available on Meet Mobile under “2014 YMCA Nationals Short Course.”
Nooo nooo….