Missy Franklin Looks Healthy in Two-Win Session; Pawel Werner Impresses Gregg Troy at All-Florida Invite

While the men’s meet on day 2 of the 2014 All-Florida Invitational was another Gator romp, the women’s meet was comparatively wide open when posed next to Friday’s finals session that saw the University of Florida take 4 of 5 events.

Team scores after Saturday:

Women

1. Florida – 720
2. Cal – 590
3. Florida Gulf Coast – 472
4. Florida State – 460
5. Miami – 270
6. Nova Southeastern – 114
7. North Florida – 68

Men

1. Florida – 960
2. Florida State – 646
3. Nova Southeastern – 468

Remember that a maximum of two swimmers (women’s meet) and three swimmers (men’s meet) were eligible to race int he A-Final, and there were no prelims for relays.

Women’s Meet

In the session-opening 200 medley relay, the speed-heavy Florida State Seminoles took an early victory, by a half-second, in the 200 medley relay, swimming a 1:40.91.

The relay foursome featured Bianca Spinazzola (25.86), Natalie Pierce (28.55), Chelsea Britt (24.33), and Kaitlyn Dressel (22.17). The bookends to the relay are names that people know (in part because they’re from very good swimming families), but the middle two legs are pushing their way into that conversation as well. Pierce, just a freshman, out-split everyone in that relay on the breaststroke leg, and Britt, who might be the best under-the-radar swimmer in the country, held her own as well swimming fly.

Cal’s relay, which might have been the best in the country last year despite being DQ’ed in prelims, was 2nd here in 1:41.46. That included a 23.89 fly split from Noemie Thomas, who has risen to the challenge for the Golden Bears this weekend. As a whole, it’s been an up-and-down two days for Cal, but the young freshmen are performing well.

Florida was 3rd in 1:41.49, with Natalie Hinds anchoring them in 21.82 – an NCAA-worthy split, though it’s only October. Florida Gulf Coast’s A relay was 4th in 1:41.59 with a 23.54 fly split from senior All-American Emma Svensson – the fastest of the field. FGCU’s B relay had a 28.67 breaststroke split, that if subbed in onto their A relay would have easily moved them up to 2nd.

Cal had one of their high points in the first individual event of the night: the 400 IM. There, the team went 1-2 in the A-final and won the B-Final for the three fastest times overall.

Kelly Naze swam a 4:17.80 to take 1st place, with teammate Liz Pelton placing 2nd in 4:18.66. Pelton was about three seconds faster on this same weekend last season, though that was in a very different scenario, much closer to home, and in a dual meet.

In the B-Final, Celina Li, the best 400 IM’er in the field, swam a 4:17.79 to finish 9th, despite having the best time all-told.

The fastest non-Cal swimmer was Florida’s Jess Thielmann in 4:21.95.

Natalie Hinds came back with another fantastic swim in the women’s 100 fly, as did Noemie Thomas, two of the standouts from the medley relay earlier. Hinds held a lead basically the entire race, and with a final push on the last 25 yards was able to win in 53.44. Thomas took 2nd in 53.82, and both of the top two hit NCAA “B” standards.

Florida State’s Chelsea Britt had another very good swim as well with a 55.08 for 3rd. Miami’s Angela Algee was 4th in 55.40, and Cal freshman Jasmine Mau placed 5th in 55.66.

Missy Franklin continues to get better-and-better as this meet goes on. She won the women’s 200 free and ran away from the field in the process, swimming a 1:46.37.

Franklin’s splits showed the growing confidence in her back, where spasms plagued her at Pan Pacs this summer.

  1. 24.60
  2. 26.84
  3. 27.46
  4. 27.47

She attacked this swim early, splitting a second better than the field, but didn’t fade much on the back-half.

The victory was overwhelming: Franklin won in 1:46.37. Her teammate Camille Cheng was the next-closest swimmer in 1:49.42.

Kaitlyn Dressel was 3rd for Florida State in 1:50.04, and Lindsey McKnight rose again for Florida, as she’s done all weekend, with a 1:50.43 for 4th.

Franklin would win again two events later, topping the 100 backstroke in 54.05. She wasn’t the big news in that race, however. With all of the All-American backstrokers present at this meet (Toussaint, Klaren, Pelton, Bootsma, Svensson), it was Florida’s Natalie Hinds who took 2nd in 54.67. Hinds is not a total unknown in the backstrokes (she swam a 53.7 at the Ohio State Invite last year), but a time this good, this early in the season is one more indicator of how well she’s swimming overall through three total days of racing this season.

“She’s never been much of a backstroker, but her racing (Cal’s) Missy Franklin close is a real good thing,” said her head coach Gregg Troy.

FGCU’s Toussaint took 3rd in 54.83, and Klaren was 4th in 55.35. Liz Pelton won the B-Final in 54.91.

The freshman Natalie Pierce backed up her split on the medley relay by winning the individual 100 breaststroke in a hard-fought battle over McKnight. McKnight jumped out to the early lead, but Pierce was strong on the back-half to win in 1:03.66. McKnight took 2nd in 1:03.83.

Florida Gulf Coast’s Evita Leter took 3rd in 1:04.33. She was the swimmer on the B-medley for FGCU who could’ve made a difference in that earlier event, and she backed that up again by beating her freshman teammate Katie Armitage (7th – 1:05.56).

Cal’s top finisher was Celina Li in 1:04.84, followed by her teammate Marina Garcia (1:04.99). Garcia still hasn’t quite hit the lofty expectations of her when she came to Cal from Spain before last year, but she’s an important piece to the Golden Bears’ NCAA title hopes.

Cal’s 3rd finalist was freshman Maija Roses, who took 11th in 1:06.41.

The Cal women finished the session with a victory in the 800 free relay, swimming a 7:20.65. Caroline Piehl (1:50.86), Catherine Breed (1:49.75), Cierra Runge (1:50.02), and Camille Cheng (1:50.02) combined for the victory over Florida’s 7:23.60 (nobody else was close). Cal has still not used Missy Franklin on a relay yet at this meet.

Florida’s relay was Jess ThielmannNatalie HindsLindsey McKnight, and Ashlee Linn, in cluding a 1:49.52 from McKnight (the fastest in the field). That’s significant, because the last three of those swimmers have been on every Florida relay so far in this meet. That works in a format with unlimited entries like this meet, but will be an unlikely strategy when NCAA’s roll around. Florida needs to find more depth between now and then.

Men’s Meet

On the men’s side, the most impressive swimmer of the day was Pawel Werner, at least if you ask Florida head coach Gregg Troy.

“Pawel Werner was really impressive today,” Troy said. “After his shoulder surgery a year ago, we are finally starting to see the same guy we saw a couple years ago. He’s been very, very, very consistent.”

Florida graduated a big class last year, and though they’re winning a lot, that’s showed a little this weekend with Dan Wallace still suspended. As Troy alluded to, Werner had a tough championship season last year, having still not fully come around after surgery, but this year the Gators will count on him to be a focal point.

He came through in the 200 free where a 1:37.08 gave him the win, an NCAA “B” cut, and the fastest time in the country so far in the 2014-2015 season. There, he beat out teammates Mitch D’Arrigo (1:38.15) and Nick Alexiou (1:38.51). Alexiou is making his debut for Florida at this meet after sitting out last year following a transfer from Virginia.

The top non-Gator in the race was Florida State’s Kevin Rogers, who placed 4th in 1:40.77.

It’s not a surprise given their 1-2-3 finish in the individual 200 free, but the Florida men rolled in the 800 free relay. Their “A” swam a 6:35.42 for the win and the “B” was 6:39.39 for 2nd. The top splits there included Corey Main going 1:37.30 on a rolling start, Werner going 1:37.74, and D’Arrigo going 1:37.97. Caeleb Dressel also flat-started a 1:38.2 on a leadoff for the winning relay.

Florida also went 1-2 in the session-opening 200 medley relay. The A swam a 1:28.61, while the B was 1:29.80. Aside from the backstroke legs (where Main was a 22.27) and the freestyle legs (where Dressel was a 19.82), these were closely-matched groups.

Florida State placed 3rd in 1:31.78, which included a 21.55 from Cole Hensley on the fly leg.

While there were some close finishes on Friday, the men’s 400 IM wasn’t one of them. Matt Elliott stormed his way to a 3:51.04 victory in the men’s 400 IM. That put him 10 seconds ahead of runner-up and teammate Carlos Omana (4:01.49). Eduardo Solaeche-Gomez scratched out of the final after being the third qualifier in prelims.

Elliott took a 2nd win two races later in the 100 breaststroke, swimming a 54.72 to beat out Florida State’s Jason Coombs (54.97). After the meet, Troy lauded Elliott’s experience, saying that the team was expecting better consistency out of him this season.

Caeleb Dressel got his first individual win as a college swimmer by going a 47.74 in the men’s 100 fly final. He beat out Nova Southeastern freshman Thiago Sickert (48.23) and Florida State’s Connor Knight (48.58). There’s been a lot of talk about Dressel expanding beyond the sprint freestyles in college, and while he was one of the best high school butterfliers ever, him continuing to push ahead in this race is as much a necessity as any desire to create a well-rounded swimmer. He was nine-tenths faster than anybody else Florida put forward.

And finally, in the last individual event of the day, Corey Main took a win in 48.45 to out-touch his teammate Jack Blyzinskyj (49.13) and Nova Southeastern’s Thiago Sickerts (50.25).

The meet will conclude on Sunday with another prelims/finals setup.

Full meet results available here through two days.
Day two finals only available here.

In This Story

15
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

15 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
pol
9 years ago

Yawn. So, any chance for Franklin to get back in her old self? Good job Cal!

The Real SwimNerd
9 years ago

Swimnerd- find a new name to use
but yes Cal looks somewhat underwhelming this weekend, was at the meet yesterday and saw a few things
1.FSU girls are currently looking better than their men. Very impressed with the 200 medley win over great competition, Spinazolla will be dangerous come February as will Britt. Hope the eldest Dressel continues to develop and has a better taper than she did the previous year.
2.Caeleb Dressel bounces back from a rather lackluster day one with a win over Connor Knight and the grown man from NSU in the 100 fly and a beaut of a leadoff for the 8free relay. Have heard reports hes begun to finally lift weights but… Read more »

bobo gigi
9 years ago

Happy to see Missy win a backstroke race. Of course nothing fantastic but I find the time decent so early in the season. And more important she looks healthy.
Still no fast breaststroker at Cal again this new season?

bobo gigi
9 years ago

Unfortunately it doesn’t look better for Kristen Vredeveld. 🙁
24.67 in the 50 free/1.55.65 in the 200 free! 😥
What’s the problem?
She was so impressive in 2011.
But it’s worst and worst since then.
She has been seriously injured?
Or simply she has peaked young as it sometimes happens for some girls?
When I look again at her 2011 NCSA junior nationals results when she was 15…. 🙄
50 free. 1st place. 22.17!
Maddie Locus was 2nd in 22.71. Simone Manuel (14) was 3rd in 22.75. Kaylin Bing was 4th in 22.80. Rachel Bootsma was 5th in 23.04. Janet Hu was 9th in 23.29. Ivy Martin was 11th in 23.35.… Read more »

Loveswimmin
9 years ago

First meet of the season for CAL doesn’t define their outcome in March when it really counts, Don’t write them off yet. Swimming fast now doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll (FL) be fast in March!!

SWIMNERD
9 years ago

Not an acceptable excuse since NCs are scored from the diving too, not just the swimming portion.

Still a lopsided score no matter how you wanna paint it.

GreenGoggles
Reply to  SWIMNERD
9 years ago

Florida is not going to be 1-2 in diving events at NCAAs. Not to mention there are literally no divers from Cal there to compete with them. They might get their top girl to NCAAs, as Braden said, but the number of points they bring in will be significantly less. Also, you were talking about the Cal swimmers. You didn’t include diving anywhere in your speculation. So if we are talking swimming, Cal is not in the position you think they are. They seem to be doing fine. First meet of the season.

Josh
9 years ago

Florida’s relays will have a lot more options when Theresa Michalak becomes eligible at semester. She’s a 59 flyer and a 1:10 breaststroker LC, and I think she’s also been under 2:00 in the 200 free. If McKnight steps up in breaststroke like she has been, Michalak will swim fly and free up Hinds to swim a blistering free split so their medley relays won’t miss a beat.

SWIMNERD
9 years ago

Good job from Main, Dressel & Werner for the UF men!

It’s early still in the season but things are looking pretty grim for the Berkeley girls. Franklin’s star has clearly faded, and their freshman class hasn’t impressed.

Falling 130 points behind Florida is a rout no matter how you choose to look at it!

Can’t see them challenging the Card for the title at this point. Georgia on the other hand is still dangerous from their depth alone.

CanSwim13
Reply to  SWIMNERD
9 years ago

I think Noemie Thomas might be the only freshman that will impress.
Hopefully Cierra Runge can translate her LC success to the shorter pool, but time will tell..

SWIMNERD
Reply to  CanSwim13
9 years ago

Thomas is the most promising of the group I’ll grant you that much.

But pales in comparison when you put her, Ladd & Roses up against studs like #1 Manuel, #2 Hu & #5 Engel. That’s not including Howe, Poppe and the rest of that amazin’ class!

bobo gigi
Reply to  SWIMNERD
9 years ago

Haha!
After a Georgia fan last season, after a China fan this summer, we have now a Stanford fan to be the king of provocation. 🙂

And canswim13, Cierra Runge is now one of the best mid-distance/distance freestylers in the world. She has proved it last summer. And she has also already shown she could swim fast in yards too. 1.45.52/4.37.14/9.25.79 last December. She will play the first place in the 500 free and the top 3 in the 1650 free in March. And she will be a major card in the 4X200 free relay. Noemie Thomas is great in short course and will play the first place in both fly events. Her contribution to the medley relay will… Read more »

GreenGoggles
Reply to  SWIMNERD
9 years ago

Florida gets a ton of diving points as opposed to Cal’s none…… So it really isn’t as bad as you’re looking at it

anonymous1234
Reply to  SWIMNERD
9 years ago

I would not say Franklin’s star has faded she won two events and she is coming back from having back spasms/injury during pan pacs. She will get better as the season progresses. What is with all the negativity its their first main meet for the season

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

Read More »