10 Things We Noticed on Day 1 of the 2014 U.S. Long Course National Championships

See our full day 1 finals recap here.

Tom Shieldsย finally (1) got his big breakthrough and won the men’s 200 fly in a 1:55.0. He was on the 2012 Short Course Worlds team, but that win, putting him on the Pan Pacs roster, will be his first international senior team in the big-boy pool.

In college, Shields was dominant in yards. He even tied Michael Phelps’ 200 yard fly record. The shouts came, though, that he was just a short course swimmer, that he was never going to make it in long course, his best hope would be as a short-course-meters specialist who earned a decent living racing on the FINA World Cup Circuit.

As it turns out, long course swimmers are really, really fast underwater as well, and while the 200 fly hasn’t been his main focus since graduating college, with 4 under-waters to lean on, Shields went big in this final. It’s hard to not be happy for him – not only that he made the team (which we expected), but that he validated it byย winning the race and jumping to 3rd in the world.

Bonus observation: a member of Shields’ entourage accidentally leaked us his post-meet shopping list via text. “80# ice, Pedialyte 8” is what it read. They know how to party in the OC.

The excitement now builds even further for the 100 fly. The last time Shields raced Michael Phelps in a 100 fly, they tied at the Santa Clara Grand Prix. (2) On Wednesday, Phelps was 7th in the 100 free – and slower than he was in prelims. He was clearly unhappy after that finish, and as he should be – nobody is as good at sports as Phelps without being competitive.

The combination of those two results have started the murmuring.ย We picked Shields ahead of Lochte in the 100 fly, which a lot of our readers agreed with. Now, however, the predictions have gotten more ambitious from the peanut gallery. Could Shields beat Phelps in the 100 fly, that is the focus event of Phelps 2.0? (3) If Shields could add on that 100/200 fly double,ย that would be a breakout meet, and the headlines would roll.

Phelps likely wasn’t the only one disappointed with his performance in the men’s 100 free. After so much depth in prelims, with 32 swimmers under 50 seconds, the final was not great. Many swimmers, including the winner Nathan Adrian, were slower than in prelims, and (4) he was the only one of the six individual winners on Wednesday that was slower than their counterpart from a pretty sleepy Nationals in 2013.

(5) The women’s 100 free saw the fruition of this big youth movement in the sprint freestyles in this country come to a head. Amanda Weir and Natalie Coughlin, two women who are veterans and who have done a ton of great things for sprinting in this country, were 8th and 7th, respectively, in the final, while the top four names read asย Missy Franklin (19 years old),ย Simone Manuelย (18 years old),ย Shannon Vreeland (the veteran at 23 years old), andย Abbey Weitzeil (17 years old). That’s the 400 free relay for Pan Pacs, barring an overriding decision by the coaching staff. The 5th place finisher fits the mold anyway –ย Lia Neal at just 19 years old.

The average age of the top four is just the same – 19 years old. (6) The American women’s 400 free relay is, on average, going to be a teenager. That’s astonishing. They’ll get a trial by fire in a hurry, as the Australian women, who they’ll face at Pan Pacs, just broke the World Record at the Commonwealth Games.

(7) Two new converts to the way of SwimMAC performedย very well in the 200 butterflies.ย Cammile Adams won the women’s race in 2:07.12, andย Tyler Clary took 2nd in the men’s race in 1:56.00 – and that’s probably only Clary’s 3rd-best event.

As it turns out, David Marsh, known so much for what he does with sprinters, can coach some other things too.

(8)ย Jordan Wilimovskyย is already on the U.S. Pan Pacs team in open water, and it was he who booked a (probable) pool-open water double with a 3rd-place finish in the men’s 1500 free in 14:56.34.ย Northwestern has been a very cyclical program, they’ve hit very high highs, and very low lows, but they’ve never really produced a ton of milers. From the 2005 team with Grevers and Alexandrov, all the way back to their heyday in the 1930’s with the likes of Al Schwartz, the Wildcats haveย been a sprint program. They might find themselves a new reputation if Wilimovsky keeps progressing.

(9)ย Maya DiRado almost cashed in big on the Elizabeth Beisel scratch out of the 200 fly A-final. Beisel had no other event on day 2, but this one just isn’t her real focus internationally. Her scratch moved DiRado up into the A-Final, and DiRado wound up in 4th place.ย That would have been a regular headline if she’d done it, but for now it’s just a “things we’ve noticed.”

(10) We’ll sealย up our nightly highlight reel with a C-Final swim, and specifically Nova of Virginia’sย Townley Haas. He was the male swimmer of the meet at Junior Nationals last week, and he won the 100 free there in 50.12. He still had half-a-second of a drop in this 100 free, which is on the short end of his primary targets. That’s good news as we work our way to the 200 and 400 freestyle, where he still has an outside chance at qualifying for Pan Pacs.

He also dipped below 50 seconds in this 100 meter free, and is now 9th on the all-time list. The list of swimmers in the top 15 in both the 100 and 200 freestyles in U.S. 17-18 history? There’s four: Haas, Caeleb Dressel, Michael Phelps and Joe Hudepohl. If Haas wants to knock that piece of history down to just two, he’s got his target – a small drop to a 3:51.96 in the 400 free later this week. Then he’ll stand alone with Phelps among the masters of the 100-400 frees.

 

10
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

10 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
John T
9 years ago

I am impressed by Wilimovsky’s swim. He trains with Team Santa Monica, not only Northwestern, so it is questionable whether Northwestern really “produced” him, but surely they were able to help him succeed.

TheTroubleWithX
9 years ago

Conger was the only one in the B-final to swim faster in finals than in prelims.

bobo gigi
9 years ago

Women’s 800 free
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QaNCpsm2Vk&list=UUznRyLyXK9QWHs05PK2MGBQ
Men’s 1500 free
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lll__z2HxQU&list=UUznRyLyXK9QWHs05PK2MGBQ
Haha! If the French federation could do the same with the race videos and the live webcast! ๐Ÿ˜†
I believe I dream a little too much.

bobo gigi
9 years ago
bobo gigi
9 years ago

A few thoughts about day 1.

Great prelims’ session with plenty of fast times.
I admit I didn’t appreciate too much the finals. ๐Ÿ˜†
First, I’ve missed all the butterfly events because of a technical problem. ๐Ÿ˜ก
Second, Michael swam a bad race and I’m sad. ๐Ÿ™

That being said, let’s see the results.

Women’s 200 fly
Cammile Adams carries that event in USA on her shoulders for a few years now. She never disappoints. Of course 2.07 isn’t enough to win medals but at least she’s consistent.
Very happy for Katie McLaughlin. This qualification for Pan Pacs will be a huge step in her young career. Now qualify for Worlds!
What happened to… Read more ยป

KD
Reply to  bobo gigi
9 years ago

Jaeger and McBroom were about even, with Jaeger at a half-bodylength lead, until 1100 or so when Jaeger turned it on and McBroom faded a bit. Wilimovsky was outsplitting both of them the last 500 or so and could have beat them if it were a 2000.
Bayer was out in 2nd at the 50, and died. But she’s only 14, so to even make the final is fantastic. Her front-end speed should bode well for her 100 fly, where I’m going to conservatively predict she’s top 5.

TheTroubleWithX
9 years ago

Kalisz’s 200 fly sets him up nicely for the 400 IM. Very good chance he takes the WR in the next two years.

bobo gigi
Reply to  TheTroubleWithX
9 years ago

If he continues to improve his backstroke in the next 2 years, he will be olympic champion in 2016.

Questions..
9 years ago

What does the side note about Tom Shields ‘partying’ mean… I’m in college but still have no idea what pedalyte is…?

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, โ€ฆ

Read More »