15-Year-Old Santiago Alzate Swims 3:59.68 in the 400 free on Day 3 in Greensboro

2023 ESSZ SUMMER LONG COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS – GREENSBORO

• July 13-16, 2023
• Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, NC
• LCM (50 meters)
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheet
• Live Results 
  • Meet Results: 2023 ESSZ Summer Long Course Championship (greensboroaquaticcenter.com)
• Live Stream: Facebook
• Day 1 Recap / Day 2 Recap

The penultimate day of the ESSZ Summer Long Course Championships saw the finals of women’s and men’s 400 free, 100 fly, 100 breast, and 800 free relay. Held at the Greensboro Aquatic Center, the meet has seen dominant displays by several college teams with the University of Louisville taking a lion’s share of the medals.

Adding to that haul of medals for the Louisville Cardinals was Summer Cardwell. Leading from start to finish in the first event of the evening, the 400 free, Cardwell finished in 4:19.91. Finishing 2nd and having numerous podium finishes this meet was 15-year-old Clarke Neace who competes for SwimMAC. Neace finished in 4:21.07, about a second ahead of Cardwells’ teammate Ryenne Ulett, who nabbed 3rd in 4:22.11.

Neace’s teammate and fellow 15-year-old, Santiago Alzate, had a great swim in the men’s 400, swimming 3:59.68 for the win. His time represents a new personal best by 4 seconds and his first time under 4:00. Also nipping under 4:00 and finishing just .1 behind Alzarte was Louisville product Ilia Sibirtsev. Rounding out the top three in the event was Alzate’s teammate Frederick Klein, who finished in 4:01.25

The women’s 100 fly saw a trio of Louisville swimmers atop the podium. Leading the way was Gabi Albiero, who finished in 58.16. Also swimming sub-1:00 for the first time was Paige Hetrick, who swam 59.43 to place ahead of Christiana Regenauer’s 1:00.64. Hetrick’s 59.43 marks her third Olympic Trials cut of the week; after previously having eclipsed the standards in the 50 free on day one and in the 200 free on day two.

Winning the men’s 100 fly was last night’s 100 back winner and Louisville product Dalton Lowe. Lowe’s time of 53.06 was the only swim under 54 as 2nd went to ACC-rival UNC’s Boyd Poelke who swam 54.26. Just .02 back finishing 3rd in 54.28 was SwimMAC’s Aidan Hill. 

The women’s 100 breast saw UNC’s Skyler Smith win by over two seconds. The double A-finalist from the U.S. National Championships 1:08.80 was just off the 1:08.65 she swam to 8th place at Trials. Fellow Tar Heel Alexandra Rudolph placed 2nd swimming 1:11.05 and rounding out the podium was Louisville’s Ella Welch with a time of 1:11.77

Winning by over two seconds in the men’s 100 breast was Louisville swimmer Aidan Kreiley. His time of 1:01.69 easily led the way over fellow medalists Balazs Berecz (1:03.71) and Tucker Valliere (1:04.36). 

The penultimate event saw just two entrants, both from SwimMAC. The A relay ended up victorious in the 800 free relay with a time of 8:32.71 and was comprised of Clarke Neace (2:06.75), Sofia Plaza (2:09.37), Molly Donlan (2:06.81) and Kayman Neal (2:09.78).

The men’s 800 free relay had double the number of entrants as the women’s but saw the victory go to the same team. Winning in a time of 7:44.85 the SwimMAC A relay consisted of Norvin Clontz (151.93), Santiago Alzate (1:57.85), Frederick Klein (1:57.23), and Alexander Ayers (1:57.84).