2014 LA Invite Day 2 Finals: Franklin and Leverenz Both Double

2014 LA Invite

• Thursday, July 17th-Sunday, July 20th
• Thursday 4PM, Friday-Sunday Finals 8:30AM/Finals 5PM (Pacific Time)
• Uytengsyu Aquatics Facility, University of Southern California
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results

Day Two

Women’s 800 Free Final

Day Two began with the eight fastest women’s 800 freestylers from prelims on Thursday. Haley Anderson of Trojan Swim Club and Australia’s Katie Goldman got off to an early lead and were a couple of body lengths in front of the field by the 200. Anderson was up at the 200 but Goldman pulled even at the 300 and went ahead at the 400.

Katy Campbell of Swim Pasadena trailed the leaders by a couple of seconds but pulled even with them at the 600. Now a three-woman race, things started getting exciting as Anderson put some legs into it. But the other two didn’t let up and they all turned together at the 700.

As the bells went off the stadium came alive and Anderson and Goldman sprinted to the finish. Anderson got the touch, winning in 8:37.96. Goldman took second in 8:38.27, and Campbell was third with 8:41.53. Australia’s Leah Neale was fourth in 8:46.13.

Women’s 100 Free Final

Missy Franklin dropped a 54.52 (26.62-27.90) to win the women’s championship final in the 100 free. Natalie Coughlin and Margo Geer were out first but Franklin had a huge second half and won by half a body length.

There were some issues with the scoreboard which kept people guessing for a bit, but in the end Australia’s Yolane Kukla took second with 54.80, and Tucson Ford’s Margo Geer was third at 54.91.

Andi Murez of Stanford touched fourth with 55.10, just ahead of Natalie Coughlin (55.36), Maddy Schaefer (55.47), Abbey Weitzeil (55.61), and Jessica Hardy (56.24).

The “B” final was just as tight, with Camille Cheng of Cal getting the win in 55.75, followed by Lia Neal (55.97), Stanzi Moseley (56.27), and Chelsea Chenault (56.29).

Men’s 100 Free Final

You know it’s a fast meet when Matt Grevers (51.08) and Seth Stubblefield are in the “B” final. Stubblefield and Kyle Coan (51.19) were first to the turn, but Grevers brought it home for the win. He just barely held off Thomas Stephens (51.10) from Stanford who had an even better second half.

The championship finalists took to the water next, with Nathan Adrian in lane 8 after having narrowly made his way in, qualifying with 50.60. Adrian wasn’t fooling around in finals, though; he took it out in 23.03 and came home with 25.29 for a 48.32, winning by a body length.

Trojan Swim Club’s Cristian Quintero finished second in 49.35, while teammate Alexander Sukhorukov was third in 49.57. Cal’s Anthony Ervin was fourth in 49.98.

Women’s 200 Fly Final

Caitlin Leverenz, who came in to the meet seeded third, was in command the entire second half of the race and came up with a solid 2:12.67 win. She and third-place Jasmine Tosky were both out in 1:03-mid but Leverenz brought it home in a 1:09.0. Katie Kinnear of Bruins finished second in 2:13.36, while Tosky took third in 2:13.71.

Elizabeth Pepper (2:14.30), Tara Halsted (2:15.19), Haley Anderson (2:153.76), and Olivia Barker (2:15.91) rounded out the “A” final.

Celina Li of Pleasanton won the “B” final in 2:14.40.

Men’s 200 Fly Final

Tom Shields of California Aquatics and Princeton-bound Corey Okubo of AquaZot were the only two qualifiers with sub-2:00 out of prelims. They went head-to-head in the middle lanes of the “A” final. Shields was out fast with a 56-mid, nearly a second ahead of Okubo. They both came back in 1:03s and the final score was Shields 1:58.04, Okubo 1:58.73.

Adam Hinshaw of California Aquatics was third in 2:01.60, just a tad in front of teammate Dane Stassi (2:01.76). Gabriel Hernandez of Golden West (2:02.01), Josh Prenot of Cal (2:02.33), Ryan Nelson (2:03.19) and Alex Peterson (2:06.92) went fifth through eighth.

Women’s 200 Back Final

It was Missy Franklin‘s race from start to finish, as she took it out in a 31.0, a half-second faster than her nearest competitor. There were really only two others in the heat who went with her; both Mikkayla Sheridan of Australia and Elizabeth Pelton of Cal were out in sub-32s. Madison White of Crow Canyon hung on for the first 100 with the lead group but she fell off pace in the second half of the race.

Franklin was a bit faster at Mel Zajac Jr International in May (2:09.57), but this was a nice tune-up for Nationals. She split it 31.08-32.88-33.23-33.03 for a meet-record time of 2:10.21.

Sheridan was second with 2:11.60, Pelton third in 2:12.57. Shani Burleigh of Australia edged Madison White for fourth, 2:14.25 to 2:14.44. Kendyl Stewart of North Coast was sixth in 2:15.12.

Men’s 200 Back Final

It couldn’t have been much closer in lanes 2, 3, and 4 of the men’s 200 back “A” final. Cal’s Ryan Murphy went out in a 57.0 to jump out to a nice lead at the 100. That didn’t rattle his teammate Jacob Pebley, though; he came home nearly a second faster than Murphy and closed the gap to with .13. Murphy got the win with 1:57.73, just holding off Pebley who touched in 1:57.86.

Australia’s Ashley Delaney had been second at the 100 but he, too, fell prey to Pebley’s second half. Delaney finished third in 1:58.06. Charlie Boldison from Scotland took fourth in 2:00.57.

The rest of the final went belonged to AquaZot teammates Okubo (2:02.54), Thomas Smith (2:05.59), and Danny Tran (2:05.65), and to sixth-place finisher Michael Cohn of Rancho San Dieguito (2:05.36).

Women’s 400 IM Final

It was really a two-woman race from the get-go. Leverenz of Cal, who had already won the 200 fly earlier, and Celina Li of Pleasanton were both out a couple seconds faster than they’d been in prelims, and began from the butterfly leg to separate themselves from the field. Both were out in 1:04-lows, while Ella Eastin split a 1:04-high.

From there they continued to dominate; Li outsplit everyone by a long shot on the back and had pulled ahead of Leverenz by more than two seconds at the 200. But Leverenz’s strength comes in the second half of the race and she didn’t disappoint here. She pulled even with Li at the end of the breast and just exploded over the last 100. Final times: Leverenz 4:41.22, Li 4:42.61.

Eastin tried to keep them in her line of sight but Leverenz and Li were just too far in front by the end of the breast; she trailed the leaders by five seconds. In the end she touched third with 4:47.39, a much better swim than in the morning and her best of the season, but still a bit away from where she’ll want to be at Nationals.

In her third final of the night, and having already raced 1000 meters, Trojan Swim Club’s Anderson had a good swim for fourth; she finished in 4:52.73. Cal’s Kelly Naze was fifth in 4:55.76.

Isabella Goldsmith of Sandpipers, who had made the “A” final out of the B flights with an 18-second drop, took another second off her new seed time and tied for sixth with Stanford’s Tara Halsted in 4:56.13. AquaZot’s Kendall Brown (4:57.38) was eighth.

Men’s 400 Free Final

The top three were pretty even through most of the race. Mads Glaesner and Cristian Quintero of Trojan Swim Club and Australia’s Jack McLoughlin turned together at the first 100 in 56-mids. McLoughlin and Quintero moved ahead at the 200. McLoughlin had the strongest third 100 and moved into the lead at the 300. Then Glaesner came home faster than he went out and snatched the victory away from the Australian.

Glaesner finished with 3:51.33, while McLoughlin clocked in at 3:52.06, just in front of a 3:52.44 from Quintero. Anton McKee was fourth with 3:54.36. Reed Malone (3:58.52) and Bobby Bollier (3:58.59) finished fifth and sixth, and Danny Thomson (4:01.27) and Trent Williams (5:03.51) rounded out the heat.

La Mirada’s Ryan Kao won the “B” final with 3:59.44.