2014 LA Invite Day 2 Prelims: Franklin, Coughlin, Adrian, Shields, Tosky and More

2014 LA Invite

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

Day Two

With two flights of heats on Day Two, there was still a chance for competitors in the “B” flights to make finals. The top seven heats swam in the morning session (five heats for the 400s); the rest followed. And with four finals, the later swimmers just needed to squeeze into the top 32.

100 Free Prelims

The big names were out in Los Angeles for the 100 free. Missy Franklin, Natalie Coughlin, Jessica Hardy, Margo Geer, Maddy Schaefer, Abbey Weitzeil, Elizabeth Pelton, Andi Murez… in addition to some fast Australians.

With the exception of a heat-one-outside-lane 56.86 from Chelsea Chenault of Terrapins, there weren’t a lot of big surprises in the women’s 100 free. The circle-seeded heats produced all the “A” and “B” finalists.

Coughlin was the top qualifier, winning her heat with 54.76. Weitzeil and Pelton were the next to touch in that heat, with 55.91 and 56.05, respectively. That put Weitzeil eighth in the “A” final and Pelton in lane 4 of the “B” final. Franklin came out on top of her heat in 55.27, but it was a tightly-packed field – four of them made top-eight: Franklin (2nd qualifier), Muraz (55.54, 3rd), Geer (55.58, 4th), and Schaefer (55.79, 6th). Australia’s Yolane Kukla (55.70, 5th) and Hardy (55.90, 7th) rounded out the “A” final qualifier list.

On the men’s side there were big guns as well: Nathan Adrian, Anthony Ervin, Matt Grevers, Seth Stubblefield, and a few Russians tuning up for the European Championships. The top qualifying times came from Alexander Sukhorukov (49.34) and Nikita Lobintsev (49.68), both of whom train with Trojan Swim Club.

Australia’s Alexander Graham was third with 50.10. Trojan Swim Club’s Cristian Quintero (50.14), Nick Soedel of Utah (50.26), Dave Nolan of Stanford qualified fourth, fifth and sixth.

The marquis names, Ervin and his California Aquatics teammate Adrian, went 50.59 and 50.60, respectively, to just sneak their way into the “A” final. Stubblefield and Grevers, at 50.62 and 50.73, were ninth and tenth.

Alex Fernandes of Utah and Chase Bloch of Class Aquatics, with a respective 51.48 and 51.74 to lead the B flight, both made the consolation final.

200 Fly Prelims

Jasmine Tosky of Trojan Swim Club was the top qualifier in the women’s 200 fly with 2:13.23. Caitlin Leverenz of Cal Aquatics and Sonia Wang of Redlands were just off the leader pace with 2:13.70 and 2:13.95, respectively.

Tucson Ford’s Elizabeth Pepper had a big drop in the outside lane of Leverenz’s heat; she dropped two for a 2:15.70 and qualified fourth. Sandpipers’ Olivia Barker (2:15.92), Katie Kinnear of Bruins (2:15.99), the Trojans’ Haley Anderson (2:16.13), and Tara Halsted of Stanford (2:16.17) rounded out the top eight qualifiers.

Cal’s Tom Shields and AquaZot’s Corey Okubo were the top two men’s qualifiers and the only ones under 2:00. Shields went 1:59.29; Okubo, 1:59.54. Joining them in the championship final will be Dane Stassi of Cal (2:02.69), Gabriel Hernandez (2:03.04) and Ryan Nelson (2:03.43) of Golden West, Cal teammates Adam Hinshaw (2:03.48) and Josh Prenot (2:03.84), and Alex Peterson of AquaZot (2:04.07).

Christopher Webb of Tucson Ford (2:04.73) and Andy Cunningham of Utah (2:05.59) were the fastest out of the B flight; they both will swim again tonight.

200 Back Prelims

Missy Franklin (2:13.31) and Elizabeth Pelton (2:14.11) of Cal, and North Coast’s Kendyl Stewart (2:14.26) won their respective heats to qualify 1-2-3 in the 200 back. Australia’s Mikkayla Sheridan (2:14.41) pushed Pelton the whole way and qualified fourth.

Madison White of Crow Canyon (2:15.42), Shani Burleigh of Australia (2:16.37), Bonnie Brandon from Tucson Ford (2:16.69), and Jasmine Margetts (2:18.08) rounded out the “A” final qualifiers.

The top swim from the B flight belonged to Cal’s Catherine Breed, whose 2:18.74 placed her comfortably in the “B” final just behind Solana Laughlin (2:18.32) and Emily Eastin (2:18.51).

Jacob Pebley of Cal and Charlie Boldison of Scotland set the bar in the men’s 200 back prelims, going 2:01.62 and 2:01.64, respectively. Cal’s Ryan Murphy qualified third with 2:02.26.

AquaZot teammates Corey Okubo (2:03.01), Thomas Smith (2:03.68), and Danny Tran (2:04.47) all made the “A” final, qualifying fourth, sixth, and seventh. Ashley Delaney of Australia went 2:03.03 for the fifth-fastest time, while Michael Cohn of Rancho San Dieguito’s 2:05.08 was the cutoff time for entry into the “A” final.

Jimmy Koster and Luca Spinazzola, with 2:05.14 and 2:08.58, respectively, rose to the top of the B flight and made finals.

Women’s 400 IM Prelims

Cal’s Levrenz won her heat by nearly half a pool length and posted the top qualifying time of 4:48.84. Celina Li of Pleasanton and Cal won her heat with a comfortable margin, and qualified third with 4:52.16. In the final heat, Trojans’ Anderson and Ella Eastin from SOCAL Aquatics battled for 300 meters but Anderson’s 100 free pushed her over the top and she ended up with the second-fastest time of 4:51.48, while Eastin qualified fourth in 4:53.71.

Isabella Goldsmith out of Sandpipers dropped 19 seconds and catapulted into the “A” final with her eighth-fastest time of 4:57.10. The other “A” finalists were: Stanford’s Halsted (4:54.28), Kelly Naze of Cal (4:56.92), and Redlands Swim Team’s Wang (4:56.93).

A couple other IMers earned a berth into one of the finals thanks to a huge drop in the B flight of prelims: Catherine Lowengrub (5:03.33), Victoria Epps (5:04.89), and Samantha Shelton (5:06.61).

Men’s 400 Free Prelims

Trojans’ Quintero, Alabama’s Anton McKee and Jack McLoughlin of Australia were the leading qualifiers in the men’s 400 free, all posting sub-3:56s. Quintero won his heat in 3:55.29, McKee was 3:55.35, and McLoughlin, 3:55.75, setting up an exciting final tonight. Mads Glaesner of Trojans was right on their heels, qualifying fourth in 3:56.73.

The rest of the top eight qualifiers included: Reed Malone of Trojans (3:59.97), Bobby Bollier of Stanford (4:00.09), Trent Williams of Cal (4:02.35), and Danny Thomson of Stanford (4:02.37).

Five swimmers came up with big drops and finaled out of the B flight: Christopher Webb (4:04.21), Ty Fowler (4:04.65), Andy Cunningham (4:05.44), Matt Drum (4:06.75), and Chase Ladman (4:07.73).

Finals begin at 5:00 pm, Pacific time.