2014 Santa Clara Grand Prix: Day 2 Prelims Live Recap

Lotte Friis and Michael McBroom started off the 2014 Santa Clara Grand Prix with the first two wins of the meet last night during the distance session. Day 2 prelims should keep the excitement rolling with four individual events; the 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 400 freestyle, and the 100 butterfly. This will be the first Grand Prix appearance for Missy Franklin, who is the top seed in the women’s 100 freestyle and will also be swimming the 100 butterfly.

Kevin Cordes will also be swimming today in the 200 breaststroke. This will be his first meet of the season where he will be swimming the 200 breaststroke in meters. He has swum the 50 breast twice this year and the 100 breast three times. He is the top seed in the 200 breaststroke, which should allow him two opportunities to swim this race to see where he matches up with the rest of the world. He will have several challengers to push him today. Scott Weltz, BJ Johnson, Nic Fink, Mike Alexanderov, and Gunnar Bentz are all within striking distance.

Allison Schmitt, Lotte Friis, and Brittney Maclean will have a great opportunity to throw down tonight in the women’s 400 freestyle. Michael Klueh, Connor Jaeger, Michael McBroom, Ryan Cochrane, Yannick Agnel, and Charlie Houchin should be fun to watch as well. The fastest two heats of the men’s and women’s 400 freestyles will swim during finals.

Michael Phelps is hoping to break away from his 52.13 100 butterflies. He has posted that time during finals in his last two meets. Tom Shields, Eugene Godsoe, Jack Conger, and Jason Dunford are expected to be fast this morning as well. Matthew Jose, Conger, and Justin Lynch will also have an opportunity to prove themselves against some season veterans of this event.

2014 ARENA GRAND PRIX AT SANTA CLARA

 Women’s 100 Freestyle – Prelims

Missy Franklin had the fastest time of the A flight this morning, winning the final heat with a time of 55.12. She looked quick off the start, as usual, and used her back half strength to control her back half. Although she has looked better, she looked really strong for an in season prelim swim. Shannon Vreeland had the second fastest swim of the morning, posting a time of 55.39. Simone Manuel had the third fastest time at 55.57.

Amy Bilquist, 16, managed to sneak into the top 8 of the women’s 100 freestyle from an earlier heat. She had a fantastic short course season, swimming a 22.15 in the 50 yard freestyle and a 48.93 in the 100 yard freestyle. She will be one swimmer to keep your eyes on over the next few years.

Megan Romano and Maddy Schaefer are currently tied for 8th place after the completion of the A flight. A swim-off may be required unless a swimmer from the B flight beats their time of 55.83.

Men’s 100 Freestyle – Prelims 

Nathan Adrian, Conor Dwyer, and Michael Phelps were the only three swimmers to dip under 50 seconds in the A flight of the men’s 100 freestyle. The top 8 qualifiers are all within a second of Adrian’s top qualifying time of 49.95. He is currently ranked third in the world this year in this event. Dwyer had the second fastest time with a 49.96, and his NBAC training partner and housemate, Michael Phelps, was just behind him at 49.99.

The men’s 100 free is considered by many to be the big show in swimming, and with the reputation of the swimmers in the final, it really will be tonight. Joining the three before mentioned swimmers will be Anthony Ervin, Adam Brown, Santo Condorelli, Marcelo Chierighini, and Yannick Agnel.

Women’s 200 Breaststroke – Prelims

Micah Lawrence had the fastest swim out of the A flight with the only time under 2:30. She is the top qualifier with her time of 2:29.26. The real surprise in the results this morning, however, is 16 year old Emma Schanz. She was entered with a yards time of 2:11.90, and ended up qualifying second to Lawrence with her time of 2:30.63. Her previous best time from August of 2013 was 2:44.24. She went that time out of heat 1!

Laura Sogar and Elizabeth Beisel had the 3rd and 4th fastest times of the morning at 2:31.81 and 2:32.18, respectively. Caitlin Leverenz currently has the 8th place time at 2:33.53. She should swim tonight in finals unless someone else qualifies out of the B flight.

Men’s 200 Breaststroke – Prelims

Chase Kalisz had a great morning swim to earn the top qualifying spot in the men’s 200 breaststroke. He touched the wall at 2:13.45, a half second ahead of Nic Fink’s second place time of 2:14.02. Kalisz has always been able to finish his races well. He took his swim out in 1:04.7 and brought it back in 1:08.7. I know it is still in season, but I think Kalisz will have more in the last 100 of his final swim. Josh Prenot, Matt Elliot, BJ Johnson and Kevin Cordes qualified 3rd through 6th at 2:15’s. Dan Wallace and Mike Alexanderov are sitting on the bubble of making the A final at 7th and 8th. This will be the final unless a swimmer from the B flight can sneak into the B final with a 2:16 low or better.

Women’s 400 Freestyle – Prelims

Cierra Runge swam lights out for a best time and the top qualifying position in the women’s 400 freestyle. She had the fastest time of the morning with a 4:09.86. That time puts her 36th in the world, which isn’t bad considering most of the times on the list are tapered swims. Andreina Pinto was 4:10.04 with the second fastest time from the A flight. Elizabeth Beisel was also in the 4:10 range.

Lotte Friis had a very controlled morning swim after winning the 1500 last night.

Becca Mann had the 8th fastest time of the morning at 4:12.79. She will be in the final unless a swimmer from the B flight beats that time.

Men’s 400 Freestyle – Prelims

Connor Jaeger posted the fastest time of the morning at 3:51.12 to earn the top qualifying spot. Ryan Feeley had a great swim, dropping almost two seconds for a best time to qualify second at 3:51.28, only .06 behind Jaeger. Tyler Clary dropped from his seed time to qualify third in the 400 freestyle, although he is still three seconds off of his best time in this event from 2012.

Michael McBroom and Ryan Cochrane were 4th and 5th, followed by Michael Weiss, Conor Dwyer, and Matt McLean. McLean’s 8th place time was 3:53.35. That time hold up through the B flight, giving us our men’s 400 freestyle final. Any swim in the B flight is official and can qualify for a finals swim.

Women’s 100 Butterfly – Prelims

Felicia Lee was the only swimmer to break 1 minute in the women’s 100 butterfly. Her time of 59.62 is almost a second ahead of the second place qualifier, Kelly Naze. Naze and Noelle Tarazona were 2nd and 3rd with 1:00.4’s. Veronica Burchill had the 8th fastest time of the A flight, touching the wall at 1:00.81.

Missy Franklin finished 21st with a time of 1:01.69. Several well known swimmers missed making the A final in this event. Caitlin Leverenz, Maya Dirado, Celina Li, and Kathleen Baker were all within the top 20, but outside of the top 8.

Men’s 100 Butterfly – Prelims 

Although Michael Phelps didn’t break his 52.13 barrier this morning, he did snag the top seed in the men’s 100 butterfly with a 52.57. He secured his spot in his second final of the day, although it is very possible he may scratch his 100 freestyle tonight. We will not know until later, but hopefully he swims both races.

Tom Shields, Jack Conger, and Justin Lynch stepped up to secure their spots in the final this morning.

Seth Stubblefield had the 8th fastest time of the morning with a 54.05.

 

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Danjohnrob
10 years ago

I don’t understand why this simple question gets 3 dislike votes; this site is becoming very unfriendly!

bobo gigi
Reply to  Danjohnrob
10 years ago

Haha!
Don’t pay attention to that!
This new tool of like/dislike is useless.
It makes me laugh so much when I receive a dislike! 😆

thomaslurzfan
10 years ago

It doesnt have to do with the santa clara grand prix, but its sth. i always wanted to know:
Can anybody tell me why us swimmers (especially men) are so ”bad” in breaststroke (compared to the other strokes). In every other stroke usa has 2 or 3 medal contenders, but not in breaststroke, how does that come?

bobo gigi
Reply to  thomaslurzfan
10 years ago

Yes it’s not the deepest US stroke but I think the 200 fly for the men and the 50 free and the fly events for the women (without Dana Vollmer) have no medal contenders RIGHT NOW, unlike the breaststroke events.
I agree it’s not the best US stroke but it’s not so bad for 10 years.

Men
Brendan Hansen (world champion, world record holder, olympic medalist)
Last year Kevin Cordes and Nic Fink were both in the 100 breast world final and have a PB under the minute. They are still young.
Kevin Cordes has a PB of 2.08.34 in the 200 breast. It’s not so bad.

Women
Rebecca Soni is a breaststroke legend (olympic… Read more »

bobo gigi
10 years ago

I’ve just read some results.

Wow! Already 2.13 for Mr Kalisz. He looks ready for what he hoped before the meet. A best time in the 400 IM.
Great double for MP in the prelims.

What happened to Lia Neal in the 100 free prelims? 57.31! 😥
And what happened to Allison Schmitt in the 400 free prelims? She swam a decent 55 in the 100 free and swam a really bad 4.19 in the 400 free.
And Agnel again not so good.
It looks like the altitude training hasn’t the same effect on every NBAC swimmer. But usually Allison Schmittt swims very well after a Colorado Springs trip.

thomaslurzfan
10 years ago

Phelps looked good in prelims, i hope my predictions will be true:
100 free: 48.8
100 fly: 51.6
By the way, at the moment the german age group championships take place, if anyone is interested to see the results just tell me.

SXSWSwimMom
10 years ago

Has anyone else lost the feed on usaswimming.org? It better come back, If I miss my kid in the 400 FR I’ll be a ticked off swim mom.

Reply to  SXSWSwimMom
10 years ago

Yes it not working for me to and wanted to also see my kid swim the 400.

BP
10 years ago

Great job Billyquist!

korn
10 years ago

I would like to be the fly on the wall between Bob and Allison and Bob and Yannick! Some explaining to Yannick. Didn’t look good!

Joel Lin
Reply to  korn
10 years ago

Ous and Yannick look really tired. Some athletes come down from altitude hitting a high. These two guys just look really beat up now. Allison too.

Danjohnrob
Reply to  Joel Lin
10 years ago

I don’t know about Opus or Yannick, but Allison has had excellent results when coming down from altitude in the past. I’m really disappointed.

Danjohnrob
10 years ago

Did Schmitt tweet she was sick or Sutton?

Skinny
Reply to  Danjohnrob
10 years ago

Sutton did mention on twitter she was sick and tried to push through but was returning home to recover

korn
Reply to  Skinny
10 years ago

I saw the tweet about being sick. But I also saw Houchin’s 100 and 400 and they were about as bad as Chloe’s. Just think the NC thing isn’t working for them

lsswim
Reply to  korn
10 years ago

I agree – her swims have been sub-par all season

Danjohnrob
Reply to  lsswim
10 years ago

She had ankle injury for awhile that prevented her from pushing off walls and limited her training early in the season.

About Tony Carroll

Tony Carroll

The writer formerly known as "Troy Gennaro", better known as Tony Carroll, has been working with SwimSwam since April of 2013. Tony grew up in northern Indiana and started swimming in 2003 when his dad forced him to join the local swim team. Reluctantly, he joined on the condition that …

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