2014 Santa Clara Grand Prix: Day 3 Prelims Live Recap

The third day of the 2014 Arena Grand Prix will feature the 400 IM, 200 freestyle, 200 backstroke, and the 50 freestyle.

After tying for the win in the 100 butterfly and swimming a strong 100 freestyle, Michael Phelps looks to be in good shape for his 200 freestyle. The last time he swam it, he was in the same heat as Yannick Agnel. When he was out ahead of Yannick Agnel, he though he was flying. As it turns out, Agnel was taking his morning swim easy, and Phelps finished with a 1:51. Today he is the third seed in the 200 freestyle, seeded with a 1:45.70. His teammates Yannick Agnel and Conor Dwyer are the two swimmers seeded ahead of them. Yannick Agnel is the defending Olympic Gold medalist.

There might not be a better pair of back-to-back races in the entire weekend than the men’s and women’s 400 IMs. For the women, it’s an NCAA rematch. 2014 NCAA Champ and new pro Maya DiRado comes in with the second seed, with 2013 NCAA Champ and recent Speedo signee Elizabeth Beisel holding top billing. The two went down to the wire for the NCAA Championship, now it’s time to see who’s got the upper hand in long course. For the men, it’s a rematch of Charlotte’s big time IM battle. Tyler Clary, once the hottest college IMer in the nation, will take on the new young swimmer who has taken over that role, Chase Kalisz.

Allison Schmitt is the top seed in the women’s 200 freestyle. She didn’t have the best swim in her 400 freestyle, but her 100 wasn’t bad. It will be interesting to see how she can put a 200 together today. Missy Franklin is the second seed for the 200 today. Her last year has been very focused on her freestyle events, and we all saw the benefits of that during the NCAA Championships. She broke the American record in the women’s 200 yard freestyle.

Missy will have a touch double, with no events in between her 200 freestyle and the 200 backstroke. She is the top seed in that event, and will have to race the same group she sees everyday in practice along with Elizabeth Beisel and other strong swimmers.

The men’s 200 backstroke should be one of the most exciting events of today with the amount of depth that will be seen today. Tyler Clary has the top seed but Ryan Murphy, Jack Conger, Arkady Vyatchanin, Eric Ress, Drew teDuits, Jacob Pebley, and Omar Pinzon will all be racing. Any one of them has the potential to get their hand on the wall and win the race. It will be interesting to see who can get it done this morning and secure their spot in finals.

Arkady Vyatchanin has been undefeated in the 100 and 200 backstrokes at the last three grand prix events. He will not want to give up that streak, adding a little extra motivation. This meet, however, features the deepest field that we have seen.

Nathan Adrian and Simone Manuel won the 100 freestyles last night and will be the favorites to win the 50 freestyles today. Anthony Ervin is usually stronger in the 50 freestyle than the 100, and he looked pretty good last night, so he may be able to win it today as well.

2014 ARENA GRAND PRIX AT SANTA CLARA

• Live results
• Live video (when meet starts)
• Psych sheets
• Saturday Morning Heat Sheet
• Saturday Morning Timeline
• Thursday, June 19-Sunday, June 22
• Fri-Sun: Prelims 9AM/Finals 5PM (Pacific Time), Thurs: Finals 4PM (Pacific Time)

Women’s 400 IM – Prelims

Elizabeth Beisel had the fastest swim of the morning in the women’s 400 IM with a time of 4:41.90. She was about three seconds ahead of the second place qualifier, Sarah Henry with a 4:44.30. Beisel was over 10 seconds off of  Becca Mann finished third at 4:44.45, just in front of Caitiln Leverenz at 4:48.23.

Theresa Michalek had the 9th fastest time of the B-flight at 4:52.08. One of the favorites to win todays event, Maya DiRado, was a no show for the women’s 400 IM.

Men’s 400 IM – Prelims

Chase Kalisz was the top qualifier in the men’s 400 IM with his time of 4:18.57. Sebastian Rosseau was not far behind, swimming the second place time of 4:18.57. Jay Litherland finished third at 4:19.93.

This final will be fairly younger tonight. Chase Kalisz is only 20, Max Williamson is 19, and Jay Litherland, Gunnar Bentz, and Corey Okubu are all 18. Compared the the average ages of all the swimmers in the other finals, this is young for a men’s final. I believe we are starting to see the changing of the guard with the veteran swimmers like Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, and Tyler Clary swimming this event.

Women’s 200 Freestyle – Prelims

Cierra Runge powered through her final 50 to claim the top seed in the women’s 200 freestyle from lane 2. She touched the wall at 1:59.64, just faster than Missy Franklin’s time of 1:59.78 from heat 6. They were the only two swimmers to break 2 minutes.

Jordan Mattern, Elizabeth Pelton, Brittney MacLean, and Simone Manuel were all at 2:00. Allison Schmitt finished third in the final heat, touching the wall at 2:01.28 with the 8th fastest time of the A flight.

Men’s 200 Freestyle – Prelims

The men’s 200 freestyle was fast this morning! Clay Youngquist had the fastest time of the A flgiht. He looked very confident taking out his first 50 and was able to hold on through the end of the race. He looked like he was being a little more aggressive than the second place qualifier, Conor Dwyer. Dwyer had the second place time of 1:49.22 and looked incredibly smooth the whole way. Yannick Agnel won a slower final heat out by himself with a 1:49.27.

Mitch D’Arrigo got big for his last 100 meters, running down Michael Phelps in the lane next to him to overtake him in the final 25 meters. D’Arrigo won the first seeded heat with his time of 1:49.57, just ahead of Phelps’ 1:49.61.

Women’s 200 Backstroke – Prelims

Liz Pelton had the fastest time of the morning in the women’s 200 backstroke out of the first seeded heat. Pelton is roughly a second ahead of Hilary Caldwell and Missy Franklin at 2:10.41. Caldwell and Frankiln touched the wall at 2:11.53 and 2:11.60, respectively. Elizabeth Beisel was fourth this morning during the A-flight at 2:12.48.

Jordan Mattern blew out one of the early heats to post the ninth fastest time of the morning at 2:13.98. That should put her into finals unless someone from the B-Flight can sneak there way into finals.

Men’s 200 Backstroke – Prelims

Connor Green with an unreal stroke rate on the last 50.

Arkady Vyatchanin had the fastest time of the morning out of the final heat of the men’s 200 backstroke. His stroke was funny to compare against Tyler Clary’s, making Clary look small. Vyatchanin touched the wall at 1:59.16 ahead of Clary’s second place qualifying time of 1:57.76. They were the only two under 2 minutes.

Connor Green won the 6th heat with an unreal stroke rate on the last 50 of his 200 back. He had the third fastest time of the day at 2:00.91. Corey Main, Jacob Pebley, Omar Pinzon, and Corey Okubu were all at 2:01 and 2:02.

It was interesting to see that Ryan Murphy was a no show from the first seeded heat.

Women’s 50 Freestyle – Prelims

Cheyenne threw down a great morning swim to claim the top seed in the women’s 50 freestyle. Coffman touched the wall at 25.27. Simone Manuel was second with her time of 25.49, only .10 ahead of Maddison Kennedy at 25.59. Maddy Schaefer, Ivy Martin, Megan Romano, Amy Bilquist, and Kasey Carlson were the other swimmers under 26 seconds.

 Men’s 50 Freestyle – Prelims

Bruno Fratus didn’t have the best 100 freestyle last night, but he put up a solid morning swim to qualify as the top seed in the men’s 50 freestyle with a 22.53. He is just ahead of Anthony Ervin, Alex Coville, Adam Brown, and Paul Powers, who were all under 23 seconds. Josh Schneider and Brad Tandy tied at 23.03. 23.07 was the ninth fastest time from the A-flight.