2015 Arena Pro Swim Series Charlotte: Day Two Prelims Live Recap

Day two prelims feature some very exciting races including the first on Michael Phelps’ schedule. Phelps will have a tough battle in the 100m fly between himself, Tom Shields, Ryan Lochte, and Tim Phillips. The women’s 100m breaststroke is also jam-packed with talent. Jessica Hardy, Breeja Larson, Micah Lawrence, and Emma Reaney are all set to face off there.

2015 ARENA PRO SWIM SERIES โ€“ CHARLOTTE

  • Thursday, May 14 โ€“ Sunday, May 17, 2015
  • Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center, Charlotte, NC
  • Thursday: Timed finals, 4PM (Eastern)
  • Friday-Sunday: Prelims 9AM/Finals 6PM (Eastern)
  • Live Stream
  • Live results
    • Also available via Meet Mobile – “2015 Arena Pro Swim Series at Charlotte”
  • Psych Sheet

WOMEN 200 FREE

Katinka Hosszu of Hungary threw down a very fast 200m freestyle this morning to top the field with a 1:57.09. That time moves her to 12th i the world this year.

Leah Smith was the only other swimmer to dip under the 2-minute barrier with a time of 1:58.68. NBAC’s Allison Schmitt was third overall in 2:00.04 just slightly ahead of Melanie Margalis. At the touch Margalis was a 2:00.05.

Shannon Vreeland will be right in the mix tonight with the 2:00.09 she put up this morning. The remaining three were all closer to 2:01 as Hali Flickinger (2:00.85), Kennedy Goss (2:01.01), and PAtricia Castro Ortega (2:01.21), rounded out the top eight.

MEN 200 FREE

Leading the way against a very tough field in the men’s 200m freestyle was MArwan El Kamash with a 1:49.09. He was the only swimmer to drop into the 1:49-low range. Behind him was Anders Lie Nielsen of Club Wolverine in 1:49.92.

Conor Dwyer was the third fastest overall this morning sporting a 1:49.45. Connor Jaeger and Ryan Lochte followed suit with a 149.91 and a 1:50.19 respectively. Joao De Lucca and Michael Wynalda were the remaining swimmers to crack the top eight.

Tyler Clary, who is fairly new to the 200 freestyle, swam a 1:50.94 to finish 9th overall in the heats and just miss out on the final.

Also missing out on the final was Olympian and former 200 freestyle world record holder Michael Phelps. Phelps swam a 1:51.44 to finish 14th this morning and add almost three-and-a-half seconds from his seed time.

WOMEN 100 BREAST

Katie Meili ripped through the heats this morning to tie the fourth fastest time in the world this year with a prelim-leading 1:06.79. She was over a second ahead of everyone else as her closest competitor appeared to be Jessica Hardy.

Hardy touched in at 1:07.87 to take the second seed tied with Micah Lawrence. Behind the two was Lily King in 1:08.64.

Alia Atkinson, who is now tied for fourth in the world with Meili, was fifth this morning in 1:08.97 to add just about two seconds on her seed time.

Melanie Margalis made her second final of the morning touching in 1:08.98. Molly Hannis (1:09.03) and Laura Sogar (1:09.38) rounded out the top eight.

All results from the women’s 100m breaststroke are official as they swam both the A and B flights at the same time.

MEN 100 BREAST

Brazilian breaststroke star Felipe Lima was the overall leader this morning in the heats of the 100m breaststroke, sporting a 1:01.55 to lead the way at the wall.

Canadian swimmer Richard Funk, who’s representing Club Wolverine, was the second fastest overall with a 1:01.71. He was just ahead of the 2014 US national champion Cody Miller.

Miller was a 1:01.82 this morning to post the fastest time done by an American.

Carlos Calverie was fourth in 1:02.25 followed by Brad Craig (1:02.38), Jorge Murillo Valdes (1:02.51), Nicolas Fink (1:02.59), ย and Josh Prenot (1:02.64).

Age-group star Reece Whitley was just out of a finals spot. He swam a personal best time of 1:02.74 to finish ninth overall in the heats, and take the top seed for tonight’s ‘B’ final.

WOMEN 50 BACK

Olivia Smoliga swam the fastest 50m backstroke this morning in 28.67. She was ahead of Kristy Coventry, who is swimming at her home pool her in Charlotte. Coventry was a 28.89 at the touch.

Taking the third seed was Hellen Moffitt in 29.01 just ahead of Missouri’s Dominique Bouchard. Bouchard will be representing Canada at the World Championships this summer in the backstroke events.

Kathleen Baker, ali Deloof, Danielle Hanus, and Clara Smiddy are the remaining ‘A’ finalists.

MEN 50 BACK

Junya Koga of Club Wolverine came flying into the wall to post the third fastest time in the world this year with a 24.74. He was well ahead of the rest of his competitors as well, establishing himself as the true leader heading into finals.

Tonight, David Plummer and Eugene Godsoe will have something to say about that. They’re seeded second and third respectively with a 25.41 and a 25.56.

Nic Graesser was just behind Godsoe with a 25.66. Miguel Ortiz, Guilherme Guido, Joe Patching, and Kyle Darmody will be joining them in the championship final.

WOMEN 100 FLY

Claire Donohue won the final heat of the women’s 100 butterfly to lead the field into finals. She posted the fastest time of the morning with a 59.31. A great race is set up for this evening between Donohue, Kelsi Worrell, Ariana Vanderpool-Wallace, and Christina Bechtel. They were the only four swimmers under the one minute barrier this morning, although there is a solid group in the 1:00 range as well.

Joining them in finals tonight will most likely be Amanda Kendall, Cassidy Bayer, Kate Mills, and Hellen Moffitt, all of whom were between 1:00.10 and 1:00.37 this morning.

MEN 100 FLY

Tom Shields earned the top seed in the men’s 100 butterfly as the only swimmer to break 53 seconds this morning. He will have the middle of the pool tonight with his morning swim time of 52.78. The rest of the final all fell in the 53 second range. Jack Conger posted the second fastest time of the morning with a 53.47, and Albert Subirats was just behind him with his time of 53.47.

The most exciting element of prelims this morning was that Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte finished fourth and sixth this morning. Although their times were not spectacular at 53.51 and 53.62, respectively, they didย set up a head-to-head race between the themselves. The field is already loaded, but adding in a head-to-head Phelps and Lochte race will always bring energy to the meet.

WOMEN 400 IM

Katinka Hosszu flew through prelims, posting the fastest time of the morning by more than eight seconds. She will remain the third fastest performer in the world this year, but she does improve from her previous season best with the new third fastest time in the world this year at 4:35.76.

2014-2015 LCM Women 400 IM

KatinkaHUN
HOSSZU
08/09
4.30.39
2Maya
DIRADO
USA4.31.7108/09
3Hannah
MILEY
GBR4.32.1504/14
4Emily
OVERHOLT
CAN4.32.5208/09
5Aimee
WILLMOTT
GBR4.33.6604/14
View Top 26»

The top six were all under 4:45 with solid morning swims. Hali Flickinger qualified second at 4:43.79, and Vien Nguyen was third at 4:43.99. The next three swimmers, Caitlin Leverenz, Becca Mann, and Cammile Adams all finished with 4:44’s. Kate Mills and Emily Overhalt stayed under 4:50ย with the 7th ant 8th fastest times of the A flight.

MEN 400 IM

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wave rider
8 years ago

I really think Cordes will pull through and in a couple years Whitley and MA are right there behind him… So much for the breaststroke problem in the US. Now if we can only get some more pure 100 freestylers other than Nathan Adrian…

CoachJohn
8 years ago

Where’s Michael Andrew these days?

Admin
Reply to  CoachJohn
8 years ago

Coachjohn – he’s spent most of 2015 training and racing in South Africa.

Danjohnrob
8 years ago

Good luck to SwimSwam’s Jared Anderson tonight! Beat Andrew Seliskar! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Becky D
8 years ago

What is it with all the down votes today? It’s Friday! Be happy!

Zanna
8 years ago

Looking forward to the Men’s 100fly and 400im tonight! Both are loaded.

bobo gigi
8 years ago

Ok guys. Prelims over for me. See you for the finals.

bobo gigi
8 years ago

Kate Ziegler 2.04.33 in the 200 free prelims

Glenny
8 years ago

It’s only prelims I am really not worried about Phelps especially with the amount of training he is doing. Shields looked very good though

bobo gigi
Reply to  Glenny
8 years ago

Not worried either.
If MP trains as hard as he said it in Mesa, we can’t expect something fast before August and US nationals.
I have checked his past performances of May in training meets. Except suit period.
200 free
2002: 1.52.36
2006: 1.52.08
2007: 1.49.39
2010: 1.47.73
2011: 1.49.89
2012: 1.48.01

100 fly
2004: 52.39
2007: 53.66
2010: 53.41
2014: 52.13

Anyway he’ll swim the 200 fly this week. You can’t lie with that event. The 200 fly has always been his barometer.
In may 2001 he swam 1.57.61.
May 2003: 1.59.12
May 2005: 1.57.31
May 2006: 2.00.56 It didn’t prevent him… Read more ยป

Glenny
Reply to  bobo gigi
8 years ago

For him to go a little faster while doing more training according to Bowman is a huge sign, you are completely right that he always put down better times in August even after going times like these. Very excited to see what the 200 fly brings. Last year when NBAC came down to St. Petersburg, FL (my home pool) for training Phelps physically looked much different and not as in shape. He is much leaner now, hopefully an indicator of good training.

Danjohnrob
Reply to  bobo gigi
8 years ago

Thanks for all of that background info, Bobo! The fact that MP actually swam his 100 fly slower at this meet in 2007 really puts things in perspective! Hopefully he’ll stick to his guns and swim both races tonight and try to improve those prelim times a little like he would have done in 2007 too!

We Love Phelps
Reply to  bobo gigi
8 years ago

thanks Bobo Gigi! you are so resourceful. we US fans & this swimswam site are very grateful to you for all the swimming info you’ve provided us. ๐Ÿ˜€

About Mitch Bowmile

Mitch Bowmile

Mitch worked for 5-years with SwimSwam news as a web producer focusing on both Canadian and international content. He coached for Toronto Swim Club for four seasons as a senior coach focusing on the development of young swimmers. Mitch is an NCCP level 2 certified coach in Canada and an ASCA Level โ€ฆ

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