Night 3 of the NCSA Junior Nationals will see a couple of big-name juniors go for dual individual titles. Headlining is U.S. Pan Pacs team member Andrew Seliskar, who holds the top seeds in the 400 IM and 50 fly after some very solid morning swims. Seliskar is set to tackle both events again in the long course pool tonight, hoping to translate his recent 3:37 short course 400 IM to an equivalent long course time and turning the 50 fly from down-and-back race to a pure, long course drag race.
On the girls’ side, US Short Course World Champs team member Katie Drabot has a shot at two wins. Drabot is the top qualifier in the 200 free, but will have a solid race with Roadrunner’s Stanzi Moseley, and Saint Andrews’ Megan Moroney. Drabot will also swim the 400 IM, where she’s the third seed behind top qualifier Emily Barksdale.
Other notable top seeds: USC commit Carsten Vissering is the top 50 breaststroker on the boys side, with New Trier’s Ingrid Wall leading the girls. Alexandra Preiss of the Aquajets of Minnesota is the top seed in the girls 50 fly, and Knox Auerbach of Dynamo leads the boys 200 free.
Keep refreshing this page for live, event-by-event updates of all the action in Orlando tonight.
2015 NCSA Junior Nationals
- Tuesday, March 17 – Saturday, March 21, 2015
- Orlando YMCA – Orlando, Florida
- Prelims 8:30 AM / Finals 6:00 PM (Eastern Time)
- Prelims: Short Course Yards / Finals: Long Course Meters
- Results available on Meet Mobile under “2015 NCSA Spring Championship”
Girls 200 Free
17-year-old Katie Drabot out of Ozaukee Aquatics in Wisconsin won the first event on Thursday night, going 2:00.02 to take the 200 free. That’s not a best time for Drabot, who has been as fast as 1:58.7 before, but it was still plenty enough to crush the field at NCSA’s.
Second-seeded Stanzi Moseley of Roadrunner was a scratch out the final; she was the most likely candidate to push Drabot for the win. Instead, second went to Megan Moroney, a home-grown Florida talent from Saint Andrew’s. Moroney, a Virginia commit, went 2:01.45, about six tenths off her best.
Chattahoochee Gold’s Lauren Case was third at 2:02.76, leading a trio of 16-year-olds. Also in that group: Reilly Lanigan out of Patriot Aquatic Club in Illinois (2:03.37) and Paige Madden of the City of Mobile (2:03.71).
Genevieve Pfeifer was 2:04.55 to just touch out Caroline McTaggart (2:04.71) for sixth, and Poseidon’s Sydney Pesetti closed out the A final in 2:06.59. The B final gave us the fourth-fastest long course time of the day, with Sydney Lofquist going 2:02.80 to take 9th overall.
Boys 200 Free
The second seed after this morning’s short course prelims, Ohio state champ Grant House took over the final, going 1:50.79 to crack his personal best and take home the win. House’s previous best time was a 1:51.1 from last year’s YMCA Nationals.
NCAP’s Matthew Hirschberger, who has been on a record tear this week in the longer freestyle races, moved up to third, smashing his own personal best by well over a second with a 1:51.23. Machine’s James Murphy was just behind in 1:52.01, and top prelims qualifier Knox Auerbach fell back to fourth in 1:52.22 for Dynamo.
After those top four, things dropped off a bit. 5th and 6th came in right together, with Thomas Cope (1:54.35) just beating out Justin Ress (1:54.64). Capping off the A final were Adrian Lin of NCAP (1:55.46) and Ryan Baker (1:57.97) of Arlington.
Once again, the B final put up a fast time, with Rory Lewis of Machine going 1:52.63 to take 9th with the 5th-fastest time overall. Also of note from the C Final: Baylor’s Robert Freeman broke the 13-14 National Age Group record with a 1:53.31. The old mark belonged to Tom Kremer at 1:53.52.
Girls 50 Breast
While the race this morning was between the younger swimmers, Aquajets 17-year-old Olivia Anderson roared by the field in finals to take the win in 31.81. That beat out 14-year-old NAG record-breaker Alexis Wenger (32.20) and top qualifier Ingrid Wall of New Trier (32.36). Anderson is slated to swim for the Texas Longhorns next season.
Riley Scott, a USC commit out of the Marin Pirates, went 32.85 for fifth, and Madleine Vonderhaar joined her under 33 with a 32.95.
York’s Jacqueline Clabeaux (33.35) and Southwest Aquatics’ Katherine Wells (33.65) rounded out the A final.
9th went to Shoreview (WI)’s Rachel Munson at 32.46, the fourth-best time of the night.
Boys 50 Breast
Nation’s Capital Swim Club nabbed the win in the boys 50 breaststroke thanks to high school senior Carsten Vissering. The USC commit went 28.34 to take home the title, beating out Counsilman Center Swim Team and Indiana commit Ian Finnerty (28.51).
Also in the 28s was Maverick’s Matthew Salerno at 28.70.
Xcel’s Ethan Browne moved all the way from 7th to 4th in the final, going 29.14 and just touching out Arlington’s Ben Gorski (29.26). The Bolles School’s Daniel Chang also got under 30, going 29.64. Just on the other end of that barrier were Thomas Cope (30.04) and Brennan Pastorek (30.12).
Girls 400 IM
A spirited 400 IM battle ultimately left Ozaukee’s Katie Drabot with her second win of the night. Drabot charged out to a lead with big fly (1:04.8) and back (1:15.7) splits, but Long Island Aquatic Club’s Margaret Aroesty blasted past her on breaststroke with a giant 1:18.7 split.
That left Drabot about two seconds behind and in full run-down mode, but the 17-year-old high school junior had plenty of closing burst to take back the lead. Her 1:04.3 free split beat the 15-year-old Aroesty by about two seconds, and Drabot ultimately took the win 4:47.56 to 4:47.89.
Top-seeded Emily Barksdale went 4:50.86 for bronze, just a tick ahead of Iowa Flyers 15-year-old Ruby Martin (4:51.01) and Carly Cummings of the Condors (4:51.70).
The final wave of A finalists were led by Alexis Preski of the Academy Bullets in 4:56.57, with Sydney Lofquist (4:57.27) and Eirini Moshos (4:59.76) just trailing.
Boys 400 IM
Seeking two titles of his own to match Drabot for tonight, Nation’s Capital 18-year-old Andrew Seliskar went 4:16.51 to crush the 400 IM field. That’s just a half-second off a lifetime-best for the U.S. National Teamer and is one of the faster times we’ve seen in the world in this young year.
Seliskar left the field in his dust, winning the event by about 8 seconds. He’ll be back to swim the 50 fly shortly.
Second went to NOVA (VA)’s Charles Swanson in 4:24.44, who used big breast and free splits to pass Alex Lebed (4:24.75). Lincoln Select’s Brennan Balogh was also quick on the breaststroke leg but faded on free to finish 4th in 4:26.75.
A ways back from that crew, Zach Harting of Huntsville went 4:30.18 to beat FAST’s Nicholas Alexander (4:30.78) while Justin Ress (4:34.25) and Frederick Schubert (4:36.05) rounded out the top 8.
Ross Palazzo from Hudson topped the consol heat, going 4:27.20.
Girls 50 Fly
The closest race of the night was the girls 50 fly, where a one-length showdown between All Star’s Caroline McTaggart and Chattahoochee Gold’s Lauren Case came down to just two hundredths. At the wall it was McTaggart who took the win in 27.12, with Case second at 27.14.
Aquajets swimmer Alexandra Preiss was third, going 27.35 to beat NCAP 15-year-old Cassidy Bayer‘s 27.44. Preiss’s Aquajets teammate Zoe Avestruz, a high-profile Minnesota Gopher recruit, was the last swimmer under 28 with a 27.89.
Saint Andrew’s Darby Goodwin (28.17), KC Swim’s Cailey Grunhard (28.23) and Delta’s Carly Kramer (28.45) closed the heat in 6th, 7th and 8th.
The B final went to New Trier 16-year-old Ingrid Wall in 27.72.
Boys 50 Fly
Andrew Seliskar completed his double on the day with a 23.97 to win the boys 50 fly. Swimming a time that sounds more like a freestyle swim than a butterfly one, Seliskar once again blew out the field, using his big underwater kicking to take home the title.
Second was his NCAP teammate James Jones at 24.73. While Seliskar is a monster across nearly every distance, Jones is one of the top sprint specialists in high school swimming right now as a junior.
Huntsville’s Zach Harting, coming off the 400 IM just like Seliskar, took bronze in 24.98, just ahead of Knox Auerbach, another busy swimmer in his second A final of the night. Auerbach was 25.12.
Murphy McQuet of New Trier took fifth in 25.26, followed closely by Frederick Schubert (25.32), Noah Hensley (25.43) and Steffen Mount (25.50).
Meanwhile in the B heat, Dynamo’s Cash Deloache went 25.11 to take 9th overall.
Nothing new but Seliskar is clearly a beast in yards and a very good swimmer in long course.
Very lucky Cal team.
His only chance to qualify for Rio will be in the 200 fly. And I think he has a very good chance to do it. That event is very weak right now in USA. It’s very open with no big star and he has everything to take the power of that event in USA in my opinion. He should train most of his time until the next olympic trials for the 200 fly.
Swimming that level in the 50 fly and 400im back to back is ridiculous. Thats Ryan Lochte/Michael Phelps range
Robert Freeman(14), new NAG Record, 200m freestyle 1:53.31
Thanks for the news.
I didn’t see that NAG record happen at all.
I should have been. Because he swam 1.38.96 last month in yards. So it was a good sign of form.
Congrats to him. His PB in LCM before this week was 1.55.91 last July.
Does anyone know how tall Seliskar is? He doesn’t seem to have a Phelpsian build…looks more like he’s 5-11, 6-0 and probably closer to Lochte in terms of physique.
Know him personally. He’s about 5’10”.
Watching his 400IM its incredible how much distance per stroke Seliskar gets despite his build. In that way, he reminds of of Erik Vendt in his prime. Seliskar’s endurance capacity may never match Vendt, but his athleticism and underwaters are much better. Very excited to see what he does in 2016.
Size wise he swims like a taller version of Philip Weiss … and the underwaters are unreal