2015 U.S. National Championships
- Thursday, August 6 – Monday, August 10
- Northside Swim Center – San Antonio, Texas
- Prelims 9AM/Finals 6PM (Central Daylight Time)
- Full coverage
- Full results
There were many exciting moments in San Antonio, Texas last weekend. Thanks to USA Swimming’s YouTube channel we can relive them over and over again. Although choosing our favorite races is somewhat akin to choosing our favorite children, we nevertheless present below five of our most memorable racing moments –ex-Michael Phelps, that is– from U.S. National Championships.
Women’s 400 Meter Freestyle A Final – Lindsay Vrooman
Lane 1: Lindsay Vrooman, 23 Badger Swim Club-MR 4:07.88 – 1st place
Lane 2: Courtney Harnish, 16 York YMCA-MA 4:08.22 – 3rd place
Lane 3: Hali Flickinger, 21 Athens Bulldog Swim Club-GA 4:07.93 – 2nd place
Lane 4: Allison Schmitt, 25 North Baltimore Aquatic Club-MD 4:09.59 – 6th place
Lane 5: Stephanie Peacock, 23 Mission Viejo Nadadores-CA 4:08.50 – 4th place
Lane 6: Sierra Schmidt, 17 North Baltimore Aquatic Club-MD 4:09.52 – 5th place
Lane 7: *Hou Yawen, 16 Mission Viejo Nadadores-CA 4:10.15 – 8th place
Lane 8: Hannah Cox, 17 Upper Valley Aquatic Club-NE 4:09.61 – 7th place
After 350 meters of great racing, there was a fierce battle going on among lanes 1, 2, 3, and 5 down the stretch. The top four traded stroke-for-stroke from the flags to the wall, and even after a dozen viewings, it’s still not obvious who will come out on top. In the end, Lindsay Vrooman in lane 1 had got her hand to the wall .05 ahead of Hali Flickinger in lane 3, but it takes a slow-motion viewing to see it.
Women’s 200 Meter IM A Final – Caitlin Leverenz
We file this one in the “it’s never over until it’s over” category. Caitlin Leverenz took control early on but Madisyn Cox, who had put up the morning’s fastest time and was swimming in lane 4, chased her down over the final 25 meters but just ran out of pool, losing by a slim .05 margin.
Lane 1: Emily Cameron, 20 Athens Bulldog Swim Club-GA 2:12.54 – 5th place
Lane 2: Meaghan Raab, 19 Nashville Aquatic Club-SE/Georgia 2:13.96 – 7th place
Lane 3: Sarah Henry, 23 Aggie Swim Club-GU/Texas A&M 2:12.25 – 4th place
Lane 4: Madisyn Cox, 20 Longhorn Aquatic-ST/Univ. 2:10.75 – 2nd place
Lane 5: Caitlin Leverenz, 24 California Aquatics-PC 2:10.70 – 1st place
Lane 6: Bethany Galat, 19 Aggie Swim Club-GU/Texas A&M 2:12.13 – 3rd place
Lane 7: 6 Karlee Bispo, 25 Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics-PC 2:13.37 – 6th place
Lane 8: Justine Bowker, 28 T2 Aquatics-FL 2:14.21 – 8th place
Men’s 200 Meter Freestyle A Final – Maxime Rooney
Four bodies came to the wall together, but when the waves settled, it was the youngest swimmer in the field, Maxime Rooney, who got the touch. Rooney’s winning 1:47.10 is now the second-fastest time in 17-18 history.
Lane 1: * Tom Kremer, 20 North Baltimore Aquatic Club-MD 1:50.03 – 7th place
Lane 2: Trevor Carroll, 20 University of Louisville-KY 1:50.13 – 8th place
Lane 3: Maxime Rooney, 17 Pleasanton Seahawks-PC 1:47.10 – 1st place
Lane 4: Pieroni Blake, 19 Indiana University-IN 1:47.30 – 3rd place
Lane 5: Frank Dyer, 23 North Baltimore Aquatic Club-MD 1:48.47 – 5th place
Lane 6: Townley Haas, 18 NOVA of Virginia Aquatics, Inc-VA 1:47.55 – 4th place
Lane 7: Michael Wynalda, 23 Club Wolverine-MI 1:49.50 -6th place
Lane 8: Zane Grothe, 23 Badger Swim Club,Inc.-MR 1:47.11 – 2nd place
Men’s 200 Meter Breaststroke B Final – Reece Whitley
Reece Whitley became the first 15-16 year old in history to break the 2:12 barrier in the men’s 200 meter breaststroke, and he’s still 15 (6’7” and possibly not done growing). His second half in this race is something to behold.
Lane 1: Chandler Bray, 16 Avon Community Swim Team-IN 2:14.17 – 14th place
Lane 2: Tanner Kurz, 22 Indiana University-IN 2:13.90 – 13th place
Lane 3: Brad Craig, 26 Tennessee Aquatics-SE/CUDA 2:15.41 – 16th place
Lane 4: Sean Mahoney, 26 Unattached-PC 2:13.05 – 11th place
Lane 5: Reece Whitley, 15 Penn Charter Aquatic Club-MA 2:11.30 – 9th place
Lane 6: * Nicholas Schafer, 23 Wisconsin Aquatics-WI 2:13.10 – 12th place
Lane 7: Andrew Seliskar, 18 Nation’s Capital Swim Club-PV 2:13.02 – 10th place
Lane 8: * Jonathan Rutter, 19 Unattached PCY-OH 2:14.82 – 15th place
Men’s 100 Meter Breaststroke A Final – Andrew Wilson
Andrew Wilson proved it was no fluke when he broke 1:00 in prelims by doing it again in finals to win the National Championship title. Wilson came within 6/10 of the meet record and posted the 11th-fastest time in the world for the 2015-16 season.
Lane 1: Brad Craig, 26 Tennessee Aquatics-SE/CUDA 1:00.63 – 3rd place
Lane 2: Marcus Titus, 29 Tucson Ford Dealers Aquatics-AZ 1:00.99 – 7th place
Lane 3: Chuck Katis, 22 California Aquatics-PC/NCAP 1:00.69 – 4th place
Lane 4: Andrew Wilson, 21 Longhorn Aquatics-ST 59.65 – 1st place
Lane 5: * Craig Benson, 21 Scottish Swimming-US 1:00.13 – 2nd place
Lane 6 * Nicholas Schafer, 23 Wisconsin Aquatics-WI 1:00.78 – 5th place
Lane 7: * Michael Jamieson, 27 Scottish Swimming-US 1:00.82 – 6th place
Lane 8: Samuel Tierney, 22 Unattached UMIZ-MV 1:01.17 – 8th place
You can watch all the race videos on USA Swimming’s YouTube Channel here.
Reece Whitley is a good swimmer. BUT at age 15 Dániel Gyurta won a silver medal (with 2.10.80) in the men’s 200 m breaststroke at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games.
Don’t get me wrong but i seriously don’t care what gyurta did long ago / Here, we care about what Whitley will do in the next few months / years ! These are 2 totally different swimmers in a different age of swimming – comparisons are hard to draw at this point .
Reese Whitley really jammed his walls. We’ve all taken 1/2 stroke into the wall, but he took 1/8 stroke into that 100 turn. Then a half stroke on the finish too.
That’s good though! Easy fix with room for improvement.
And USA swimming, thanks for the webcasts all year and for posting the race videos on youtube but please, I believe that the entire planet is still waiting for the men’s 100 A-Final video. Thanks.
fly
The insane last 50 by Zane Groth in the men’s 400 free too. And a great 3.45 to win the race.
Grothe
Apart from all MP races, I would also Laura Sogar’s 200 breast win for having not given up and coming back stronger than ever. And for her contagious smile too.