2016 Arena Pro Swim Series – Charlotte: Day 2 Prelims Scratch Report

2016 ARENA PRO SWIM SERIES – CHARLOTTE

• Thursday May 12th-Sunday May 15th, 2016
• Mecklenburg Aquatic Center – Charlotte, North Carolina
• Thursday May 12th – Timed Finals – 4:00 pm EDT
• Friday-Sunday – Prelims – 9:00 am EDT   Finals – 6 pm EDT
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results

Even without the likes of superstars Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky, the Arena Pro Swim in Charlotte is still ripe with talent, primarily from the home-based SwimMAC Elite crew. Ryan Lochte, Katie Meili and Tyler Clary are just a few of the names highlighting this morning’s prelims heat sheets, but there are a few notable swimmers missing from races, per below.

Scratches

• Women’s 200m freestyle – Elizabeth Beisel is a scratch from both this event, as well as the 400m IM later in the session. The Gator Swim Club athlete is also on the psych sheets for the Atlanta Classic, so look for her to take to the Georgia Tech pool tomorrow instead. Also scratching this event today is Ohio State Swim Club’s Sam Cheverton, the 2nd-seeded swimmer in this event. Megan Romano is also absent from this morning’s heat sheet, but so is SoFlo teammate Claire Donahue. Donahue told SwimSwam she is targeting a meet in Bermuda next weekend instead of Charlotte as their pre-Trials preparation.
• Men’s 200m freestyle – In yesterday’s press conference, Ryan Lochte alluded to the fact he’d be swimming today’s 400m IM ‘fresh’, so it’s not a shock to see he’s dropped the men’s 200m freestyle event. His absence may or may not be a clue to his Trials line-up, as it would be hard to imagine the 31-year-old not including the 200m free as an event in Omaha. Nonetheless, his scratch bumps Brazilian stud Joao De Lucca up to the top seed entering the morning session.
• Women’s 100m breaststroke – Pro swimmer Laura Sogar was another name listed on both the Charlotte and Atlanta Classic psych sheets, so there was a 50/50 chance we’d see a scratch here this morning. The BlueFish Swim Club athlete carried the 7th seed in the women’s 100m breaststroke. Long Island Aquatic Club’s Margaret Aroesty is also a scratch for this event, as well as the women’s 400m IM.
• Men’s 100m breaststroke – Two Ohio State-based swimmers are absent from the heat sheets in this morning’s sprint breaststroke event. 4th-seeded DJ MacDonald and 18th-seeded Dustin Tynes are both no-shows on the docket in Charlotte today.
• Women’s 50m backstroke – Canada’s Taylor Ruck has opted to focus on the 200m freestyle race this morning, as has Michigan’s Gabbie DeLoof. Both are slated to swim the first event of the morning, but have scratched this sprint backstroke race.
• Men’s 50m backstroke – Louisville’s Grigory Tarasevich will not be contesting the men’s 50m backstroke. He carried the 2nd seed in the event.
• Women’s 100m butterfly – As mentioned, South Florida’s Claire Donahue is a scratch for the entire meet, so we won’t get to see the three-way show-down among her Dana Vollmer and Kelsi Worrell in this event. However, the young Canadian, Penny Oleksiak may step in to elevate the action in this highly anticipated battle.
• Men’s 100m butterfly – Ohio State’s Henrique Painhas, the incoming 11th seed is a scratch in this event.
• Women’s 400m IM – As stated, Elizabeth Beisel is a total scratch on the meet, but Louisville graduate Tanja Kylliainen is also a scratch on this, one of her signature events.
• Men’s 400 IM – 3rd-seeded Luke Reilly of UBC Dolphins is absent from this morning’s heat sheet, bumping Michigan’s Ian Rainey into the final heat of the morning.