2017 NCSA Junior Nationals: Day 5 Finals LIVE Recap

2017 NCSA JUNIOR NATIONALS

• Tuesday, March 14 – Saturday, March 18, 2017
• Tuesday Timed Finals 4:00 PM Eastern
• Wed-Sat Prelims 8:30 AM / Finals 6:00 PM Eastern
• Live Stream
• Live results available on Meet Mobile
• Results will be posted here after each session

Tonight’s finals at the 2017 NCSA Junior National Championships will include both men and women’s 50 backstroke, 200 IM, 50 freestyle and 1650 freestyle as well as the 400 medley relays.

Reece Whitley and Margaret Aroesty will be looking to add another title to their slate at the NCSA Juniors in the 200 IM. Both Whitley and Aroesty head into finals with three titles already. Penn Charter’s Whitley won the 50, 100 and 200 breaststroke while Long Island Aquatic Club’s Aroesty was first in the 100 and 200 breaststroke as well as the 800 freestyle relay.

Carly Quast is the top qualifier in the 50 backstroke for the women while Tyler Sesvold, who is an Alabama commit, qualified first for the men.

Grace Countie will have a busy night as the top seed in the women’s 50 freestyle and she’s seeded third in the 50 backstroke with just the 200 IM in-between.

Keep refreshing this page for event-by-event updates of all of the action from Orlando.              

GIRLS 50 BACK – FINALS

Top 3:

1. Carly Quast, AQJT – 24.58
2. Ashlyn Schoof, EBSC – 24.78
3. Phoebe Bacon, NCAP – 24.82

The 50 Backstroke created a close race, but top seed Carly Quast came away with the win. She used her quick speed to her advantage popping up first off the start and took the lead heading into the turn. Coming down on the last 15-yards, Ashlyn Schoof started to close the gap, but it was Quast who got her hand on the wall first. Quast finished in a 24.58 after swimming a 25.16 this morning in prelims.

BOYS 50 BACK – FINALS

Top 3:

1. Luke Sobolewski, CM – 21.81
2. Tyler Sesvold, SCST – 21.83
3. Spencer Walker, ACAD – 22.21

Tyler Sesvold came into the 50 Backstroke as the top seed and was certainly quick off the start, but it was Luke Sobolewski who finished first. Both Sobolewski and Sesvold got under the 22 second mark and finished within two hundredths of each other. Sobolewski dropped 0.46 from his swim in prelims, which was a 22.27.

GIRLS 1650 – FINALS

Top 3:

1. Sierra Schmidt, CW – 15:59.82
2. Madison Homovich, MOR – 16:09.89
3. Isabella Rongione, NCAP – 16:14.96

While Madison Homovich and Isabella Rongione swam next to each other at night in finals, it was Club Wolverine’s Sierra Schmidt who finished first in the 1650 Freestyle with a time of 15:59.82  earlier in the day. Schmidt dropped 20.58 seconds from her seed time. She swam 100 splits consistently averaging 58 seconds.

Tonight, Marlins of Raleigh‘s Homovich led the field with Nation’s Capital’s Rongione hanging on. Once the 1,000 mark hit, MOR’s 16-year-old started to pull away and found clear water to finish off the race.

GIRLS 200 IM – FINALS

Top 3:

1. Margaret Aroesty, LIAC – 1:57.19 & Julia Poole, MOR – 1:57.19
2. Genevieve Pfeifer, CSP – 1:58.53

One of the most competitive races for Day 5 was the 200 IM. In order to finish in the top 5 this year, it took swimming under 2 minutes. To determine the first place winner, it came down to a tie between Long Island Aquatic Club‘s Margaret Aroesty and Marlins of Raleigh‘s Julia Poole – both finishing at 1:57.19.

While Poole split a little bit faster on the front half, Aroesty really stayed in the race using the breaststroke leg to her advantage and coming from behind to tie the race. Here’s a closer look at their splits:

BOYS 200 IM – FINALS

Top 3:

1. Reece Whitley, PCAC – 1:44.01
2. Darren Durocher, NCAP – 1:47.97
3. Will Cumberland, NCAP – 1:48.23

Penn Charter’s Reece Whitley certainly didn’t disappoint with this race adding another title from NCSA Juniors. Coming down 4.70 seconds from this morning, the 17-year-old was just off of his best time of a 1:43.93. He still finished over three seconds faster than the rest of the field. Second and third place came down to Nation’s Capital’s teammates Darren Durocher and Will Cumberland. Durocher dropped 2.95 seconds from his seed time of 1:50.92 while Cumberland dropped 0.24 from an entry time of 1:48.77.

GIRLS 50 FREE – FINALS

Top 3:

1. Grace Countie, MOR – 22.37
2. Julia Cook, AGS – 22.52
3. Morgan Tankersley, GTSA – 22.69

Marlins of Raleigh‘s Grace Countie received her first individual win of the meet in the 50 freestyle edging out Julia Cook by just 0.15 . The 17-year-old dropped 0.11 seconds from her best time of 22.48 before this meet. All of the top three finishers stepped up at finals and went faster than they did in prelims with Cook making the most notable difference going 0.33 seconds faster.

This was a stacked race with all three swimmers taking home a title from NCSA Juniors in the freestyle events. Cook won the 100 freestyle earlier this week while Tankersley won the 200 freestyle.

BOYS 50 FREE – FINALS

Top 3:

1. Thomas Hallock, MACH – 20.15
2. Colson Moore, SEVA – 20.35
3. Jack Dolan, RSCA – 20.37

In a race where every hundredth of a second matters, there was only a difference of 0.59 between first and eighth place in the 50 freestyle. Machine Aquatics’ Thomas Hallock walked away with his first individual title of the meet. The Virginia Tech commit swam 0.10 faster at finals compared to his prelims swim. Rounding out the top three were Moore and Dolan who were only separated by 0.02. Dolan had momentum coming off of a strong day yesterday where he won the 100 backstroke and the 100 freestyle.

BOYS 1650 FREE – FINALS

Top 3:

1. Matthew Hirschberger, NCAP – 15:06.63
2. William Roberts, NAAC – 15:09.66
3. Robert Freeman, BAY – 15:15.19

Nation’s Capital’s  Matthew Hirschberger ended his last individual swim at NCSA Juniors on a high note winning the 1650 freestyle. Hirschberger got off to a quick start leading at the 800 by 7 seconds with a split of 7:13.30. While the Stanford commit swam in clear water most of the way, William Roberts didn’t let Hirschberger get too far away. Roberts’ last nine 50 splits were all 27.99 or faster getting down to 26.98 on the final 50 where he closed the gap. Hirschberger’s last couple of 50 splits were at 28 seconds.

GIRLS 400 MEDLEY RELAY – FINALS

Top 3:

1. Nation’s Capital Swim Club “A” – 3:38.01
2. Long Island Aquatic Club “A” – 3:39.06
3. Marlins of Raleigh “A” – 3:40.13

Nation’s Capital finished NCSA Juniors with another win for the 400 Medley Relay by just over a second. Phoebe Bacon (53.70), Abigail Harter (1:02.12), Isabella Gati (53.55), and Katelyn Mack (48.64) teamed up for a 3:38.01 securing a first place finish.

Second place went to Long Island Aquatic Club‘s team of Kristen Romano (54.31), Margaret Aroesty (59.99), Lauryn Johnson (55.06) and Chloe Stepanek (49.70) putting up a time of 3:39.06.

Marlins of Raleigh finished off the meet with a third place finish in the 400 Medley Relay. The team made up of Grace Countie (54.76), Ashley McCauley (1:01.38), Madison Homovich (54.01) and Kathleen Moore (49.98) swam to a 3:40.13 finish.

BOYS 400 MEDLEY RELAY – FINALS

Top 3:

1. Nation’s Capital Swim Club “A” – 3:15.22
2. St. Charles Swim Team “A” – 3:17.30
3. Nation’s Capital Swim Club “B” – 3:17.34

Nation’s Capital continued to dominate the relays finishing first and third in the 400 Medley Relay. Their “A” team finished nearly two seconds ahead of the pack. The team swam to a 3:15.22 and was made up of Will Cumberland (48.99), Timothy Wu (54.51), Samuel Pomajevich (47.05), and Brandon Hamblin (44.67).

St. Charles finished in second when Mitchell Milosch (49.93), William Myhre (54.53), Tyler Sesvold (47.82) and Kyle Dunlap (45.02) teamed up for a 3:17.30.

Just 0.04 behind St. Charles was Nation’s Capital “B” team. Swimmers Darren Durocher (48.90), Spencer Rowe (54.94), Cole Cooper (48.90), and Allen Ross (44.60) finished in a 3:17.34.