2017 Winter Juniors East: Day 4 Prelims Live Recap

2017 SPEEDO WINTER JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS – EAST

• December 6 – 9
• Allan Jones Aquatic Center
• Knoxville, TN
• Live results
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheet
• Live Stream
• Saturday Prelims Heat Sheet

The final prelims session of the meet will feature the 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, and 200 fly. The 1650 and 400 free relay will be swum in the finals session tonight. Alex Walsh will look to follow up her huge 100 back win last night in the 200 back today, and will race her sister, Gretchen, in the 100 free. Drew Kibler will be racing in the 100 free and 200 back.

GIRLS 200 BACK

• Jrs Meet Record: 1:50.59, Clara Smiddy, 2013

Alex Walsh looked smooth as she swam her way to victory in the final heat by 2 seconds over Olivia Carter, who dropped a second and a half to earn the 2nd seed for tonight. Walsh shved .02 seconds off her seed time, but was still a second and a half off her personal best of 1:52.07, which she swam at Winter Juniors in 2015. #2 and #3 seeds going into the meet, Sinclair Larson and Julia Menkhaus, both won their heats as well, and both were a little off their seed times. Interestingly, the top 7 seeds in this event all made the A final, and the only swimmer to make the A final who wasn’t seeded in the top 8 was 14-year-old Sadie Runeman, who 1.67 seconds in the 14th of 18 heats to tie for 7th with Caitlin Brooks.

A finalists:

1. Alex Walsh – 1:53.68
2. Olivia Carter – 1:55.65
3. Sinclair Larson – 1:56.05
4. Madison Homovich – 1:56.78
5. Julia Menkhaus – 1:57.16
6. Madelyn Flickinger – 1:57.66
7. Caitlin Brooks/Sadie Runeman – 1:58.39
8. –

BOYS 200 BACK

• Jrs Meet Record: 1:40.79, Jacob Pebley, 2011

Carson Foster controlled the 2nd of the circle seeded heats, winning it by 2 seconds over Drew Kibler. Foster was out in a quick 50.38 on the first 100, which was the only 50-point in the field. It was the top-seeded Destin Lasco, however, who swam the most interesting race. Lasco came into the meet with the fastest seed time of 1:44.02, then took his 1st 100 out in 52.38, making it appear as though he would be a little ways off his best time this morning. However, on the 2nd 100, Lasco really kicked it into gear, dropping a huge negative split of 50.61 on the back 100, which was completed by a blistering 24.91 on the final 50. A negative split like that begs a question: Was that giant negative split a strategy or will Destin Lasco go much faster tonight?

A finalists:

1. Destin Lasco – 1:42.99
2. Carson Foster – 1:44.10
3. Justin Grender – 1:44.93
4. Keegan Walsh – 1:45.65
5. Drew Kibler – 1:46.16
6. John Healy – 1:46.33
7. Joseph Licht – 1:46.39
8. Wyatt Davis – 1:46.42

GIRLS 100 FREE

• Jrs Meet Record: 46.29, Abbigail Weitzeil, 2014

The psych sheet was shaken up a little bit in the 100 free, with the top-seeded Katherine Douglass qualifying for the C final tonight, and 2nd and 3rd seeds Morgan Tankersley and Sarah Grinalds not qualifying for finals at all. Gretchen Walsh came out on top this morning, coming in ahead of Kelly Pash by .01 seconds. Olwyn Bartis had a huge swim to qualify 3rd for tonight, dropping a 49.44 from her 57.92 LCM time on the psych sheet. Her fastest SCY time before today was 51.09, set in 2016. Alex Walsh qualified for her 2nd A final of the day, swimming 20 minutes after the 200 back in a way that made it look like she was simply doing what she needed to do to make it back. The race tonight should be an interesting one, as it’s very likely a mid-48 will be needed to win the race.

A finalists:

1. Gretchen Walsh – 49.35
2. Kelly Pash – 49.36
3. Olwyn Bartis – 49.44
4. Christiana Regenauer – 49.47
5. Alex Walsh – 49.68
6. Gertrude Rothrock – 49.82
7. Talia Bates – 49.96
8. Kathleen Golding – 50.07

BOYS 100 FREE

• Jrs Meet Record: 41.23, Ryan Hoffer, 2015

Drew Kibler looked somewhat restrained as he battled Destin Lasco in the final heat of the 100 free. Both Kibler and Lasco were coming off the 200 back about 20 minute before racing in the 100 free, and it was in a prelims session, so it’s hard to try guessing how exactly how much effort they were putting in. However, the biggest story coming out of this again is that Destin Lasco came off that huge negative split in the 200 back to also somehow negative split the 100 free, a rare feat by itself, but also manged to drop .74 seconds in the process. Lasco was out in 21.92 and back in 21.86, marking both the slowest and fastest split in the group to make the top 8.

A finalists:

1. Drew Kibler – 43.71
2. Destin Lasco – 43.78
3. Cody Bybee – 44.01
4. Jack Franzman – 44.31
5. Mason Gonzalez – 44.38
6. David Madej – 44.41
7. Matthew Yish – 44.43
8. Jack Wright 44.60

GIRLS 200 BREAST

• Jrs Meet Record: 2:07.73, Zoe Bartel, 2016

The only swimmer to make the A final and drop time this morning was Claire Donan, who knocked a solid 2.04 seconds off her seed time. For the most part, the swimmers in the middle of the cirlce seeded heats (which is where all the A finalists came from) seemed to be swimming relaxed, making it look like we’ll see much faster swims tonight. Ella Nelson heads into tonight seeded 1st, just .02 seconds ahead of Ashley McCauley.

A finalists:

1. Ella Nelson – 2:11.85
2. Ashley McCauley – 2:11.87
3. Claire Donan – 2:12.39
4. Allison Raab – 2:13.54
5. Emily Weiss – 2:13.61
6. Katherine Douglass – 2:14.50
7. Olivia Paoletti – 2:15.52
8. Mary Christensen – 2:16.24

BOYS 200 BREAST

• Jrs Meet Record: 1:52.37, Reece Whitley, 2016

Jacob Foster, who was already the top seed in this event, dropped a huge best time this morning to give himself a 3.01 second cushion over the 2nd seed for tonight, Calvin Yang. Foster’s previous best time was 1:57.67, which he set in March of this year. Michael Macgillivray dropped dropped 3.32 seconds from his 2:01.98 seed to qualify 3rd for tonight. Kieran Smith dropped 2.03 seconds from his 2:01.36 seed to qualify 5th. The biggest drop of all came from Timothy Connery, who came in 8th after dropping a stunning 5.48 seconds from his seed of 2:05.33. 9th place finisher, Jack McCurdy, also had a huge drop of 4.43 seconds from his seed of 2:04.53 to land him in the top spot for tonight’s B final.

A finalists:

1. Jacob Foster – 1:55.40
2. Calvin Yang – 1:58.41
3. Michael Macgillivray – 1:58.66
4. Andrew Bornstein – 1:58.88
5. Kieran Smith – 1:59.33
6. William Chan – 1:59.47
7. Dillon Hillis – 1:59.69
8. Timothy Connery – 1:59.85

GIRLS 200 FLY

• Jrs Meet Record: 1:54.37, Ella Eastin, 2014

Kelly Pash had a huge drop in her final morning swim of the meet, dropping 3.03 seconds to take the top seed for finals tonight. Olivia Carter came in 2nd this morning, posting a 1:58.51, a ways off from her best time. The 3rd seed going into tonight, Abigail Hay, had an even bigger drop than Pash, taking 3.74 seconds off her previous best time. Caroline Cooper, who came in 4th, dropped 2.91 seconds in the process of doing so. Margaret Berning and Sophie Housey also broke 2-minutes for the first time, bringing the total of girls who broke 2-minutes for the first time this morning to 5.

A finalists:

1. Kelly Pash – 1:57.97
2. Olivia Carter – 1:58.51
3. Abigail Hay – 1:58.94
4. Caroline Cooper – 1:58.98
5. Isabel Traba – 1:59.00
6. Julia Menkhaus – 1:59.48
7. Margaret Berning – 1:59.73
8. Sophie Housey – 1:59.89

BOYS 200 FLY

• Jrs Meet Record: 1:43.64, Robert McHugh, 2013

Mason Wilby remains the top seed going into tonight after he dropped .82 seconds this morning to go a new best time of 1:45.12. Zachary Brown also remains the 2nd seed after dropping .72 seconds to go a new best time of 1:45.47. There was only one person to qualify for the A final who didn’t drop time this morning: Jacob Johnson, who came in 5th, but only added .10 seconds. Cody Bybee, Carson Foster, and Jacob Foster each qualified for their 2nd A final of the day.

A finalists:

1. Mason Wilby – 1:45.12
2. Zachary Brown – 1:45.47
3. Cody Bybee – 1:46.04
4. Carson Foster – 1:46.87
5. Jacob Johnson – 1:46.88
6. Raunak Khosla – 1:46.99
7. Jacob Foster – 1:47.05
8. Sterling Crane – 1:47.27