2017 Winter Juniors West: Day 4 Prelims Live Recap

2017 SPEEDO WINTER JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS – WEST

• December 6 – 9
• University of Iowa Recreation Center
• Iowa City, IA
• Live results
• Live stream
• Meet Central
• Saturday Girls Heat Sheet
• Saturday Boys 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. Katharine Berkoff is seeded 1st in the girls 200 back and will look to build on her huge 51.95 win in the 100 back last night. Jack Dolan will look to do the same after going 47.10 in the 100 back last night. Daniel Roy is the top seed in the boys 200 breast by over 2 and a half seconds, and will have his sights set on his own West meet record, set last year. Lucie Nordmann and Julia Cook will face off again, this time in the 100 free, where they’re both seeded less than 2 tenths of a second off the pool record of 48.28. Zoe Bartel will look to take down here own Jr. Nationals combined record in the 200 breast after breaking her own West meet record in the 100 last night. Ruby Martin comes into the 200 fly less than half a second off the combined Jr. Nats record set by Ella Eastin in 2014.

GIRLS 200 BACK

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

Julia Cook, who was seeded 4th, declared false start this morning. The 1st of the circle seeded heats was a big one, seeing 4 swimmers qualify for the A final tonight: Ryhan White, Audrey Reimer, Bayley Stewart, and Danielle Carter. Only one came from the 2nd circle seeded heat, and that was Lucie Nordmann, who qualified 2nd, .01 seconds behind Katharine Berkoff. The final circle seeded heat saw Berkoff and Kylee Alons advance to the A final, while Isabelle Stadden came from the last of the regular heats to make it in. Berkoff and Nordmann have both been 1:53 before, so the race tonight should be a fun one.

A finalists:

1. Katharine Berkoff – 1:54.05
2. Lucie Nordmann – 1:54.06
3. Rhyan White – 1:54.82
4. Audrey Reimer – 1:55.52
5. Bayley Stewart – 1:56.41
6. Kylee Alons – 1:56.61
7. Isabelle Stadden – 1:57.11
8. Danielle Carter – 1:57.31

BOYS 200 BACK

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

Top-seed Jack Dolan finished 9th this morning, qualifying him for the B final tonight. Jack Levant, who was seeded 4th and has been in many A finals this weekend, declared false start on the 200 back the morning. Ethan Harder, who was the 2nd seed going into the meet, was in control of his heat the whole race, shaving .02 seconds off his seed time. Spencer Walker, who has qualified for several A finals, came in 2nd with a decent prelims swim, just .14 seconds off his best time. Jason Park, who notably won the C and B finals last night in the 100 fly and 100 back in times that would have been 1st and 2nd in the A finals, qualified for the A final this time, finishing 8th this morning.

A finalists:

1. Ethan Harder – 1:44.69
2. Spencer Walker – 1:45.32
3. Peter Larson – 1:45.92
4. Nicholas Vance – 1:46.13
5. Noah Henry – 1:46.29
6. Harrison Lierz – 1:46.83
7. Benjamin Patton – 1:47.10
8. Jason Park – 1:47.31

GIRLS 100 FREE

• West Meet Record: 46.29, Abbigail Weitzeil, 2014
• Jrs Meet Record: 46.29, Abbigail Weitzeil, 2014

*Pyper Doo won the swim-ff between herself and Ayla Spitz, posting a 49.60 to Spitz’s 49.78*

Lucie Nordmann, Julia Cook, and Amalie Fackenthal, who were the top 3 seeds coming into the meet and the top 3 seeds for finals tonight, looked comfortable on their way to winning their respective heats. All 3 girls, who have been mid-48, were off their best times by a little this morning. The race between those 3 girls, and potentially 4th seeded Alexandra Crisera, who has also been a 48 before, should be a fun one to watch. Teammates Coleen Gillilan and Kylee Alons, who have both been in multiple A finals this weekend, qualified for another one as 5th and 6th seeds.

A finalists:

1. Lucie Nordmann – 48.84
2. Julia Cook – 49.22
3. Amalie Fackenthal – 49.26
4. Alexandra Crisera – 49.41
5. Anicka Delgado – 49.67
6. Coleen Gillilan – 49.81
7. Kylee Alons – 49.88
8. Pyper Doo – 49.99 (49.60 swim-off time)

BOYS 100 FREE

• West Meet Record: 41.23, Ryan Hoffer, 2015
• Jrs Meet Record: 41.23, Ryan Hoffer, 2015

Daniel Krueger cleaned up this morning, landing himself the top seed for tonight by .73 seconds and looking smooth and controlled while doing it. William Kovac dropped nearly a second to earn the 2nd seed for tonight, while Kyle Leach dropped .36 seconds to land the 3rd seed as both boys broke 45 seconds for the first time. Kaloyan Bratanov, Cooper Deryk, and Andrew Trepanier also swam best times on their way to qualifying for the A final.

A finalists:

1. Daniel Krueger – 43.85
2. William Kovac – 44.58
3. Kyle Leach – 44.65
4. Kevin Callan – 44.77
5. Kaloyan Bratanov – 44.86
6. Cooper Deryk/Andrew Trepanier – 44.91
7. –
8. William Bresette – 44.94

GIRLS 200 BREAST

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

Zoe Bartel looked strong as she cruised her way to a top seed for tonight’s final with a 2:09.97. Given Bartel’s 100 breast last night, it seems likely she’ll go much faster than 2:09.9 tonight. Zoie Hartman sits not far behind Bartel, dropping 1.33 seconds this morning to earn the 2nd seed. Vanessa Pearl, who we’ve seen cruise prelims then tear it up in finals a couple times this weekend, tying for 3rd with a time that was over 4 seconds off her best time. Bartel and Pearl will likely be battling it out tonight for a shot at the Gold and maybe the meet record too.

A finalists:

1. Zoe Bartel – 2:09.97
2. Zoie Hartman – 2:10.50
3. Vanessa Pearl/Gillian Davey – 2:12.64
4. –
5. Isabelle Odgers – 2:13.12
6. Valerie Tarazi – 2:13.35
7. Emma Garfield – 2:13.64
8. Hanna Newby – 2:14.35

BOYS 200 BREAST

• West Meet Record: 1:55.60, Daniel Roy, 2016
• Jrs Meet Record: 1:52.37, Reece Whitley, 2016

Ananias Pouch dropped over a second and a half on his way to taking the top spot going into tonight’s final. Pouch put up the fastest 1st 100 split in the field – 56.27. Zane Backes, who won the 100 breast convincingly, dropped 2 seconds to earn the 2nd seed for tonight’s final. Ethan Dang, a 15 year old, maintained his 3rd seed for tonight, adding about half a second to his best time. Daniel Roy, who was the top seed going into the meet by a lot, swam a noticeably relaxed race, adding almost 4 and a half seconds to his best time in the process. The final is still Roy’s to lose however, seen as his best time is still over 2 seconds faster than the fastest time from this morning.

A finalists:

1. Ananias Pouch – 1:56.88
2. Zane Backes – 1:57.89
3. Ethan Dang – 1:58.52
4. Daniel Roy – 1:58.85
5. Ben Dillard – 1:59.92
6. Forrest Frazier/Michael Rudd – 2:00.03
7. –
8. Kaloyan Bratanov – 2:00.32

GIRLS 200 FLY

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

Lillie Nordmann went a best time to beat out Ruby Martin in the final heat, which saw 5 swimmers advance to the A final, including the top 4 swimmers from the morning. Zephanie Koh and Coleen Gillilan were also in that heat, and came in right behind Martin in 3rd and 4th. Halladay Kinsey was 5th in that heat and tied for 6th overall, also going a 1:57. Dakota Luther, who came in 5th this morning, looked like she was racing in a very controlled manner, and went about 2 and a half seconds off her best time. With this prelim being so tight, it will be interesting to see what happens tonight.

A finalists:

1. Lillie Nordmann – 1:56.97
2. Ruby Martin – 1:57.27
3. Zephanie Koh – 1:57.54
4. Coleen Gillilan – 1:57.64
5. Dakota Luther – 1:57.73
6. Luciana Thomas/Halladay Kinsey – 1:57.84
7. –
8. Emma Sticklen – 1:58.26

BOYS 200 FLY

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

Jack Levant looked very controlled as he came home this morning, taking the top seed for tonight by nearly a second. Levant was out in 50.95, the only sub-51 first 100 in the field. Coming in 2nd was Benjamin Miller, who dropped over 2 seconds to qualify for this A final. 15-year-old Gianluca Urlando made yet another A final at this meet, coming in 3rd this morning with a 1:46.77, a decent prelims swim but still a little off his best time. Andrew Koustik, the top seed going into the meet, came in 5th this morning with a 1:47.16, a ways off his 1:44 best time. Koustik’s last 50 was his 2nd fastest 50 of the race however, which is not that common in a 200 fly and points towards the possibility he will go much faster tonight.

A finalists:

1. Jack Levant – 1:45.52
2. Benjamin Miller – 1:46.45
3. Gianluca Urlando – 1:46.77
4. Seth Hendrix – 1:46.79
5. Andrew Koustik – 1:47.16
6. Aaron Pang – 1:48.02
7. James Torrez – 1:48.03
8. Logan Davis – 1:48.36