2018 Speedo Junior Nationals: Day 1 Prelims Live Recap

2018 Speedo Junior Nationals

• Tuesday, July 31 – Saturday, August 4, 2018
• William Woollett Aquatics Center, Irvine, CA
• Prelims 9 AM / Finals 6 PM (U.S. Pacific Time)
• Meet website
• Meet information
• Event Order
• Psych Sheet
• Live Stream Schedule
• Omega Results
• Results also on Meet Mobile

Women’s 200 Fly – Prelims

• Jr World: 2:06.29 04/15/2017 Suzuka Hasegawa
• Meet: 2:09.02 08/08/2017 Olivia Carter

Top 8 qualifiers:

1. Allie Piccirillo, CLPR – 2:12.62
2. Justina Kozan, BREA – 2:12.85
3. Amanda Ray, WAVE – 2:12.12
4. Natalie Whalen, LAC – 2:13.14
5. Grace Sheble, NOVA 2:13.89
6. Lauryn Johnson, LIAC 2:14.02
7. Abby Harter, NCAP 2:14.78
8. Ashlyn Fiorilli, TFA 2:15.29

Last week, Allie Piccirillo impressed with her 2 second drop for a 2:11.30 in the 200 fly at U.S. Nationals. She leads the way into finals here in 2:12.62, just ahead of 14-year-old Justina Kozan. This season, Kozan has knocked 3 seconds off her 200 fly. In prelims, she was just over half a second shy of her best from last month. With her 2:12.35 from the Fran Crippen Swim Meet of Champions, Kozan is under 2 tenths away from making the top-10 all time Americans in the 13-14 age group.

Amanda Ray made a huge drop here to qualify 3rd. Ray was entered with a lifetime best of 2:16.79, but dropped over 3 seconds from that this morning in 2:13.12. Lauryn Johnson almost dropped 3 seconds from her seed time to qualify 6th in 2:14.02. Johnson hadn’t swum a best time in this event since her 2:15.56 in 2016, but had a breakthrough here.

15-year-old Lillie Nordmann was one of the favorites, but decided to scratch the event. Last week, she dropped 2 seconds to a 2:10.30. She nearly made the A final, having a swimoff for 8th, but wound up in the B heat.

Men’s 200 Fly – Prelims

• Jr World: 1:53.79 06/30/2017 Kristof Milak
• Meet: 1:56.54 08/05/2013 Andrew Seliskar

Top 8 qualifiers:

1. Jean-Pierre Khouzam, DR – 2:00.52
2. Zachary Smith, CTA – 2:01.05
3. Harry Homans, ABF – 2:01.24
4. Ben Miller, TTSC – 2:01.40
5. Dylan Porges, AGUA – 2:01.63
6. Noah Henderson, STAR – 2:01.87
7. Kevin Vargas, RMDA – 2:02.21
8. Nicholas Perera, DR – 2:02.33

Everyone who made the final made a significant drop from their bests, with 7 of the 8 dropping a second or more. Leading the way was Jean-Pierre Khouzam with a 2-second drop in 2:00.52. Coming into 2018, his best in this event was a 2:09.96. He’s been steadily dropping it down, now taking off 9 seconds throughout the season. If he can dip under 2:00 in finals, he has a shot at the all-time top 10 Americans for the 15-16 age group, but it would take at least a 1:59.11.

The biggest drop of the top 8 came from Harry Homans. His best was a 2:03.57 from the Mel Zajac Invitational earlier this summer, but he dipped down to a 2:01.24 to qualify 3rd. Like Khouzam, he’s been making drops throughout the season, and has now taken almost 4 seconds off his time in 2018. Zachary Smith, the 2nd seed in 2:01.05, and Nicholas Perera (2:02.33) also made 2-second drops.

Carson Foster, who set the 15-16 NAG Record in the 200 IM last week and is the 5th fastest 15-16 American ever in the 200 fly, was a now show in his heat.

Women’s 100 Breast – Prelims

• Jr World: 1:05.39 08/20/2014 Ruta Meilutyte
• Meet: 1:08.11 08/08/2016 Zoe Bartel

Top 8 qualifiers:

1. Olivia Calegan, NCS – 1:09.54
2. Ellie Andrews, DCST – 1:09.62
3. Kaitlyn Dobler, TDPS – 1:10.16
4. Val Tarazi, GTAC – 1:10.20
5. Taylor Steele, CAC – 1:10.41
6. Anna Keating, MACH – 1:10.43
7. Isabelle Odgers, NOVA – 1:10.74
8. Claire Donan, TS – 1:10.79

Olivia Calegan, a rising sophomore at NC State, hadn’t swum her best in this race since Juniors in 2016, but that all changed this morning as she smashed her seed time by 2 seconds. In 2016, she swam a 1:09.56, but hadn’t broken 1:10 since that summer. In prelims, she threw down a 1:09.54 to clip her lifetime best by a couple of hundredths and take a big step in the right direction.

15-year-old Ellie Andrews was the only other swimmer sub-1:10 in the heats. She dropped about a second and a half to qualify 2nd in 1:09.62, setting up a good race with Calegan tonight. With her morning swim, Andrews is just over half a second shy of becoming one of the top 10 American 15-16 year olds ever.

Chase Davison, who dropped almost a second this morning in 1:11.03, qualified for the B final at 10th. Davidson is less than a second off #10 in the all-time American 13-14 performers lists. She’ll have another 14-year-old, TOPS teammate Emma Weber, in that heat. Weber wasn’t far behind in 1:11.28 for 16th as the 10th through 16th place finishers all fell within 3 tenths of each other.

Men’s 100 Breast – Prelims

• Jr World: 59.01 08/23/2017 Nicolo Martinenghi
• Meet: 1:00.08 08/08/2016 Michael Andrew

Top 8 qualifiers:

1. Joshua Matheny, PEAQ – 1:01.98
2. Jake Foster, RAYS – 1:02.91
3. Ben Dillard, SMST – 1:02.97
4. Josh Bottelberghe, PAC – 1:03.02
5. Forrest Frazier, EISF – 1:03.10
6. Jason Louser, LIAC – 1:03.14
7. AJ Pouch, TRA – 1:03.15
8. Shane Blinkman, SCSC – 1:03.21

15-year-old Joshua Matheny made a huge drop, cutting almost 2 seconds off his time in 1:01.98. That makes him the 6th fastest American 15-16 year old ever, just one spot behind Pac-12 champion Carsten Vissering and one spot ahead of World Junior champion Daniel Roy. it also bumped Olympic medalist Brendan Hansen off the top 10 list.

Jake Foster, the 2017 Junior Nationals champ in the 400 IM. should be up to the challenge for the title tonight. Foster’s best is a 1:02.38 from this meet last summer. He was just over a half second short of that this morning in 1:02.91 to qualify as the 2nd seed. Foster declared a false start in the 200 fly earlier, where he was the 5th seed, to focus on this race today.

14-year-old Sam Hoover (NCAC) dropped over half a second this morning in 1:05.41. Hoover, who placed 60th, is now the 9th fastest American 13-14 year old of all time in this event.