2018 TYR Pro Swim Series – Mesa: Day 2 Finals Live Recap

2018 TYR PRO SWIM SERIES – MESA

• Thursday, April 12 – Sunday, April 15
• Skyline Aquatic Center, Mesa, AZ
• Long Course Meters
• Meet site
• Psych Sheet
• Live Stream
• Friday Finals Heat Sheet
• Live Results

Tonight’s session at the 2018 Mesa Pro Swim will feature finals of the 800 free, 100 back, 200 fly, 100 breast, 100 free, and 200 IM. Several Olympic medalists headline tonight’s events, including Ryan Murphy (100 back), Matt Grevers (100 back), Nathan Adrian (100 free), Chase Kalisz (200 fly/200 IM) Allison Schmitt (100 free), Melanie Margalis (200 IM), and Leah Smith (800 free/200 fly/200 IM), among others. One of the toughest fields tonight will be the men’s 100 breast, where Michael Andrew leads a group that includes Olympic medalists Josh Prenot, Cody Miller, and Kevin Cordes.

WOMEN’S 800 FREE:

1. GOLD: Leah Smith, 8:31.79
2. SILVER: Ashley Neidigh, 8:41.23
3. BRONZE: Cierra Runge, 8:48.65

Arizona postgrad Leah Smith, in her first of 3 swims tonight, had a dominant performance, stretching out her lead throughout the race to win by almost 10 seconds. Smith will be competing in the 200 fly and 200 IM later on in the session. Indiana postgrad Ashley Neidigh followed in 2nd as she in Cierra Runge were the only other swimmers to break 8:50 tonight. Olivia Anderson (8:50.46) made a move as she started to close the gap on Runge around the 600 mark, but Runge took off again in the final 200.

MEN’S 800 FREE:

1. GOLD: Zane Grothe, 7:55.53
2. SILVER: Marwan El Kamash, 7:55.75
3. BRONZE: Jordan Wilimovsky, 7:58.10

As Zane Grothe held his lead down the stretch, he and teammate Marwan El Kamash had another close finish. El Kamash brought it home in 56.50 to Grothe’s 57.00, but ran out of room as Grothe won it by 2 tenths. That comes after last night’s extremely close 200 free in which El Kamash out-touched Grothe by .02. They’ll battle again tomorrow in the 400 free.

WOMEN’S 100 BACK:

1. GOLD: Olivia Smoliga, 1:00.08
2. SILVER: Ali Deloof, 1:01.27
3. BRONZE: Katharine Berkoff, 1:01.69

Olivia Smoliga notched another backstroke win, flipping in 29.42 en route to a 1:00.08. She beat the field by over a second, as National Teamer Ali Deloof topped junior standout Katharine Berkoff. Deloof came from behind, outsplitting Berkoff by half a second on the back half. In the B final, USC postgrad Anika Apostalon came within tenths of her best asa she won the heat in 1:02.56. Her best is a 1:02.22 from last month’s Atlanta Pro Swim.

MEN’S 100 BACK:

1. GOLD: Ryan Murphy, 53.98
2. SILVER: Matt Grevers, 54.51
3. BRONZE: Mark Nikolaev, 54.77

Matt Grevers flipped in 26.52 to take a slight edge over Ryan Murphy, but Murphy pulled ahead on the back half to win it by half a second. Grand Canyon’s Mark Nikolaev, who made program history as their first NCAA scorer this season, edged out Jacob Pebley (54.88) for the bronze. Per the USA Swimming database, Nikolaev was just over a half second shy of his lifetime best.

From the B final, Louisville’s Nicolas Albiero was about a second shy of his best to dominate his heat. Albiero touched in 56.07, while his best stands at a 55.04 from 2017 World Juniors.

WOMEN’S 200 FLY:

1. GOLD: Hali Flickinger, 2:09.77
2. SILVER: Kelsi Dahlia, 2:11.49
3. BRONZE: Ruby Martin, 2:12.74

Hali Flickinger was slightly off her prelims time, but still won by nearly 2 seconds as the onyl women to break 2:10 tonight. Kelsi Dahlia mad a big drop from prelims to take 2nd. The 2 junior swimmers in the field, Winter Juniors champions Eastern Iowa Swim Federation’s Ruby Martin and Enfinity Aquatics’ Olivia Carter, battled closely for bronze. Martin was a second faster up front, but Carter started to close in on the 3rd 50. Carter ran out of room at the finish, touching 4th in 2:12.87.

MEN’S 200 FLY:

1. GOLD: Chase Kalisz, 1:56.69
2. SILVER: Justin Wright, 1:57.77
3. BRONZE: Pace Clark, 1:59.67

Georgia postgrad Chase Kalisz picked up his 2nd win of the meet, leading the 200 fly all the way through. Arizona’s Justin Wright, in his first meet as a postgrad, started to catch up to Kalisz on the back half, but wound up 2nd. Another National Teamer and Georgia postgrad, Pace Clark, rounded out the podium. Clark was a member of the 2017 U.S. World Championships team in this race, while Wright competed in the event at WUGs. South Carolina’s Fynn Minuth was just  off the podium in 1:59.86. That’s his fastest ever in-season swim and his first time sub-2:00 at a non-championship meet.

WOMEN’S 100 BREAST:

1. GOLD: Molly Hannis, 1:06.65
2. SILVER: Breeja Larson, 1:08.28
3. BRONZE: Micah Sumrall, 1:08.43

Tennessee postgrad Molly Hannis was just about a half second shy of her best time, dominating the race in 1:06.65. She set her best at the Atlanta Pro Swim in 1:06.09. Hannis has been putting up some fast 50 breast swims this year, so tomorrow’s swim could be something special. Breeja Larson and Micah Sumrall, both U.S. Olympic breaststrokers in 2012, each picked up another breaststroke medal.

MEN’S 100 BREAST:

1. GOLD: Michael Andrew, 1:00.16
2. SILVER: Youssef El Kamash, 1:01.05
3. BRONZE: Kevin Cordes, 1:01.16

Michael Andrew was just 3 tenths shy of his lifetime best as he topped a stacked field that included several Olympians. Andrew was 9 hundredths short of his season best from the Atlanta Pro Swim last month. Grand Canyon landed another swimmer on the podium as Youssef El Kamash out-touched Kevin Cordes for 2nd. Cal’s Josh Prenot followed closely in 1:01.28 ahead of Indiana’s Ian Finnerty (1:01.39) and Cody Miller (1:01.47). Last month, Finnerty became the first man to ever break 50 in the 100 yard breast. This meet was a quick turnaround from NCAAs, but he was just over a second shy of his best time.

WOMEN’S 100 FREE:

1. GOLD: Mallory Comerford, 54.30
2. SILVER: Margo Geer, 54.42
3. BRONZE: Lia Neal, 54.75

Indiana postgrad Margo Geer held the lead as she approached the final 10 meters, but Louisville’s Mallory Comerford put her head down and dug in to out-touch Geer at the finish. Comerford, who’s coming off an NCAAs in which she became the 2nd woman ever to break 1:40 in the 200 free, was briefly the American Record holder in this event last summer before that record was broken again by Simone Manuel. Fellow World Championships team member Lia Neal picked up 3rd ahead of USC’s Louise Hansson, who also had a strong showing at NCAAs last month.

MEN’S 100 FREE:

1. GOLD: Nathan Adrian, 48.84
2. SILVER: Michael Chadwick, 49.17
3. BRONZE: Bruno Blaskovic, 50.10

Cal’s Nathan Adrian is still perfect in the Pro Swim 100 free. Since the series was rebranded from the Grand Prix to the Pro Swim Series in 2015, Adrian has never lost a 100 free final at one of these meets. Michael Chadwick matched Adrian’s speed on the back half, but Adrian had a 3-tenths advantage up front and that was ultimately the difference maker. Adrian was about 3 tenths shy of his season best from the Atlanta Pro Swim.

WOMEN’S 200 IM:

1. GOLD: Melanie Margalis, 2:13.90
2. SILVER: Leah Smith, 2:16.68
3. BRONZE: Vien Nguyen, 2:16.99

Melanie Margalis was head an shoulders above the field as she won the race by almost 3 seconds, but Leah Smith had an impressive swim in her own right to take the silver. In her 3rd swim of this session and 5th race of the day, Smith swam another best time. Coming into today, Smith’s best was a 2:21.52 from 2014. She broke 2:20 for the first time in prelims and clipped her best time by a couple of tenths tonight. That was Smith’s 3rd best time of the day. She put up bests in both the 200 fly and 200 IM this morning, and now the 200 IM tonight.

MEN’S 200 IM:

1. GOLD: Chase Kalisz, 1:57.68
2. SILVER: Josh Prenot, 2:00.57
3. BRONZE: Daniel Sos, 2:04.34

Chase Kalisz picked up another gold on the back end of his double, dominating with the only sub-2:00 swim of the night. He was over a second faster than Prenot at the 100 and kept extending his lead through the back half. That was likely Kalisz last swim of the meet, unless he opts to swim the mystery IM tomorro.