2018 TYR Pro Swim Series – Mesa: Day 3 Prelims 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
• Saturday Prelims Heat Sheet
• Live Results

Swimmers are gearing up for day 3 of the 2018 TYR Pro Swim Series stop in Mesa. This morning’s events include the 400 free, 50 back, 50 breast, 50 fly, and 50 free. In tonight’s finals, swimmers will compete in the shootout style races of each stroke 50, while the 200 IM will be done in mystery stroke order.

MEN’S 400 FREE:

Top 8 Qualifiers

1. Marwan El Kamash, 3:54.16
2. Jordan Wilimovsky, 3:55.21
3. Zane Grothe, 3:55.93
4. Marcelo Acosta, 3:56.66
5. Dimitrios Dimitriou, 3:56.75
6. Rafael Davila, 3:57.37
7. Rahiti De Vos, 3:58.05
8. Chris Wieser, 3:58.89

Marwan El Kamash and Zane Grothe will be next to each other mid-pool as they go head-to-head again tonight. The Indiana postgrads have had a couple of close races already this weekend, with El Kamash out-touching Grothe by hundredths in the 200 free and Grothe topping El Kamash by a few tenths in the 800 free. Marwan is the brother of Youssef El Kamash, who broke an Egyptian Record in the 100 breast yesterday.

Also in the mix will be open water world champion Jordan Wilimovsky and Olympic Trials mile finalist Chris Wieser. This was Wilimovsky’s first 400 free of the 2017-18 season.

WOMEN’S 50 FLY:

Top 8 Qualifiers

1. Kelsi Dahlia, 25.97
2. Louise Hansson, 26.77
3. Farida Osman, 26.84
4. Aliena Schmidtke, 26.95
5. Mallory Comerford, 26.97
6. Hellen Moffitt, 27.03
7. Alyssa Marsh, 27.19
8. Sarah Gibson, 27.29

Kelsi Dahlia, the fastest American 50 butterflier in history, rolled through the heats with the only sub-26. She was about 4 tenths shy of her best, which stands at a 25.48 from last summer. Dahlia and Sarah Gibson, who both swam this race at Worlds for the U.S. last summer, will be in tonight’s final. Dahlia was the winner of the 100 fly earlier in the meet. Swedish USC standout Louise Hansson, who turned heads with her sub-50 performance in the 100 fly at NCAAs last month, was the 2nd fastest this morning. Both Hansson and Farida Osman, the 3rd seed and Egyptian Record holder, are NCAA 100 fly champions. Osman will swim in the top 8 tonight after missing the A final of the 100 fly.

Hellen Moffitt, the 8th fastest American in history, qualified 6th for the final.

MEN’S 50 FLY:

Top 8 Qualifiers

1. Michael Andrew, 23.37
2. Tim Phillips, 24.05
3. Marcus Schlesinger, 24.07
4. Meiron Chruti, 24.23
5. Giles Smith, 24.48
6. Pace Clark, 24.56
7. Kyle Robrock, 24.73
8. Runar Borgen, 24.76

Michael Andrew, the World Junior Record holder in this event, was the top qualifier by far in 23.37. Andrew was just 15 hundredths shy of his lifetime best this morning. He’s currently the 5th fastest American ever with his 23.22 from his win at 2017 World Juniors. Coming in behind for 2nd was Tim Phillips, who represented the U.S. in this race at last summer’s Worlds and topped Andrew for the 100 fly title at this meet on Thursday. Pace Clark, a 200 fly specialist who competed for the U.S. at 2017 Worlds, made it in at 6th.

In the Austin shootouts, Andrew finished just .06 behind Jack Conger in the final round. While Andrew is the 5th fastest ever in this race, Phillips is the 6th fastest ever and his best is just .03 shy of Andrew’s.

WOMEN’S 50 BACK:

Top 8 Qualifiers

1. Olivia Smoliga, 28.01
2. Ali Deloof, 28.43
3. Katharine Berkoff, 28.83
4. Keaton Blovad, 28.92
5. Isabella Arcila, 29.15
6. Amy Bilquist, 29.26
7. Hellen Moffitt, 29.46
8. Karolina Hajkova, 29.47

Olivia Smoliga will have a shot at winning the 50 back shootouts tonight after taking a narrow 2nd in the shooutout rounds in Austin. She won’t battle with Regan Smith this time, but she’ll be up against fellow National Teamer Ali Deloof and junior standout Katharine Berkoff.

Smoliga’s swim this morning was within 2 tenths of her 27.89 from the final round in Austin. That time made her the 9th fastest American performer in history. Her 200 back time at this meet was a big personal best. If she’s able to drop from her best in the 50, she’d only have to take off a few hundredths to move up in the American rankings. Also of note, Deloof is the 7th fastest American performer ever. Her lifetime best is 7 hundredths faster than Smoliga’s.

MEN’S 50 BACK:

Top 8 Qualifiers

1. Mark Nikolaev, 25.15
2. Matt Grevers, 25.69
3. Youssef Said, 26.14
4. Kyle Robrock, 26.51
5. Luke Pechmann, 26.76
6. Jack Anderson, 27.33
7. Yezeil Morales, 27.36
8. Joshua Ries, 27.46

Grand Canyon’s Mark Nikolaev was the fastest man through the heats, topping Olympic champion Matt Grevers. Per the USA Swimming database, Nikolaev’s best coming into the meet was a 25.40 from 2016, so his prelims swim was a lifetime best by a little over a tenth.

Grevers returns to the top 8 after winning the Austin 50 back shootouts. There, he posted a 24.81 to top Justin Ress in the final round. Grevers’ fastest ever is a 24.54, making him the 4th fastest American of all time. Ryan Murphy, who topped Grevers in the 100 back last night, was a no show in prelims of this event.

WOMEN’S 400 FREE:

Top 8 Qualifiers

1. Leah Smith, 4:11.98
2. Hali Flickinger, 4:13.36
3. Leonie Kullmann, 4:16.13
4. Cierra Runge, 4:16.73
5. Vien Nguyen, 4:17.64
6. Sophie Cattermole, 4:18.42
7. Ashley Neidigh, 4:19.08
8. Kirsten Jacobsen, 4:19.62

Leah Smith cruised to the top spot this morning, winning her heat by over 5 seconds. This was Smith’s first 400 free of the season. Last season at this meet, she swam a 4:07 in both prelims and finals.

Fellow National Teamer Hali Flickinger was the closest swimmer to her in time, having won the penultimate heat. Cierra Runge, a U.S. Olympian, and Ashley Neidigh, the 2017 Winter Nationals mile champ, both return for another distance final after medaling behind Smith in the 800 free last night. Arizona’s Kirsten Jacobsen made big improvements during the NCAA season to earn All-American status in the 500. She nabbed a finals spot for tonight at 8th.

Sophie Cattermole made a big time drop in Austin to go 4:12 and take the bronze. She’ll be in the final again after qualifying 6th, and could be a medal threat if she makes a big drop from prelims to finals like she did in Austin. Olivia Anderson, who went out in 4:22 as she placed 4th in the 800 yesterday, swam a 4:20.95 for 10th this morning.

WOMEN’S 50 BREAST:

Top 8 Qualifiers

1. Molly Hannis, 30.26
2. Breeja Larson, 31.14
3. Peyton Kondis, 31.81
4. Zoe Bartel, 32.12
5. Melanie Margalis, 32.14
6. Tjasa Pintar, 32.52
7. Silja Kansakoski, 32.57
8. Morganne McKennan, 33.06

Molly Hannis is on track to win another round of 50 breast shootouts. Hannis, the shootout winner in Austin, was almost a second faster than anyone else in the field this morning. Fellow Olympians Breeja Larson and Melanie Margalis will join her in the top 8. In Austin, Hannis set the Pro Swim Series Record at 29.71, so she’ll be going after that mark tonight.

MEN’S 50 BREAST:

Top 8 Qualifiers

1. Ian Finnerty, 27.62
2. Itay Goldfaden, 27.64
3. Nic Fink, 27.74
4. Youssef El Kamash, 27.76
5. Chuck Katis, 27.96
6. Kevin Cordes, 28.01
7. Carlos Claverie, 28.24
8. Levi Jensen, 28.43

Indiana’s Ian Finnerty, the first man to ever break 50 in the 100 yard breast, was the fastest man through the water, just out-touching Itay Goldfaden in his heat as they qualified 1-2. That was within a tenth of Finnerty’s best, which stands at a 27.54 from last summer’s Nationals. Nic Fink, who won the 50 breast shootouts in Austin, qualified 3rd for tonight. We’ll also see Olympic breaststroker Kevin Cordes in the shootouts.

Notably absent were Olympic silver medalist Cody Miller and Andrew Wilson. In Austin, Wilson finished just .03 behind Fink in the final round of the shootouts.

WOMEN’S 50 FREE:

Top 8 Qualifiers

1. Margo Geer, 25.05
2. Mallory Comerford, 25.36
3. Madison Kennedy, 25.39
4. (T-4) Kelsi Dahlia, 25.42
5. (T-4) Abbey Weitzeil, 25.42
6. Louise Hansson, 25.58
7. Anika Apostalon, 25.64
8. Lia Neal, 25.73

Margo Geer, who won the 50 free shootouts in Austin, was the top qualifier this morning in 25.05. After taking a break after 2016 Trials, Geer made the move to Indiana to train with the postgrad group. Since returning to competition last summer, she’s already gone best times in the sprints. Mallory Comerford, Kelsi Dahlia, and Louise Hansson all qualified for their 2nd round of shootouts. Each qualified for the 50 fly shootouts earlier in the session. U.S. Olympian Abbey Weitzeil, the American Record holder in the short course 50 free, tied for 4th with Dahlia. Another Olympic sprinter, Lia Neal, qualified for the final at 8th. Neal swam the 50 fly earlier but was disqualified for a 15 meter violation.

MEN’S 50 FREE:

Top 8 Qualifiers

1. Michael Andrew, 22.06
2. Michael Chadwick, 22.37
3. Nathan Adrian, 22.68
4. Bruno Blaskovic, 22.71
5. Cullen Jones, 22.78
6. Andrej Barna, 22.96
7. Nikola Miljenic, 22.97
8. Kyle Robrock, 23.00

In the Austin 50 free shootouts, Michael Andrew topped Nathan Adrian through the first 2 rounds, but Adrian won the final round. There’s a chance we could see that matchup again, but Andrew will have the 50 fly shootouts earlier in the session. Michael Chadwick, who took 2nd in the 100 free behind Adrian, is a major finals threat, and we can never count Cullen Jones out in the 50.