2020 U.S. Open – Des Moines Friday PM: Smith Wins, Bacon Keeps 100 Back Record

2020 U.S. Open Championships

• Thursday, November 12 – Saturday, November 14
• Des Moines, IA
• LCM/timed finals
• Streaming Info/Races to Watch
• Where to Watch U.S. National Teamers
• Meet Central – Des Moines
• Friday PM results (PDF)
• Results on Meet Mobile: “2020 Toyota US Open Championships – Des Moines”

In the women’s 100 back, World Record-holder Regan Smith and U.S. Open defending champion Phoebe Bacon went head-to-head Friday evening. The U.S. Open Meet Record going into the race was Bacon’s entry time of 58.63, which beat Smith last year. After tonight the record still stands. Smith touched 1st at 59.95, besting Bacon who finished at 1:00.18, but not Bacon’s U.S. Open Meet Record.

 Smith also won the 100 fly, touching the wall 1st with a 2 second lead at 58.09, a slight add to her entry time of 57.34. This was Smith’s 1st event of the night, preceding her 100 backstroke. 

In the men’s 100 fly Mizzou post grads Micah Slaton and Nick Alexander touched in 1st and 2nd place, at 53.71 and 54.10, respectively. For Slaton this victory was a best time by .06 seconds.

Olivia Anderson of Aquajets took 1st place in the women’s 100 breast at 1:09.14, out touching Arkansas junior Vanessa Hermann who finished at 1:09.36. 

Indiana commit Luke Barr was the top seed going into the men’s 100 breast, but it was Lindenwood senior  Gerald Brown who touched 1st at 1:02.16 with Barr claiming 2nd place (1:03. 13) and staying close to his entry time. This was a 3 second time drop for Brown, securing a new Olympic Trial cut in the event.

In the final event of the evening, Ziyad Saleem of Schroeder YMCA took 1st in the men’s 100 back at 55.54, touching the wall .55 ahead of Griffin O’Leary from Barrington swim. This win by Saleem was a significant time drop of 2 seconds, getting him and O’Leary under the Olympic Trial cut of 56.59.

Other event winners from Friday evening:

• Tenessee commit Kate McCarville took 1st in the women’s 400IM  in a time of 4:52.71, about 4 seconds off of her entry time. Arkansas senior Peyton Palsha was close behind, finishing  2nd and Nina Mollin 3rd.
• McCarville also won the women’s 200 free, with only the 100 fly between her previous race. She touched the wall at 2:03.00, adding .43 to her entry time.
• Zachary Lorson of Columbia swim club crushed the men’s 400IM, touching 1st in a time of 4:34.47.  In 2019, he placed 3rd in this event at DIII NCAA’s for Emory.
• University of Iowa junior Aleksey Tarasenko claimed 1st place in the men’s 200 free in a time of 1:51.99.