2020 U.S. Open – Indy Thursday PM Recap: El Kamash Hits 800 Free PR

2020 U.S. OPEN

Action at Indianapolis’s site of the 2020 U.S. Open kicked off this afternoon with the 800 free.

Indiana Swim Club’s Marwan El Kamash shot out to a lead in the men’s top-seeded heat and never relinquished it, winning in the only sub-8:00 time of 7:52.19, a lifetime best by over three seconds. That brings him within three seconds of the Egyptian national record.

Indiana University sophomore Michael Brinegar led the pack in a tight race behind El Kamash, going 8:03.00 and coming eight seconds off of his best. University of Michigan freshman Jake Mitchell was third in 8:03.11, followed by Louisville University junior Hayden Curley (8:04.06) in a lifetime best.

Notre Dame sophomore Jack Hoagland had a great swim out of the second heat, going under nine minutes for the first time with an 8:07.36.

Ally McHugh of Wisconsin Aquatics led the women’s 800 free wire-to-wire, hitting an 8:29.36 to win easily. That time comes in about five seconds off of her lifetime best of 8:24.22 from the 2018 U.S. Summer Nationals, and it’s her third-best performance ever. It’s an improvement from this meet last year, the 2019 U.S. Open, where she clocked an 8:33.24.

Lakeside Swim Team’s Mariah Denigan, an Indiana University commit, took second place with an 8:36.72. That’s her fifth-best outing ever in this event, off of her lifetime best of 8:28.15 from the 2018 U.S. Summer Nationals. She’s almost two seconds better than she was at this meet in 2019.

University of Georgia commit Rachel Stege of FMC Aquatic was third (8:53.29) and Club Wolverine 15-year-old Hannah Bellard was fourth (9:03.11).

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Swimmer A
3 years ago

When did we start using PR and when did we stop saying best time?

Entgegen
3 years ago

Notre Dame sophomore Jack Hoagland had a great swim out of the second heat, going under nine minutes for the first time with an 8:07.36.”

What a way to break the 9-min barrier… by 53 seconds.

Khachaturian
Reply to  Entgegen
3 years ago

Reminds me of the first and second time I ever swam a 500 free. Went a 7:30 the first time and then 6:00 the second time

Thomas
3 years ago

No Zach Yeadon?

Entgegen
Reply to  Thomas
3 years ago

He transferred to Cal

SAMUEL HUNTINGTON
3 years ago

Don’t know if you said this anywhere, but what sites will you be posting recaps for?

Admin
Reply to  SAMUEL HUNTINGTON
3 years ago

ALLLLLLLLLLL OF THEM!

We’ll also nightly summarize the results across all sites, and try to do a summary digest of the most important things to know across all sites.

Since tonight is only 800s, we won’t be doing anything live, but in future sessions we’ll do Indy, Greensboro, Sarasota, and Irvine live, the rest shortly after they’re done.

Beaverton may or may not happen tonight lol. It was pretty sparse.

Coach Mike 1952
Reply to  Braden Keith
3 years ago

Yes! Thanks SwimSwam – all was the only real answer.

SAMUEL HUNTINGTON
Reply to  Braden Keith
3 years ago

wow, amazing!!

Spectatorn
Reply to  Braden Keith
3 years ago

Yeah and thanks! It will be hard to follow all the happenings at different sites and time zone.

Just out of curiosity and checked usaswimming website – seems only have streaming for Indy, Irvine and Greensboro.

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  Braden Keith
3 years ago

The Kornacki of swimming.

HoosierEli
Reply to  Braden Keith
3 years ago

“Since tonight is only the 800s…” Wow, way to make all those swimmers feel unimportant. As a parent of a distance swimmer, it’s a little frustrating to hear people complain about the state of US distance swimming and then read comments like that.

HoosierEli
Reply to  Karl Ortegon
3 years ago

My bad everyone. Just a tad bit over-sensitive! 🙂 THANKS to SwimSwam for all of their coverage

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  HoosierEli
3 years ago

Don’t let Karl fool you. If it were a 50 free and Dressel was in it, there would be live interviews.

Kitajima Fan
Reply to  HoosierEli
3 years ago

He’s referring to the number of events chief, not the 800 itself

GowdyRaines
Reply to  HoosierEli
3 years ago

Think you totally misconstrued his comment. He used only in the literal definition, not the inferred negative connotation. You’re gonna need thicker skin to survive in the comment section, son

About Karl Ortegon

Karl Ortegon

Karl Ortegon studied sociology at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, graduating in May of 2018. He began swimming on a club team in first grade and swam four years for Wesleyan.

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