2022 Futures – Santa Clara: Arthur Balva Picks up Nationals Cut with 2:00.47 200FL

2022 USA Swimming Futures Championships – Santa Clara

• July 27-30, 2022
• George F. Haines International Swim Center, Santa Clara, CA
• LCM (50m)
• Results on MeetMobile

While Nationals are taking place in Irvine this week, USA Swimming is also hosting Futures Championships at 5 sites across the country. One of those sites is also in California, as Santa Clara is playing host to the Region 5 meet.

One of the most thrilling races of the first night of the Santa Clata Futures meet came in the men’s 200 fly, where Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics 17-year-old Arthur Balva swam a 2:00.47. Balva, a Princeton recruit, took over 2 seconds off his personal best with the performance, picking up a U.S. Summer Nationals cut in the process. He swam an incredible race, splitting 27.31 on the opening 50, then posting 50 splits of 31.49, 31.08, and 30.59 respectively.

16-year-old Piper Enge out of Bellevue Club Swim Team posted a dominant victory in the women’s 100 breast, swimming a 1:09.77. The swim was well off Enge’s personal best of 1:08.12, however, she was still able to get her hands on the wall first by nearly 2 seconds.

North Coast Aquatics 17-year-old Kathryn Hazle took the women’s 200 free in 2:01.58, touching out North Bay Aquatics 16-year-old Lila Heffernan (2:01.87). Heffernan took the race out slightly faster, splitting 29.01 on the first 50 to Hazle’s 29.32. Hazle then took over in the middle of the race, outpacing Heffernan on the middle 100 1:01.84 to 1:02.77. Heffernan did close the gap a bit on the final 50, splitting 30.09 to Hazle’s 30.40, however, Hazle’s lead was too great to be overcome at that point. It was a small personal best for Hazle, undercutting her previous mark of 2:02.17, while Heffernan beat out her previous best of 2:02.47.

Hawaii’s Aulea Swim Club 18-year-old Tom Caps clocked a 1:03.20 en route to winning the men’s 10o breast tonight. The swim comes in just off Caps’ personal best of 1:03.17, which he set last April. The men’s 200 free was taken by DART Swimming 8-yearold Hayden Ghufran, who swam a 1:51.60. The swim was a huge personal best for Ghufran, as he swam under 1:53 for the first time in his career tonight.

21-year-old Maelynn Lawrence won the women’s 200 fly in 2:15.04.

In today’s distance events, Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics’ 14-year-old Kelsey Zhang swam an 8:52.75 in the women’s 800 free, winning the race narrowly over Team Santa Monica’s Mattea Sokolow (8:52.87). Zhang put together a phenomenal swim, splitting 4:26.44 on the first 400m, then coming home in 4:26.31 on the back half.

21-year-old Kennan Hotchkiss took the men’s 1500 free in 15:58.85.