On Day 3 of the 2015 Orlando Long Course Sectional Championships in Orlando, NCAA champ Caeleb Dressel put on an impressive performance, swimming 3 events in a row and winning gold in two of them.
Dressel opened his night with the 50 fly, touching the wall in 23.86. He’s won both of the sprint fly events in Orlando, swimming a personal best in each of them. His 24.49 from 2014 Summer Nationals was his best coming into the meet.
He returned to the pool for the next men’s event, the 200 I.M. He won the B-final, cutting over a second off his best with a 2:04.60. Dressel’s previous best was a 2:05.83 from 2013 Junior Nationals. That’s 2 best times within minutes of each other. While Dressel is known for his sprint free and fly, he’s talented across all strokes. That time would’ve placed him 3rd in the A-final.
Florida’s Sebastian Rousseau won the championship final in 2:01.89. His teammate Dan Wallace was 3rd in 2:04.81 over Mark Szaranek, also a Gator, who finished in 2:05.39.
2nd place went to Clearwater Aquatic Team’s Grant Sanders in 2:04.33. This was a special swim, as it gave Sanders his first qualification for the 2016 Olympic Trials.
Dressel won the 50 free immediately after the 200 I.M. In his 3rd race of the night, he was close to his best of 22.22, posting a 22.41. Corey Main also swam under 23, hitting the wall at 22.77.
Main, who represents New Zealand internationally, swam a double tonight. He won the 100 back earlier in the session, beating out his in-state rival, FSU’s Pavel Sankovich, 54.52 to 55.90.
Sarasota’s Austin Katz earned not only a top 3 finish in the 100 back, but also an Olympic Trial cut. His 57.18 was just under the 57.19 it took to qualify. He’ll now get to swim both backstroke events in Omaha.
On the women’s side, Florida’s Ashlee Linn opened the session with 1st place in the women’s 100 back. She clocked in at 1:01.25, hitting a lifetime best by a full second. She came into the meet with a 1:02.31 from 2014 Summer Nationals.
Linn has represented Florida in the backstroke and I.M. events during the NCAA season, and went on to swim the 200 I.M. in finals as well. She swam to 2nd in a close race with teammate Elizabeth Beisel. Beisel hit the wall in 2:14.37, while Linn finished in 2:14.75.
The 400 free saw another new Olympic Trials cut. Ariel Finke dropped her best to a 4:14.68, well under the cut of 4:17.99. She was 2nd behind Jess Thielmann, who won the event with a 4:13.69.
Florida’s Natalie Hinds took on a double tonight, starting with the 50 fly. She was the only woman under 27 with a 26.85. That matched her best time from 2014 Summer Nationals.
Hinds later tied for 2nd in the 50 free with incoming UVA freshman Kasey Schmidt, who swims club for the Bolles School Sharks. Both stopped the clock at 26.21. YCF’s Katie Kicklighter won the event in 26.09.
Full meet results available on Meet Mobile.
At least Caeleb Dressel makes people react.
Rather than speculate about what he “could have gone”, I’d have preferred to see him actually go a 22.0 or 22.1, the 2:04 does nothing for me. It’s a time that a Junior Team kid would go at this point of the season and be slightly unhappy about.
We are talking about Dressel being on A relays at the Olympics, and then getting excited over a 2:04 IM?
Its like if Matt Grevers shows up at meet and goes 1:04 in the 100m breast. Sure it’d be a best time for him… and kind of nice that he can do that… but how on earth is that relevant to his Team USA performance?
To put it in an another context…… Read more »
Totally agree with u HULK . He rather focus on the 50 , 100 and 200 free to be with the Us team next year .
Not excited by a 2.04 in the 200 IM. I don’t still understand why he continues to swim that event. We never see Manaudou, Magnussen, Adrian or Cielo swim a 200 IM. But that’s another debate. Probably a Gators’ tactic.
More excited by his 22.41 after swimming a 50 fly and a 200 IM.
It’s just a last training meet before US nationals where I hope he will focus only on free events to swim very fast times fresh and rested.
Like 21.90/48.50/1.47 low for example.
I don’t think anybody is losing their shiz over it or anything. It’s just a fact. He went 2 best times back to back. Some of those best times were times that he hadn’t beaten in awhile,
This was put into perspective of a sectional meet, not the Olympic trials. I agree with you that it shouldn’t be a focus event for him there. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This is Orlando sectionals.
It’s not that people are getting excited over the 200 IM, it’s that he was within two-tenths of his all-time best in his primary event less than 15 minutes after swimming it. Since it’s pretty clear from the time (a personal best by more than a second and a fifth Olympic Trials standard) that he didn’t coast the 200 IM to get to the 50 free, it seems like the coaching staff at Florida has been working with him on stamina and quick turnarounds. It he can do this now at a Sectionals meet, he should be ready to swim fast at Nationals when he’s rested and has more than 15 minutes between events. Additionally, he should be better prepared… Read more »
22.41 after a 50 fly and a 200 IM suggests a very good time fully rested, tapered and what you want at US nationals.
I hope he will only swim the 50 free, the 100 free and the 200 free there. 100 fly final is just before the 50 free final.
The IM time to me isn’t anything significant. Maybe for Dressel it’s a good time, but he was basically swimming that two years ago.
That may be true, but 2 years ago he was 2:05 at a taper meet versus 2:04 in season now. Not to mention he swam it right after another event. I’m not saying he should drop everything and decide to focus on 200 I.M. Just that it was a good swim and he can step it up in an “off” event if he wants to.
The article should have referenced that the 19/20 yr old stand out still can’t go faster in the 200IM than the 14yr old Michael Andrew’s NAG of 2:04.13. Michael Andrews swim was also “in season” like all of his swims, and in an “off event”,as he is also a freestyler.
Michael Andrew wasn’t at this swim meet. So I’m not sure why I would report on that.
Caeleb is a beast.