NatCo’s 100 Free Kicks Off Mesa Grand Prix (Day 1 Prelims)

Day 1 of the 2013 Mesa Grand Prix, the first ever hosted in the huge suburb located about 20 miles to the east of Phoenix, ran with nary a hitch. This first Grand Prix meet under the new USA Swimming format since the completion of the collegiate season saw by far the deepest preliminary heats of this year’s series. The individual prelims were still completed in a very-efficient two hours and thirty minutes, though, which is long enough to give some rest to those on big multiples (Katinka Hosszu, we’re looking at you) but short enough to keep the fans on hand for the meet entertained.

The biggest “wow” of the meet’s first session came from Natalie Coughlin, who is swimming her first meet on American soil as a 30-year old this weekend. She swam a 54.44 to easily take the top seed in the 100 free in 54.44. She’s now been better than 55 seconds in this race in every meet she’s raced since the Olympics (this is her third), showing that she still has great value at least on American relays this summer (though with how well she’s swimming, it’s far too early to write her off for individual bids either).

A surprise in second place came from Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu in 54.80. That kicked off a 9-events in 3-days marathon for her on a high note as it’s by far the fastest she’s ever been in this sprint race. She wasn’t even on Hungary’s Olympic 400 free relay, the 15th-place finishers in prelims. With her having 54-low potential, and Eszter Dara (not at this meet) continuing to improve, the Hungarians have top-8 potential at Worlds this summer. Missy Franklin was 3rd in 55.04; she should drop that down into at least the 54-mid range in finals. Six of the top Seven finishers in the prelims of the women’s 100 free swam or will swim at Cal for at least a portion of their collegiate careers; aside from Coughlin and Franklin, that includes 4th-seed Dana Vollmer (55.67), Liz Pelton, Jessica Hardy, and Nathalie Lindborg.

(Note:  those last two both started at Cal but left before their eligibility was complete. Lindborg currently swims at SMU).

Katie Ledecky was a 56.46 for 9th and will be in the center lane in the B-Final.

The exceptions in the almost-all-Cal A-final were Hosszu and Louisville’s Kelsi Worrell, the 8th seed. Worrell had a great Big East Championship meet, a great NCAA Championship meet, and is now having a third huge meet in a row with a 56.27 in prelims for her best time by over a second.

In the 100 fly, Worrell did even better: taking the top seed in 59.20. She’s got hounds breathing down her back, with Hosszu as the second seed in 59.25 and Vollmer, the World Record holder, 3rd in 59.27. Along with Claire Donahue (4th seed – 1:00.04), Brazil’s Daynara de Paula (5th seed – 1:00.42), and Cal’s Caitlin Leverenz (6th seed – 1:00.90), the five swimmers directly behind Worrell’s top seed are all Olympians at least once.

That was the third swim of the day for Hosszu, who also took the second seed in the women’s 400 free in 4:09.91, just behind 16-year old Katie Ledecky, who was 4:07.04. By morning swim, those two are well ahead of the rest of the field, but with Chloe Sutton (4:13.79) and Leah Smith chasing, the field should get faster in finals.

Of note, Liz Pelton did the same triple as Hosszu did, including an 8th-place finish in this 400 free (4:17.00) in prelims.

The top seed in the other event went to none other than Breeja Lasrson, an Olympian who was born and raised in Mesa. she swam a 2:29.01 in prelims of the 200 breast, followed by Cal’s Caitlin Leverenz in 2:29.80. Texas’ Laura Sogar, the NCAA Champion, ended up not swimming this meet, and times weren’t quite where we expected them yet in the morning overall.

Stina Gardell was 3rd in 2:31.09, and Jamaican former NCAA Champion in the event Alia Atkinson was 4th in the heats in 2:32.15.

In the men’s 100 free, Nathan Adrian took the top seed in 49.68: the only swimmer under 50 seconds. Texas volunteer assistant Ricky Berens is the 2nd seed in 50.09, followed by South African Darian Townsend in 50.25. SMU swimmer Mindaugas Sadauskas, who represents Lithuania internationally, tok the 4th seed in 50.26 with a significant drop-off after that to 50.83 for Grevers.

The next two races on the men’s schedule, the 200 breast and the 400 free, were pretty disappointing in prelims.

In the men’s 200 breaststroke, Venezuelan 16-year old Carlos Claverie was easily the top seed in 2:15.92. That’s actually a fantastic time given his age, but with Portuguese Carlos Almeida was the second seed in just 2:18.01, followed by Miguelena Facundo from Argentina.

Overall, there are only three Americans (in sporting citizenship) in the final: Mike Alexandrov (whose one Olympic berth was representing Bulgaria), BJ Johnson, and Clark Burckle in 8th place in 2:19.54. Burckle was one of the two U.S. representatives in this race at the Olympics; his counterpart Scott Weltz was 9th in 2:19.66.

Michigan 22-year old freshman Anders Nielsen, a Danish Olympian, took the top seed in the 400 free in 3:57.12, one spot ahead of fellow Ann Arbor resident and Michigan post-graduate trainee Michael Klueh (3:57.39). Former Florida State swimmer Mateo de Angulo is the 3rd seed in 3:58.83.

And finally, Cal’s Marcin Tarczynski and Tom Shields took the top two spots in the 100 fly in 53.23 and 53.41, respectively. Shields has completed their college eligibility and is now officially beginning his professional careers with eyes on some of the prize money being handed out this weekend. Tarczynski, though he’s actually older than Shields, has one year of eligibility left.

The third seed goes to 16-year old Justin Lynch of the Terrapins Swim Team in 53.47. That moves him up to 4th on the all-time National Age Group list; he’s the only swimmer in the top 5 aside from NAG Record holder Michael Phelps who didn’t swim his best time in the 2009 polyurethane era.

Ryan Lochte finished 9th in the prelim in 54.91, and will swim in the B-Final along with Tyler Clary.

Full, live meet results available here.

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calswim65
11 years ago

Attended the finals tonight. Weather was beyond awesome. Facility is setup for GREAT viewing. Video screen and live interviews after the swims is a bonus.

The pool must be good, as there were some high quality swims, especially considering this is a mid-season meet. I think Nathan’s 48.4 was probably most impressive, followed by Katie’s totally dominating 4:05 400 free. DQ to 100 fly winner was surprising, but the replay on video screen was perfect for evaluation.

LC fan
11 years ago

Meet mobile is updating results

completelyconquered
11 years ago

Live results not working for anyone else?

Danm133
Reply to  completelyconquered
11 years ago

For finals yeah

completelyconquered
Reply to  Danm133
11 years ago

Annoying..

aswimfan
Reply to  completelyconquered
11 years ago

live results for finals not working for me, and I can’t watch on universal sports as I’m outside US.

bobo gigi
Reply to  aswimfan
11 years ago
swimmer
Reply to  completelyconquered
11 years ago

The reason the results are not working is because the meet has two different finals sessions. One with the A and B finals and one with the C and D finals. This means that they don’t want to upload the event without finishing everything. However, most times people just upload the results anyways and leave the C & D finalists with “No Data” until they swim.

liquidassets
11 years ago

No , she was very clear all along that she would keep swimming as long as she felt motivated and had fun. If anything, the relatively poor showing at Trials last summer seems to have increased her motivation. She had a bit of the overtraining syndrome from ’11-’12, so she’s backed off slightly and it seems to be helping.

Romney
Reply to  liquidassets
11 years ago

Overtraining in 11-12? With Teri? Seems unlikely.

aswimfan
Reply to  Romney
11 years ago

I agree.
If anything, there were talks that Natco did less heavy work.

liquidassets
11 years ago

There will be U.S. World trials in June; it’s the only selection meet as far as I know. Ledecky was likely trying to work on speed as she has said she would like to make the 4×200 for Worlds.

Coughlin still seems stuck in the mid 54’s, but that’s as good as she was at Olympic Trials so I’m hoping she can bring it down below 54 at World Trials.

Philip Johnson
Reply to  liquidassets
11 years ago

I thought Coughlin would retire after London, looks like she’ still giving it a go, at least for this year.

aswimfan
11 years ago

I wished Ledecky hadn’t swum 100 so I can see her crushing the 400.

How does the USA select the Worlds team? will there be any trials or has the team been selected from last year’s results?

beachmouse
Reply to  aswimfan
11 years ago

Keep in mind that Ledecky’s 4:31 500 yard free came on a day when she had already swam a 50 free MR split and a 1:42 200 free, and then she ‘warmed down’ with another quick split in the 4×50 free relay after the 500 free. A nice sprint 100 free before the big event 400 might actually be more helpful than harmful in her case.

CoachGB
Reply to  aswimfan
11 years ago

Nationals and World Championship Trials June 25-29 Indianapolis including 50’s. all out production.

Philip Johnson
Reply to  aswimfan
11 years ago

There will be a trials from June 25 – 29.

aswimfan
Reply to  Philip Johnson
11 years ago

Thanks!

Can’t wait. It will be interesting to see which youngsters to step up and fill in the spots left by Phelps and other retired seniors.

Rafael
Reply to  aswimfan
11 years ago

Not technically.. but is there any guy who could be a motivator like Phelps and Hansen were?

MG
11 years ago

As of now, Katinka is training with the Terrapins. I’m pretty sure nothing is permanent, though.

usswimFan
11 years ago

I noticed on the psych sheet that Hossuzu has listed the Terrapins as her affiliated club.
Any news on that submission? I thought she was still with Salo.

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Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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