The first night of the first ever Mesa Grand Prix, hosted by the Mesa Aquatics Club, put fans and swimmers outside under the lights under the setting Arizona sun. With a giant video board rented for the event, and athletes making themselves quite accessible in the open layout of the complex, this meet has on the first day already established itself as one of the fan favorites.
The fast times provided on the first day of action helped add to that electric atmosphere, though, especially in the freestyle races.
Women’s 100 Free – Final
In the final of this women’s 100 free, just as expected, American high school swimmer Missy Franklin dropped way down from her prelims swim to go a 54.27 and take the event victory. She’s raced as many Grand Prix meets over the last few years as anyone has, and she’s really managed to perfect the pacing between prelims and finals. This is a skill that can become increasingly valuable for her, given that she takes on such typically-big event schedules.
Meanwhile, Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu took 2nd in 54.60, overtaking the morning’s fastest swimmer Natalie Coughlin on the very last stroke. Coughlin touched 3rd in 54.61.
That’s more unprecedented speed for Hosszu: a two-tenths drop from prelims. She’d never been better than 55 seconds coming into this meet.
Trojan’s Jessica Hardy was 4th in 55.28, and SMU’s Nathalie Lindborg placed 5th in 55.96. Dana Vollmer was 6th, .01 seconds back, in 55.97.
Katie Ledecky won the B-Final in a lifetime best of 56.00.With her eyes on a spot on the 800 free relay in Barcelona, that’s a great improvement of speed and puts her in good position to get to the 1:57 she’ll need to make that a reality.
Men’s 100 Free – Final
In the morning heats, Cal Aquatics swimmer Nathan Adrian was the only swimmer under 50 seconds, and was well ahead of the field.
Three guys besides him broke that barrier in finals, but Adrian cranked his sprinting up another notch by being the only guy under 49 seconds in finals. There, he won in 48.42, about half-a-body-length ahead of anyone else in the field.
Adrian’s splits were 23.10-25.32, which says that he’s already right on his timing, even with two months to go before Worlds Trials.
Ricky Berens was 2nd in 49.06, followed by South African swimmer Darian Townsend in 49.73 and SMU/Lithuanian swimmer Mindaugas Sadauskas in 49.78.
Those were the same top four, in the same order, as we saw in prelims. Anthony Ervin was the big mover, climbing to 5th in 50.29. Matt Grevers was 6th in 50.85.
Women’s 200 Breast – Final
Cal’s Caitlin Leverenz and Texas A&M’s Breeja Larson hit the final turn of this 200 breaststroke final about even, with Leverenz holding a slight lead. With a great closing 50 meters, though, perhaps urged-on by the fervor of a hometown crowd, Larson ripped through the last length. She split 37.53 on that closing distance to win in 2:28.03 as Leverenz faded to 2nd in 2:29.13.
Katy Freeman had a good closing 50 as well (37.80), but was too far behind to make up the difference. She touched 3rd in 2:29.31.
USC’s Stina Gardell, a Swede internationally, was 4th in 2:30.67, followed by Jamaican Alia Atkinson (2:31.31) and SMU’s Rahcel Nicol (2:31.58). The SMU program had a great first day of competition overall.
Men’s 200 Breast – Final
After a lackluster prelims, the men’s 200 breaststrokers significantly turned up the heat in the evening session. That began with U.S. Olympian Scott Weltz winning the B-Final in 2:16.45.
Then, onto the A-final, with a top 8 that included only one swimmer better than 2:19 this morning. In the final, everyone was well below that barrier, and PASA 25-year old BJ Johnson came away with the win in 2:14.51, just .05 seconds ahead of Mike Alexandrov (2:14.56).
Those two were well ahead of the field at the final touch, but it wasn’t that way the whole race. Clark Burckle went out hard in this race, turning in 1:04.35, and being dead-even with Alexandrov and Johnson at the 150. He paid for his swift opening on the final 50, though, and ended up fading all the way back to 2:15.91: almost a second-and-a-half behind the winner.
16-year old Venezuelan Carlos Claverie was 4th in 2:16.94; that’s about a second slower than his top-seeded prelims swim.
Women’s 400 Free – Final
Katie Ledecky didn’t get to swim this 400 free at London, where she lit the world on fire with her amazing 800 gold medal victory. The first-half split of that 800, however, became one of the fastest 400 freestyles in the world last year, so there was a lot of anticipation about this Grand Prix meet and her first major long course swim of the 400 free since the Olympic Trials.
Ledecky certainly didn’t disappoint either the fans in Mesa, or those watching at home, as she won in 4:05.21. As she likes to do, Ledecky pushed the pace early in this swim (2:00 halfway) to put everyone away early. That time would have placed her 6th in the B-Final in the men’s race.
With Katinka Hosszu well back in 4:11.72 for 2nd, and Chloe Sutton behind her in 3rd in 4:12.00, Ledecky’s swim is by far the focus of the final. Her swim passes Spaniard Mireia Belmonte as the second-fastest in the world this year; behind only Camille Muffat’s 4:06-low in France.
Liz Pelton, who was 8th in prelims scratched this 400 free final to focus on her 100 free and 100 fly finals.
Men’s 400 Free – Final
This was another lackluster prelims swim, but just like the 200 breaststroke, things came alive in finals of this race. Matt McLean took the race out to a big lead, and though the 800/1500 specialist Michael Klueh made up some ground in the last 200 meters, McLean had just enough left at the end to win in 3:51.95. That’s about the same time he went on this same weekend last year.
Klueh was 2nd in 3:52.20, followed by Michigan/Danish Olympian Anders Nielsen in 3:54.09.
Women’s 100 Fly – Final
Kelsi Worrell’s 2-month-long ride of momentum hit a little hiccup in the 100 fly A-final. She was the first to stop the clock, in 59.48, but was DQ’ed for a 15-meter violation. Still, she comes away with the two fastest swims of the day in a field that included better than half-a-dozen Olympians.
The disqualification left Claire Donahue, one of those Olympians, with the win in 59.58. She went out really hard in the race (27.33 at the turn) as she likes to do. Her Olympic counterpart Dana Vollmer, who also pushes the front-half of her race, was about half-a-second slower at the turn and wound up 3rd in 59.99.
In between the two was Katinka Hosszu in 59.80. That’s her third runner-up finish in as many events on the day.
15-year old Katie McLaughlin, the youngest swimmer in either the A or B-final, was 4th overall in 1:00.06, followed by Caitlin Leverenz in 5th in 1:00.86.
Men’s 100 Fly – Final
Cal senior-to-be, and Polish international, Marcin Tarczynski was a 52.83 to win the men’s 100 fly final: the last individual race of the night. That is less than three-tenths away from his lifetime best, and leaves him in the world’s top 10.
He beat his teammate Tom Shields, who was 2nd in 52.99. Shields was almost an identical time at his first meet post-NCAA’s last year.
Stanford post-grad Eugene Godsoe was 3rd in 53.28, followed by his training partner Bobby Bollier in 53.82.
16-year old Justin Lynch was 6th in 54.15.
Ryan Lochte took 9th in 54.48: a B-Final victory ahead of fellow Olympian Tyler Clary (55.14).
I thought Ziegler was supposed to swim at this meet? She is on the psych sheet and her team is there.
Lots of talk about Cal’s near monopoly in the women’s 100 back, but 5 of the top 6 in the 100 free swam, swim, or will swim for Teri.
Is Katie Ledecky accepting price money? I google the above subject and I could not find anything especially when compared with media coverage of Franklin’s decision
no. pretty sure she’s still ncaa eligible. the lack of coverage is probably due to the fact that she still has a couple of years before college. I’m wondering if she’ll put off college for one year (or redshirt), since timing-wise, Rio would just follow her freshman year of college. It’s definitely a possibility–wouldn’t be surprised to see her at Cal as well, possibly reunited with Yuri.
Swim of the night for Miss Ledecky. 4.05.21 is great for this period of the year. It seems she has much grown since last year. She looks much taller in the water. Her opponents can be worried.
Good point for Nathan Adrian too. 48.42 is now very usual and common for him in-season. And he’s alone in USA in this race. He will have the luxury of swimming at 80% at the world trials to keep the best for Barcelona and the battle with James Magnussen.
Not a spectacular time for Breeja Larson in the 200 breast but I have liked her way of swimming this race with a good finish.
Good win for Missy in the… Read more »
Bobo, but if your predictions are correct, with Adrian so far ahead.. it is bad news for US free relay..
Maybe, but last year people said the US wouldn’t get a medal, AUS would win gold, and you even said Brazil would challenge the US for a medal in the event. I know you like to be pessimistic towards the US, but let’s hold our predictions for now (at least until the trials come around).
I actually think Bobo prediction is not acurate.. US will put up a strong team.. but I think the team will miss Phelps on both free relays.. and maybe medley because of his motivational abilities..
Philip Johnson,
the problem with Brazil was another nature:They Choked.
I hope the youngsters step up and make a difference in a near future.Chieriguini will have this year De Lucca to pair with him in the 100´s, but still will be two piece short of a good relay(Cielo for me will be only a wildcard-If he is ready to swim).
Bobo – I agree with the names that you listed above. When we have a chance to see the Georgia girls and Lia Neal swim, we should have a better idea about Team USA’s depth. Even though she is in the twilight of her career, Natalie did medal in 2008 and 2004 in the women’s 100 free. It seems as if she wants to focus back on that event, since she probably feels that she has plateaued in the backstroke events. I don’t know if we’ll be able to compete with the Dutch but her, Missy, Hardy and whoever else steps up will try their best.
It’s a given Ledecky will have a spot for the 400. honestly, that time would probably make the US team. question is, does she have what it takes to challenge Muffat or Schmitt? i say yes.
not sure schmitt will be in the picture this summer in the 400? her 500 wasn’t in the ballpark ….my money will be on katie over allison this summer.
Agree. Katie Ledecky will win the 400 free at the word trials. I predict 4.03 for her in June. 4.00 in Barcelona. And if Allison Schmitt doesn’t improve until June she could not even qualify in the 400 free for Barcelona. Her short course world championships in Istanbul last December were very bad in the 400 free and it was not much better in the 500 free at the last NCAA championships. On the other hand, she has won the 200 free in Istanbul and at the NCAA championships. It seems she has difficulties with the long distances this season. And with Chloe Sutton, Gillian Ryan and Becca Mann able to swim 4.04, Miss Schmitt can be worried. I think… Read more »
I’d go with Ledecky as best swim of the night, but it’s also great to see Adrian so consistent.
Correct and it was great to see her correct Rowdy in her interview. Katie is clearly dialed in and realizes where she and her main competition stand. Team USA is fortunate to have such a young and astute athlete in their squad.
totally agree. katie is the REAL deal…and in many ways is just as impressive as missy.
i LOVE that she knows exactly what Muffat went last week. such a sign of great things to come!
I just watched that. It’s funny because most swimmers say they don’t focus on what other people are doing and you know that’s a lie.
Most swimmers do.. it is just guys like Rowdy who do not.. watching him during 2008 summer was even funny when he said he was “surprised” that a lot of guys who were the fastest qualifiers actually won..
Haha.. totally agree.
Rowdy needs to educate himself and read information before he does his job as commentator for world championships.
I noticed that as well and found myself thinking that such things are a lot more relevant in her life than they were this time last year. The baby of the 2012 team is growing up fast.
Nathan’s swim was probably the most impressive, with Katie’s a close second. The venue is wonderful. Fans are right on top of the action. I’m guessing tomorrow night will be packed. Best feature is the “shark tank”, where kids stand together and the top 3 swimmers in the event throw signed toy sharks into the crowd of kids.
Great great event.