Grevers Gets on the Team; But Plummer Pulls Upset in Men’s 100 Back

The Friday finals session in Indianapolis, Indiana at the 2013 USA Swimming National Championships and World Championship Trials don’t leap off the page as the biggest events of the meet,  but upon closer inspection the story lines are thick.

Matt Grevers trying to fight off David Plummer and Ryan Murphy to earn a spot at the World Championships; Missy versus Pelton in the women’s 100 back; Jaeger’s continued emergence as the future of American men’s freestyling; the same of Katie Ledecky in the women’s race; Kevin Cordes gunning to break the minute for the first time in the 100 breaststroke; and a huge rematch of Hardy vs. Larson in the 100 breaststroke after Larson kept Hardy out of the Olympics in the event last year.

As a reminder, all of the links you need to follow this weekend’s meet are available here.

Women’s 400 Free – FINALS

Katie Ledecky swam her way to a personal best and a new 15-16 National Age Group Record in 4:04.05. That swim was better than her old personal best time that was actually set as a halfway split en route to an 800 free Olympic title in London last year. (Read more about her record here).

Ledecky already ranked 3rd in the world in this event coming into tonight’s finals session, but this swim improved that standing. Though she’s very much in the mix, her chances in this 400 free in Barcelona are much more contested than they will be in the 800 (though neither race is a given at this point).

Chloe Sutton finished 2nd in 4:06.64, making this the same 1-2 finish as we saw in the 800 freestyle earlier in the meet. Adding two more doubles to the list greatly improves the chances of Natalie Coughlin (5th in the 100 free) and Chelsea Chenault (6th in the 200 free) for making the World Championship teams in those events.

USC’s Haley Anderson, who’s already qualified for Worlds in open water, was 3rd in 4:09.60. She looked for a moment like she might make a move on Sutton for 2nd, but ultimately couldn’t get close to her Southern California foe.

Those were the only three under 4:10 in a race that looked like it had 10 or more swimmers with the potential to get under that barrier. That opens up a lot of opportunities for swimmers who have saved their taper for the U.S. Open in August to score spots on the National Team.

NBAC’s Gillian Ryan was 4th in 4:10.19 and Chelsea Chenault was 5th in 4:10.79.

Lindsay Vrooman (4:11.16), Leah Smith (4:11.96), and Becca Mann (4:14.02) rounded out the top 8.

Tristin Baxter, an open water star, won the B-Final in 4:11.15 in a closing 100 of 1:01.74, which is faster than anybody other than Ryan.

Quinn Carrozza, who tied with Mann in prelims but by coaches’ decision declined a swim-off and went down to the B-Final, was 11th overall in 4:11.59. That’s two-and-a-half seconds faster than Mann was in the A-Final.

Men’s 400 Free – FINALS

Michigan’s Connor Jaeger is the real deal, and has now added a second qualification to his World Championships schedule after winning the men’s 400 free in 3:45.89. That’s a lifetime best for him by a full second ahead of his swim in Santa Clara, and he now seems a veritable lock to win the 800 free on the meet’s final day.

The battle for this race got very interesting; Virginia’s Matt McLean swam with a huge closing 50 meters of 26.94 as he and Conor Dwyer battled with Jaeger in the last 15 meters (Dwyer and Jaeger were locked up for the full 400 meters). McLean couldn’t quite make up the gap on Dwyer, but everyone in the Natatorium at IUPUI saw the true outcome.

A gasp erupted at the start of the 400, as Dwyer had a huge twitch on the block and a rolling start. He touched in 4:46.05, but he was disqualified for a false start, giving the second spot at Worlds to McLean in 4:46.14.

Sometimes, false starts, especially in these longer races, are largely impact-less on the outcome. Dwyer, however, was clearly out in front of everyone, and with him beating McLean by less than a tenth of a second, the final two for Worlds was a just outcome.

Jaeger and McLean move to 5th and 6th in the world this year, respectively.

Charlie Houchin took 3rd in 3:47.15, which is a best time of his own. Texas’ Michael McBroom, already on the team in the 1500, was 5th in 3:49.28, and his fellow Texas alum Michael Klueh was 5th in 3:51.54.

Another Longhorn swimmer, Jacob Ritter, won the B-Final in 3:52.49. He’s swimming this event at the World University Games next month.

Women’s 100 Breaststroke – FINALS

Breeja Larson worked out her kinks in the 200 breaststroke earlier in this meet, but she has no such problem in the 100 breaststroke. For the 2nd-straight year, Larson is the USA Swimming National Champion in the 100 meter breaststroke, this time with a 1:06.16. That’s just a couple-of-tenths slower than she was at last year’s Trials, but overall is in the same neighborhood.

Larson, when talking about racing next to the fast-starting Hardy, talked about the need to control her speed against one of the world’s best 50 breaststrokers. The splits, however, didn’t show that Larson gave up much on the front-half of this race.

Comparative splits between the two:

Larson: 30.94/35.22 – 1:06.16
Hardy: 30.91/35.58 – 1:06.49

That should give Larson an option to enter the 50 breaststroke at the World Championships as her fourth event (medley, 100, 200 breaststroke), while it gives Hardy just a 2nd and 3rd swim (50 breast, 100 breast, 400 medley relay). Things are breaking as they needed to, and after this race, the women almost became guaranteed of being able to take all qualifiers to Worlds.

Micah Lawrence took 3rd in 1:07.27, which is a lifetime best for her. She’s looking sharp after a short time back with David Marsh at SwimMAC this summer.

Molly Hannis from Tennessee took 4th in 1:07.48, establishing herself as a true national-level contender at this meet as we head toward Rio. She’s only 21 and will be just a junior next year.

Texas’ Laura Sogar was 5th in 1:07.88, with Katy Freeman from Santa Barbara taking 6th in 1:08.00.

Out of the B-Final, Megan Jendrick, the 2000 Olympic Champion in this race, won in 1:08.80, followed closely by a nice swim from Columbia’s Katie Meili in 1:08.82.

Men’s 100 Breast – FINALS

Kevin Cordes wanted one thing to be known after winning the 2013 national title in the 100 breaststroke and qualifying for a second (and by extension 3rd and 4th in the 50 breaststroke and 400 medley relay) event: He is both a yards swimmer, and a meters swimmer.

Cordes swam a 59.99 to win the Men’s 100 breaststroke, breaking a minute for the first time in his career. This gives some promise to the future of American breaststroking, as he’s the youngest American to ever break a minute in this race (none have ever done it as a teenager in the past).

In 2nd place was a swimmer having a fantastic meet: Nic Fink from the University of Georgia. He’s also only 19, and went a 1:00.24. That’s a full second better than he was coming into this meet. He has become a well-known quantity in the NCAA ranks, but was still on the fringe of the National ranks before taking 3rd in the 200 and 2nd in the 100 here.

That meant that Mike Alexandrov, who has just had a phenomenal season, missed out on the team with a 3rd-place finish in 1:00.39. He looked great all season long, and finished it off with a  better time than he was at last year’s Olympic Trials. He was caught by the moving pieces around him, however.

Stanford’s BJ Johnson, who’s already on the team, took 4th in 1:00.68, and was followed by Clark Burckle (1:01.14) and Scott Weltz (1:01.34).

In 7th place was 50 breast champion Kevin Steel in 1:01.80, another lifetime best. Josh Prenot was 1:01.81 for 8th.

Tennessee’s Brad Craig won the B Final in 1:02.18.

Women’s 100 Back – FINALS

The Cal women’s dominance in the 100 backstroke has been well-discussed and will continue to be well-discussed for at least the next two years. For tonight, though, we’ll push that story line aside in favor of the more National perspective, and how good American women’s backstroking could be for the next decade.

Missy Franklin won this race and took the U.S. Open Record (fastest on American soil) in 58.67. She was joined in the top four by Liz Pelton (59.27) who exactly matched her own prelims time; Sarah Denninghoff, who is having an explosive meet and was 59.75, or under a minute for the first time; and Rachel Bootsma, who was 59.90.

That’s four swimmers under one minute, and among them Denninghoff is the oldest at 21. The other three are all teenagers, and with swimmers competing into the end of their 20’s, all three could remain under that minute mark for the next decade if they wanted to.

The same could be said for Olivia Smoliga, who though she hasn’t been having her greatest meet finished Friday with 1:00.38. She could be under a minute for a decade longer as well.

Kathleen Baker from SwimMAC was 6th in 1:00.62 at only 16, and Kendyl Stewart was 7th at only 18 years old.

Point made.

Winning the B-Final was Stanford’s Felicia Lee in 1:00.81. As she was leaving the water, her and her former NBAC coach Bob Bowman exchanged a nice moment, as Bowman came over to greet her with a warm-looking hug.

Men’s 100 Back – FINALS

This men’s 100 backstroke final was perhaps the most exciting race of the meet so far. It had the star Matt Grevers, the seemingly-perpetual underdog David Plummer, the young star Ryan Murphy, and the hot hand Eugene Godsoe.

They weren’t just changing leads at walls and turns. They were changing leads over-and-over mid-pool, with Grevers’ massive reach distorting the margins at every entry.

Ultimately, though, it was the two favorites coming into the meet who won, with Plummer taking the win in 53.10 with a big back-half. Grevers was just behind in 53.25.

Ryan Murphy re-broke his own 17-18 National Age Group Record with a 53.38, and a surprise finish from Shane Ryan took 4th in 53.84. Ryan could be the future of the Penn State men’s program.

Godsoe couldn’t add a fourth event to his schedule, finishing 5th in 53.86. Jacob Pebley was 6th in 53.98.

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Jg
11 years ago

The women I expect USA 7 Australia 5 .

Interesting that several US qualifiers would not have made the Australia team because of inadequate time eg Donaghue & Lochte 10 fly . Ledecky 200 free. & McBroom 1500 .

bobo gigi
Reply to  Jg
11 years ago

It’s dangerous to just compare times of US championships with Australian championships to make predictions. It would be too easy. Trust in your feeling too! But I agree. The US team will not have a fantastic meet in Barcelona. I see it just as a good meet. It’s a transition year for American swimming. While we see many US stars who have taken a break after London and haven’t trained very strong struggling in Indianapolis, we also see the next generation of American swimmers in action. And they look great. Rebecca Soni isn’t there. Michael Phelps has retired and it will much affect the relays. They will probably win the medal table (thank you Missy and Katie) but it will… Read more »

Jg
11 years ago

Interesting comparison . Of Olympic events m USA trials vs Australian championships .

USA 100 200 back /. 100 fly / 200 br / 200 I’m

Australia 100 200 400 1500 free/ 100 br / 400 I’m.

Australia 6 USA 5 .

Tomorrow I expect the 200im to USA & its down to the 50 mtr to declare the winner!

( Australia on handicap by full programme ) .

Danjohnrob
Reply to  Jg
11 years ago

I’m not disagreeing with you, but if you asked the Australian National Coaches whether they would have preferred to have the best team in London, then have many of their stars need to take a break in 2013 or to have the best team in Barcelona, I think they would choose the U.S. situation, don’t you?

Jg
Reply to  Danjohnrob
11 years ago

I don’t get what you are saying. This is just a direct comparison apples vs apples in 2013.

It shows differing strengths plus the fact that the Australan men had performed well. As a matter of fact I think Rohan Taylor ( an ex American ) is thinking this looks very good.

Danjohnrob
Reply to  Jg
11 years ago

What I’m saying is that the U.S. program built its team well in the 4 years leading to London, keeping the focus on performing well in the Olympics, as it should be. That may mean that our team will be weaker in the 2013 WC, but it does not necessarily mean that foretells how strong it will be for the 2016 Olympics.

ML
11 years ago

Didn’t Janet Evans go 4:03.8 as a 15-year-old in Seoul? Why is that not the NAG record?

Swimaholic
Reply to  Braden Keith
11 years ago

Does Janet still hold the 17-18 NAG record or did someone -possibly Dagny Knutson – break it?

boknows34
Reply to  Swimaholic
11 years ago

Katie Hoff holds the 17-18 NAG record with 4.02.20 in 2008.

bobo gigi
11 years ago

Ok. Star of the day, in my opinion, is again Missy Franklin. She’s really a class apart.

11 years ago

Why is Swimmac not swimming in this Men’s relay?

Llamainthepool
Reply to  Manyi Eta-Okang
11 years ago

SwimMAC has a lot of great individuals, but they know why they are swimming this meet: to qualify for a team.
Relays don’t qualify.

Danjohnrob
11 years ago

The Zeiger family is winning the whole team competition for Bluefish SC on the women’s side with all of their relay entries! I used to coach at Bluefish, so I’m happy to see them near the top!

aswimfan
11 years ago

It must be scary to swim 100 back next to Franklin, knowing that unless you have 1 second advantage at the turn, she will mow you down in the last 15-20 m.

Jg
Reply to  aswimfan
11 years ago

Yes it. Is probably better to qualify in an outer lane .if Seebohm was not such a ditz she could have won in London.

ZYNG43
Reply to  Jg
11 years ago

hahahaha why do you call her a ditz?

aswimfan
Reply to  ZYNG43
11 years ago

It’s because Seebohm was glued to her twitter 24/7 and believed everything people said about her.
Seebohm spent so much energy tending to her emotional roller coaster on social media.

ZYNG43
Reply to  aswimfan
11 years ago

I didn’t follow her on twitter. Weird though. I know a few swimmers from the last olympics… some of them had other people posting updates on their pages for them because its better for them not to bother with social media in that time

Jg
Reply to  Jg
11 years ago

I ought add that she has taken serious steps to improve her composure . In her favour she did take a nasty hit with the swine flu & has been in overdrive coming back.

ZYNG43
11 years ago

So hard to watch Ryan get 3rd

bobo gigi
Reply to  ZYNG43
11 years ago

He will come back stronger next year to win the pan pacs.

Jg
Reply to  ZYNG43
11 years ago

Why? He is looking bulkier this year . Haha what a word !

NoLochteFan should change to Lochteisbulky.

ZYNG43
Reply to  Jg
11 years ago

He is strong and he will have good people to race at practice in Cal! He and Pebley will push eachother. Ryan never gives up.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

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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