Scotty Buff Ties NCSA Meet Record With 21.4 50 Back At Day 2 Prelims In Orlando

2022 NCSA JUNIOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

• March 15-19, 2022
• Rosen Aquatic and Fitness Center, Orlando, Florida
• Short Course Yards (25 yards), Prelims/Finals
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheets
• Live Stream
• Results on Meet Mobile: “2022 NCSA Spring Swimming Championships”
• Day 1 Finals Results

The second day of competition at the 2022 NCSA Spring Championships rolled on Wednesday morning with preliminary heats in the men’s and women’s 200 butterfly, 50 backstroke and 200 breaststroke, plus the early heats in the 800 free relay.

BUFF TIES 50 BACK MEET RECORD

After a pair of National Age Group Records highlighted the action during Tuesday night finals, another record swim came down the pike this morning as Scotty Buff tied the NCSA Meet Record in the men’s 50 backstroke.

Buff, 17, claimed the top spot in the 50 back with a time of 21.43, matching the meet record set by Luke Kaliszak in 2014. The swim was Buff’s first in the 50 back since 2017, making it a best time by nearly six seconds, and ranks him as the sixth-fastest 17-year-old in history.

A member of the Greater Toledo Aquatic Club who is committed to the University of Florida, Buff has been on fire so far in Orlando, having placed second in the 100 free and fourth in the 200 back on Day 1. He also split 21.05 swimming fly on GTAC’s 200 medley relay.

Hurricanes Swim Team’s Charlie Crosby, 18, qualified second in 21.78, having hit a PB of 21.32 earlier this month at the MSHS Boys State Championship meet. In third, 16-year-old Hudson Williams, who won the 100 free last night, was also sub-22 in 21.99, bettering his previous best of 22.16 on last night’s 200 medley relay.

WOMEN’S HIGHLIGHTS

On the women’s side of the pool, LIAC’s Tess Howley cruised to the top time of the morning in the 200 fly, clocking 1:54.24 to lead the field by over two seconds. Howley set her best time of 1:52.76, which ranks her #2 all-time among 15-16 girls, back in December at the NCAP Invite.

New Albany’s Martina Peroni dropped nearly a second and a half from her PB to qualify second in 1:56.41, with Elmbrook Swim Club’s Campbell Stoll third in 1:57.63.

TNT Swimming’s Levenia Sim, who also made the 200 fly final in fifth, was the top qualifier in the women’s 50 back with a time of 24.16, just off her meet record of 24.00 set last year. A total of six women cracked 25 seconds in the prelims, including EBSC’s Maggie Wanezek (24.37), Aquajets’ Emma Kern (24.62) and Stoll (24.66).

Wanezek was the fastest lead-off swimmer on the 200 medley relay yesterday, clocking 24.26 as Elmbrook broke the 15-18 NAG.

In the 200 breast, Nasa Wildcat Aquatics’ Kaelyn Gridley claimed the top spot in a time of 2:10.89, just off her PB of 2:10.25 set in February. EBSC’s Lucy Thomas, who set a best of her own (2:10.88) at the same Schroeder YMCA meet last month, took second in 2:11.68, while Academy Bullets’ Bridget McGann dropped over a second from her best to advance third in 2:12.28. The time moves McGann into 30th all-time among 15-year-olds.

Team Greenville leads the early heats of the women’s 800 free relay, clocking 7:27.33 with Lilla Bognar leading off in 1:49.16. The top three heats will swim with finals.

OTHER MEN’S HIGHLIGHTS

NCAP’s Landon Gentry put up his fastest swim since December 2020 in the 200 fly to qualify first in the men’s race, touching in 1:45.03 to fall exactly two seconds off his lifetime best.

Rockville Montgomery’s Everett Oehler (1:46.90) and Arlington’s JT Ewing (1:46.96) both established lifetime bests to qualify second and third, while Oehler’s 15-year-old teammate Adriano Arioti (1:47.49) sits fourth. Arioti hit a best time of 1:46.41 back in December which ranks him ninth-fastest all-time among 15-year-olds.

The men’s 200 breast saw Inspire Swim Team’s Nate Germonprez lead the field by a wide margin in 1:56.77, knocking a big chunk off his previous best of 1:58.37 set last November. Germonprez now ranks as the 24th-fastest 17-year-old in U.S. history.

Trailing him were four men all within 12 one-hundredths of each other, between 1:58.40 and 1:58.52, led by Arlington’s Collin McKenzie.

New Wave Swim Team sits first through the early heats of the 800 free relay with a time of 6:46.46.