Schoeman Blasts 45.5 100 Fly; Mulcare & Mau Continue to Rock in Federal Way

At 33-years old, Roland Schoeman is still going strong, and it’s not just in the sprint freestyle races.

On the penultimate night of the 2014 Federal Way sectional meet in yards, the South African Schoeman swam a 45.51 in the men’s 100 fly to crush the Western Section Record, and even more significantly, he swam a time that is his lifetime best by a full second – he peaked in college at a 46.50 at the 2002 NCAA Championship meet while swimming for Arizona.

Meanwhile, a 15-year old Ryan Hoffer from the nearby Scottsdale Aquatic Club took 2nd in 47.92, which is just off of his best time, and Mathias Oh from the home team King Aquatic Club took 3rd in 47.97. Harvard commit Edward Kim rounded out the sub-48 group in 47.98, and another 15-year old Thomas Anderson, also from KING, was 5th in 48.00.

In the men’s 100 backstroke, another Meet Record went down: twice on Saturday, in fact. In prelims, Patrick Mulcare, who’s having a huge breakout meet, was a 47.79 to break Tyler Messerschmidt’s Meet Record, and then in finals, he swam a 47.69 to clear the record again. Both of those swims were new lifetime bests for him.

Also under the old Meet Record in finals was Anderson in 47.74: just off of his personal best. South Carolina commit Bryce Kananowicz took 3rd in 49.10.

In the men’s 500 free, Denver Swim Academy’s Nathan Mueller won in 4:27.45, topping Mark Jurek from Arizona Gold (4:27.47). Jurek had a full second lead on the field headed into the last 50, but he ran out of steam a little coming home as everyone made up that second in a hurry. Though Mueller got him, Jurek had just enough to hold off Mount Hood’s Nicholas Thorne (4:27.66) and Punhaou Aquatics’ Aukai Lileikis (4:27.97).

In the other men’s individual event, Matthew Anderson from the Arizona Marlins won the 100 yard breaststroke in 54.69, topping Thomas Brewer from Current Swimming (54.76) and John Bushman from the Aces Swim Club (54.93).

It was then the great sprint group from the Scotssdale Aquatic Club that broke one more men’s Western Section Record to close the day in the 400 free relay, with the team of Hoffer, Jack Blake, Nick Magana, and Bradley Dorsey touching in 2:49.05. Tualatin Hills placed 2nd in 3:01.65. Schoeman split a 42.33 on the anchor of the Phoenix Swim Club ‘A’ relay, but they wound up being DQ’ed.

On the women’s side, Jasmine Mau from the Kamehameha Swim Club in Hawaii continued to be a star, though she got quite a scare in the women’s 100 fly. There, Mackenzie Rumrill from the Bearcat Swim Club came in just behind her, 53.62 to 53.64, but Mau had just enough juice to come away with the win. Bailey Nero almost pulled off the upset as well with a 53.84 and the fastest closing 50 of the field, but she wound up 3rd.

That was pretty far off of Mau’s National Independent High School Record from February, but the timing from the February state meets until the mid-March sectionals can be tough.

In the 100 backstroke, KING’s Hannah Weiss took the win in 52.51, which is a new lifetime best,  to win. She just barely outran another very, very close finish, with Missoula’s Hannah Leach taking 2nd in 53.53 and Mau taking 3rd in 53.54. In fact, the top four were separated by only .11 seconds.

That time by Leach broke the old Montana State Record for 15-16’s in the event, and it’s only a matter of aging up before she likely gets the 17-19 record as well, which is more than two seconds slower than this time.

Madeline Myers of the Jeffco Hurricanes was a 4:46.01 for the win in the 500 yard freestyle. This comes a day after a big time drop in the 400 IM that gave her a first Summer Nationals cut, though the 500 wasn’t a lifetime best for her.

Taylor Ruck of the Scottsdale Aquatic Club, who’s only 13 years old, took 2nd in 4:47.10. Despite being on the younger end of the age group, that moves her to 31st all-time among 13-14 girls, and is the fifth-best by a 13-year old in the last decade in the event.

Carolyn McCann took the girls’ 100 breast in 1:01.60, which is two wins for the KING girls on Saturday. They’ll swim the 400 medley relay on Sunday with some serious cracks at National Age Group Records.

In Saturday’s relay, though, it was the Scottsdale women who won the 4×100 free, with the team of Sam Fazio, Ruck, Hannah Holman, and Victoria Toris swimming a 3:21.85 for the win. King was 2nd in 3:22.65.

Full, live meet results available here.