The final day of prelims went underway at the Tom Dolan Invite, paving the way for some of the stars of the meet such as Katie Ledecky, Allie Szekely, Reece Whitley, and Andrew Seliskar to big wins tonight as they took top spots this morning.
200 Backstroke
Andrew Seliskar posted the fastest time this morning in the 200 backstroke, leading the way, but not by too much with a 1:46.97. Second in the open category behind Seliskar was 17-year-old Jake Lamperella in 1:48.26 and Wade O’Brien in 1:48.41.
Seliskar added almost a full five seconds off his seed time, seeming as though he was holding back a bit heading into finals.
Delaware Swim Team’s Jake Johnson leads the 13-14s at 1:54.74. Johnson was the overall 1650 winner the first night, and also took second in the 400 IM and 200 fly. He’ll have to beat out 11-12 NAG record-breaker Destin Lasco, who is now 13 and went 1:54.89.
Sixteen-year-old Allie Szekely had a big swim this morning in the women’s open 200 backstroke, clocking in at 1:56.79 to grab the middle lane for finals. Her closest competitor tonight will be 14-year-old Madison Homovich, who threw down a 1:58.89 for the second seed.
Homovich (who is racing in the open category, rather than the 13-14s) took over two seconds off her lifetime best to qualify in second, and was still two seconds behind Szekely. Szekely has some room tonight considering she herself added almost three seconds on her personal best giving potential for a large margin of victory.
100 Freestyle
Seliskar opted out of his 100 freestyle prelim, however NCAP still led the way as James Jones rocked a 44.55 to swim the fastest 100 of the prelims. Greg Brocato was the only other swimmer under 45 seconds with a 44.79.
James Murphy and Thomas Dillinger could also be in close range with prelim swims of 45.37 and 45.45. With Jones’ personal best being under 44 seconds, and having no other swimmer with a time like that, it seems as though he will have the advantage tonight.
Reece Whitley keeps rounding out his meet lineup with nice swims in non-breaststroke events, and the 6-foot-6 14-year-old is the top seed in the 13-14 100 free. His 47.48 sits atop the prelims standings, followed by Destin Lasco‘s 48.10.
Katie Ledecky was the only swimmer in prelims to dip under 50 seconds for her 100 freestyle and posted a very solid 48.96. Considering that she is a distance swimmer through and through her 100 is in no bad shape for a 17-year-old, in fact, take away the distance swimmer factor and it’s still a great time.
She added slightly from her personal best of 48.66, however that time could be very manageable come finals. Suzanne Dolan and Morgan Hill, who put up times of 50.26 and 50.50 respectively, will be hot on her heels tonight however Ledecky is a pure racer and should be able to grab the 100 free win.
In the 13-14s, keep an eye on Morgan Scott of the Central Bucks, who won twice on Friday night and then took second in three races last night. She’s the top seed in 51.03.
200 IM
It’ll be Andrew Seliskar leading the 200 IM, just as he did the 200 back on day 4. Seliskar cruised to a 1:46.08, the top qualifier by over four seconds.
He pulled a tough combo like this yesterday, really going after the 200 fly for a NAG record and then nearly breaking his own NAG in the 200 breast. It remains to be seen if Seliskar will go after both the 200 back and 200 IM again tonight, or if he’ll scratch one to concentrate on the other.
Reece Whitley leads the 13-14s in 1:55.70, well off his lifetime-best. Whitley has his own tough combo, coming off of the 100 free, so it’s certainly possible he’ll scratch one event and come back much faster tonight.
It’s the second top seed for Allie Szekely, as the Central Bucks 16-year-old went 2:00.71. She leads former West Virginia All-American Rachael Burnett (2:02.42) and her Machine teammate Suzanne Dolan (2:02.65).
Also in the hunt is former 13-14 NAG record-breaker Cassidy Bayer, who was 2:02.73.
In the 13-14s, 100/200 breast winner Kate Douglass just leads Morgan Scott 2:05.87 to 2:05.92.
400 Free Relay
Nation’s Capital leads the open boys event in 3:00.84. That started with a 44.06 leadoff leg from Andrew Seliskar, who was coming off of two individual events earlier in the session. NCAP leads by 5 seconds.
In the 13-14s, Poseidon has the top seed after going 3:19.04. That was led by a 48.06 leadoff leg from Phil Costin.
For the girls, Machine leads the way in the open category, going 3:23.73 with a 50.83 leadoff leg from Morgan Hill. Suzanne Dolan was also 50.34. But watch out for Nation’s Capital, which got a 49.54 from Cassidy Bayer and could potentially throw Katie Ledecky on the relay at night if they wish.
In the 13-14s, Katie Mack split a 51.58 on the anchor leg to give NCAP a top seed.
The day continues with heats of the 1000 free. The fastest 8 boys and girls will swim with finals tonight, including Katie Ledecky, who’s got a real shot at the American record of 9:10.77 set by Katie Hoff.
For full meet results click here.
Jared Anderson contributed to this report.
Ledecky most likely waiting for Metros, the HS champs meet, whic will be pretty soon. No 1k there but will lower more HS records. And maybe American record too- hope she gets the 2free record
It’s a very tough one!
9.11.52 for Katie Ledecky.
Katie Hoff’s American record is still alive.
If she had the shape she has each summer, then she would break it by 3 or 4 seconds but not fully tapered it’s very tough.
Still a great swim.
9.42.80 for Madison Homovich in second place.
Thanks for the recap.
Look at the photo. This week, that’s the first time ever I see Allie Szekely wear a modern knee racing suit. And she took advantage of it very well. A lot of best times. She looks stronger than ever. She’s back at her best on breaststroke, improved a lot her butterfly and continues to impress me more and more on backstroke. I think she’s ready for a big 200 back tonight. She has very powerful legs and it helps her backstroke.
Andrew Seliskar with another tough double 200 back/200 IM. Big times to expect.
Destin Lasco in the 200 back. Always great to watch.
Kate Douglass’ 200 IM. She’s an impressive breaststroker but… Read more »
These live results don’t work very often.
new NAG record by NCAP girls 11-12 in 200 free relay
Boys 200 IM and 400 free relay result are up on Meet Mobile.