Arena Grand Prix at Minneapolis: Day Three Finals Live Recap

Arena Grand Prix at Minneapolis: Day Three Finals Live Recap

• Psych sheet
• Live meet results
• Saturday final heat sheets
• Unofficial timeline
• Live stream
• Prelims: 9 a.m local time (10 a.m EST, 7 a.m Pacific)
• Finals: 6 p.m local time (7 p.m EST, 4 p.m Pacific)

Women 1650 Yard Freestyle

With Arena Grand Prix series points on the line, Elizabeth Beisel, a name you wouldn’t normally associate with distance swimming, was standing in front of lane 5 at the beginning of the women’s 1650. To her right was top-seeded Becca Mann of North Baltimore. The top time to beat from the morning heats belonged to Minnesota freshman Brooke Lorentzen, 16:25.72.

Gabrielle Kopenski of Frisco led the beginning of the race out of lane 7, but the three middle lanes (Beisel, Mann and Kiera Janzen) started to take over at the midway point. At the 1100 turn it was Janzen, Beisel, and Mann across the middle. By the 1150 Beisel had moved ahead of her two neighbors and began to build her lead.

Beisel turned on the jets over the last 150 yards and finished in 15:59.36. Mann and Janzen battled it out for second place, with Mann getting to the wall first by .01. Mann was 16:03.22 while Janzen was 16:03.23. Kopenski took fourth in 16:14.23. Breanne Siwicki of Minnesota was fifth (16:18.20); her teammate Lorentzen sixth. Minnesota’s Sam Harding placed seventh in 16:26.71. Sandra Soe of Santa Clara rounded out the top eight with 16:30.56.

Women 200 Yard IM

Becca Mann hopped out of lane 4 and back onto the blocks, seeded first in the B-final of the 200 IM. Marie-Pier Couillard of Les Riverains was out first at the 100 but Kierra Smith from Minnesota had a strong second half and got the win in 1:59.87. Coullard went 2:01.50. Ruby Martin of Iowa Flyers just out-touched T2’s Justine Bowker, 2:02.70 to 2:02.79. Becca Mann, who showed a lot of grit in that double, went 2:03.06.

Maya DiRado of Stanford Swimming got things going in the A-final, taking it out with her strong fly/back combination in under 54 seconds. Caitlin Leverenz of California Aquatics took over the lead with breaststroke. Melanie Margalis of Saint Petersburg and Karlee Bispo both tried to chase down Leverenz. They nearly caught her but in the end it was Leverenz with 1:55.02, followed by Margalis (1:55.19), Bispo (1:55.31), and DiRado (1:55.65).

Men 200 Yard IM

North Baltimore’s Alpkan Ornek won an exciting B-final over Daniel Conway of Purdue, 1:48.70 to 1:48.83. The championship final featured an excellent race between NY Athletic Club’s Darian Townsend and North Baltimore’s Conor Dwyer. Tyler Clary had scratched to focus on the next race, the 200 back. Townsend was out first, making the back-to-breast turn a whole second ahead of Dwyer. The breaststroke proved to be the equalizer, though, as Dwyer nearly caught Townsend. The two battled it out for home, with Townsend’s early lead proving too much to overcome. He won 1:43.99 to 1:44.24.

Women 200 Yard Backstroke

Katie McLaughlin of Mission Viejo, who dropped 4.3 seconds off her seed time in prelims, shed another 2 seconds to take the B-final in 1:57.76. Tevyn Waddell of Mitchell went 1:58.99; Denver Swim Academy’s Annie Ochitwa was 1:59.17.

The A-final looked like it might be another Elizabeth Beisel win, but Dominique Bouchard of Oakville had other plans. She was out fast and then closed it down with a strong finish, clocking a very rapid 1:51.02. Beisel took second in 1:52.37. Megan Romano of Athens Bulldogs finished third in 1:53.41. Like McLaughlin, she took another 2 seconds off her morning time, which was already her best by a good margin.

Men 200 Yard Backstroke

The B-final of the men’s 200 back proved to be one of the more exciting races of the night. Minnesota’s Christopher Johnson was leading Alex Walton of Iowa City Eels in a tight race. Johnson had the edge through the 150, but Walton took over at the last wall. With 25 to go the two dug in and battled for the wall. Johnson got the win in 1:47.24; Walton went 1:47.54. Minnesota’s Jack Tribble was 1:48.86 for third in the heat.

SwimMAC’s Tyler Clary took control of the A-final early on. Ryan Harty of Greenwood Memorial and Badger’s James Wells tried to chase him down but Clary was a body length ahead and no one was going to catch him. Clary finished with 1:41.33. Harty was second in 1:42.83. Wells took third with 1:42.87. Behind the leaders were Eric Ress of Santa Clara (1:42.99), Carl Newenhouse from Minnesota (1:45.40), Asphalt Green’s En-wei Hu-Van Wright (1:46.10), Austin Surhoff from NBAC (1:47.36), and Guillermo Blanco of Purdue (1:49.98).

Women 100 Yard Freestyle

In an impressive double, Katie McLaughlin of Mission Viejo took off like a shot and won the B-final of the 100 free in 48.32. That’s a lifetime best by 1.2 seconds. Behind her were Beata Nelson of Southwest (49.29) and Denver’s Annie Ochitwa (49.46).

Tucson Ford’s Margo Geer was all business in the A-final of the women’s 100 free. She went out in 22.58 and found clear water. Staving off a challenge from Shannon Vreeland of Athens Bulldogs, Geer finished in 47.47 to Vreeland’s 47.88. Aquajets’ Zoe Avestruz took third with 48.91. Lauren Votava of Minnesota and her teammate Becca Weiland were next, in 49.31 and 49.58, respectively. Rounding out the top eight were Megan Romano (49.63), Madeline Hoch (49.90), and Rhi Jeffrey (50.03).

Men 100 Yard Freestyle

Bruno Fratus led off the men’s 100 free with an impressive 42.55 win in the B-final. The closest finisher was Frank Dyer from North Baltimore, in 44.29.

In a somewhat reminiscent performance from last night’s 50 free, Nathan Adrian shot off the block and took the lead quickly from lane 2. He was 19.69 at the 50, 30.6 at the 75, and 41.49 at the finish, for an absolutely terrific swim for this time of the year.

Club Wolverine’s Miguel Ortiz had a nice swim, too; he finished second with 42.65. James Disney-May was 42.81, just in front of NYAC’s Darian Townsend (43.01). Marcelo Chierighini (43.12), Junya Koga of Club Wolverine (43.16), Danny Tucker of Boilermakers (43.50), and Minnesota’s Daryl Turner (43.55) made up the rest of the A-final.

Men 1650 Yard Freestyle

There’s Club Wolverine’s Connor Jaeger and there’s everyone else.

Santa Clara’s Michael Messner had been 15:35.75 in the morning heats, setting the bar for the A-finalists. Jaeger led the field early on and just kept building his lead as he went. He was up by 2 seconds at the 500 and more than 8 at the 1000. Jaeger showed Minneapolis why he is known as a strong finisher: he negative split his 800s then came home in 25.0 over the last 50 for a final 14:43.35.

Ryan Feeley of Badger Swim Club, Mission Viejo’s Nick Norman and Minnesota’s CJ Smith put up a good fight. They finished in 15:02.10, 15:04.11, and 15:07.51, respectively.

The rest of the top eight was made up of Nathan Hopkins from Purdue (15:27.60), Badger’s Spencer Lafata (15:28.86), Messner, and Purdue’s Jan Petric (15:35.98).

Women 400 Yard Medley Relay

University of Minnesota and Aquajets were locked in a battle over the first half of the 400 medley relay until Minnesota took control and closed it down. Tori Simenec (54.72), Kierra Smith (1:00.99), Becca Weiland (52.92), and Lauren Votava (48.79) combined for a 3:37.42 to 3:40.72 win. The Aquajets’ team consisted of Zoe Avestruz (53.01), Madison Preiss (1:02.44), Kaia Grobe (54.46), and Ramie Jones (50.81).

Finishing third was Southwest Aquatics behind Katie Coughlin (57.33), Lauren Stigler (1:04.16), Beata Nelson (53.31), and Hannah Aegerter (52.13), who touched in 3:46.93.

Men 400 Yard Medley Relay

The University of Minnesota and Purdue “A” teams put on a spectacular show, trading stroke for stroke and exchanging slight leads throughout the race. Minnesota’s Daryl Turner (49.20), Conner McHugh (54.56), Paul Fair (47.89), and Ryan Miksch (44.46) ended up with a 3:16.11 to 3:16.22 victory over Purdue’s Stephen Seliskar (49.03), Lyam Dias (54.21), Guillermo Blanco (48.35), and Joshua Ehrman (44.63).

Purdue’s “B” team finished two seconds back, in 3:18.51. Alex Toetz (49.71), Marat Amaltdinov (53.85), Daniel Conway (48.62), and Joshua Brooks (46.33) made up the quartet.