Bilquist Drops 28.75 in 50 Meter Back at Cactus Classic

Arizona SAC Cactus Classic

• Friday, May 28 – Sunday, May 30, 2021
• Cactus Aquatic Center, Scottsdale, AZ
• Long Course Meters (50 meters)
• Results on MM: “2021 Cactus Classic”
• Full Results

While temperatures reached highs of 98 degrees Fahrenheit in Scottsdale last weekend, the heat was not the only thing blistering. Swimmers dropped some sizzling lifetime bests and season-best times at the Cactus Classic hosted by Scottsdale Aquatic Club.

Women’s Meet

Cal grad Amy Bilquist of Scottsdale Aquatic Club highlighted the women’s side of the meet, posting a 28.75 in the 50 back and coming within half a second of her lifetime best time from 2017.

Bilquist then dominated the 100 back with a time of 1:01.58, a ways off her lifetime best time of 59.37 from the 2016 Olympic Trials but only about a second off her season best time from the May Pro Swim Series.

She underwent shoulder surgery in January after the International Swimming League season, but she was back to racing in March at the Western Region Sectionals. Bilquist is set to race the 100 back in the U.S. Olympic Trials Wave II in less than two weeks.

UCLA commit Eva Carlson of The Dolphins Portland Swimming destroyed her lifetime best times in both the 50 breast, with a time of 31.41, and the 100 breast, with a time of 1:10.68. This was her first time under 32.00. In the 100, she beat her previous personal best from the March Pro Swim Series by .03.

Carlson also swam the:

• 200 breast – 2:36.74 
• 50 free – 27.06 
• 100 free – 58.82 

None were lifetime bests, but Carlson came within about 1.5 seconds of her best 200 breast time from the 2019 Kevin Perry Senior Invite.

The 50 breast was an impressive event at this meet where Kaitlyn Dobler of The Dolphins Portland Swimming posted a 31.51 in the event to claim 1st place, about .61 off her lifetime best from the 2019 World Junior Championships. This was a season-best time for the USC rising sophomore.

LSU commit Abby Maoz of Lake Oswego Swim Club snagged 2nd place, half-a-second behind her (32.10). 

Dobler also swam 100 breast (1:09.21), coming within 2.3 seconds off her lifetime best from the 2019 World Junior Championships. She is an Olympic hopeful in this event, ranked 6th among SwimSwam’s top 8 picks in the U.S. Olympic Trials Wave II. 

Her full event lineup included:

• 50 free – 26.07 
• 50 fly – 28.21 

NC State commit Kennedy Noble of YMCA Westside Silver Fins clocked a 1:01.76 in the 100 back, about .6 off her lifetime best from 2 weeks ago. Noble then dropped a lifetime best time of 2:18.54 in the 200 IM, outdoing her previous best from November 2020 by 1.3 seconds.

In the same 100 back final, 13-year-old Ella Cosgrove of Tucson Ford Dealers Aquatics dropped a lifetime best 100 back (1:06.65), earning a new Futures cut and beating her previous best from earlier this month by 1.5 seconds.

Men’s Meet

Pitt’s Cooper Van Der Laan of Team Pittsburgh Elite Aquatics dominated the 50, 100 and 200 breast events with new lifetime best times in the 50 breast  (28.05) and 100 breast (1:02.09). 

Going into this meet, his best times stood at 28.73 from 2019 and 1:02.16 from the 2019 Australian Invite, respectively. 

Van Der Laan also took down the 200 breast with a time of 2:17.54, within .51 of his lifetime best time from the 2019 Australian Open. These were his only events last weekend.

Another breaststroke star of the meet was BYU’s Brad Prolo from Utah Valley Aquatics. He secured his first U.S. Olympic Trial Wave I cut in the 100 breast prelims with a time of 1:02.71, crushing his previous best from April by more than one second and undercutting the qualifying time by about half a second.

Prolo also posted a lifetime best time of 28.44 in the 50 breast.  

BYU grad Payton Sorenson of Sun Devil Swimming highlighted the 50 free with a time of 22.47, within one third of a second of his lifetime best time from the 2019 Summer Nationals.