SPA vs AAC Dual Meet
- Saturday, August 1, 2020
- North Shore Pool / St. Petersburg, FL
- Long Course Meters (LCM) format
- Full results
Florida stars Bobby Finke and Kieran Smith competed at a long course club dual meet in Florida this week, with Finke hitting the third-best 800 free of any American this season.
Finke, who smashed American, NCAA, and U.S. Open records in the 1650-yard freestyle this college season, went 7:51.66 to win the 800 free, which was probably the banner event of the dual meet’s 14-event schedule. That swim is the third-best 800 free of Finke’s entire career, and easily his best in-season swim. Finke was 7:47.58 at U.S. Nationals last summer and 7:51.45 at Nationals the year prior, the only two times he’s been faster than he was this past weekend.
That time ranks Finke #3 among Americans this season behind two swims from U.S. Open in December:
Top U.S. Men – 800 free (2019-2020 season)
- Jordan Wilimovsky – 7:49.76 (US Open)
- Zane Grothe – 7:51.53 (US Open)
- Bobby Finke – 7:51.66 (SPA-AAC Dual)
- Nick Norman – 7:56.30 (PSS Des Moines)
- Michael Brinegar – 7:59.37 (US Open)
This weekend’s 800 free was full of fireworks. Finke’s Florida Gators teammate Kieran Smith also swam, going after a 400 free split. Smith – who set NCAA, American, and U.S. Open records in the 500-yard free this college season – was 3:54.17 at the 400-mark. That’s about 6.4 seconds off his career-best, set in December.
19-year-old Caleb Kravitz was 8:10.20 in that 800 free, dropping six seconds off his lifetime-best. Kravitz is a St. Petersburg Aquatics swimmer who just graduated high school and will join Finke and Smith at the University of Florida in the fall. His time drop over the weekend constitutes a new Olympic Trials cut, with USA Swimming confirming that Trials standards will remain intact despite the one-year Olympic delay.
Yet another Florida Gator was third in that race: Brennan Gravley in 8:12.47.
A few other notable swims from the dual meet:
- Finke also hit a new personal best in the 200 back, notching a new Olympic Trials cut. He was 1:59.89 for his first swim ever under 2:00. Last month, Finke dropped from 2:03.90 to 2:00.49 in this race, and cut another six tenths of a second over the weekend.
- St. Petersburg 17-year-old Ben Cote won the 400 IM in 4:27.68. That’s a drop of almost seven seconds for Cote, a rising high school senior.
- Although all 14 events were listed with mixed-gender results, 15-year-old Sasha Fiola appears to be the top female finisher in at least three races: the 50 free, 50 back, and 100 back. Fiola was 27.05 in free and 32.95 and 1:10.41 in the backstrokes. She previously had no long course swims registered in the USA Swimming database.
Well done coach fred.
This was another Saturday morning 6:00AM practice and 7:00AM meet. Both teams did an hour practice, 10 minute break to put old fastskins on. Then step up on the block and go for it. The entire meet was done by 9:00AM followed by a 30 minute warm down.
The 2020 US Olympic trial standards remain in effect through at least December 31, 2020:
https://swimswam.com/olympic-trials-standards-to-remain-intact-u-s-olympic-coaches-reconfirmed/
Caleb’s 800 Free time and Bobby’s 200 Back time at this meet do qualify for trials in 2021.
Ruh-oh Shaggy!