2016 U.S. WINTER NATIONALS
- Live Results
- Wed. Nov 30 – Sat. Dec 3, 2016
- Georgia Tech McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta, GA
- 25 yard course
- Live Stream
- Day 2 prelims heat sheets
America’s top young sprinter, Caeleb Dressel, does not appear on the prelims heat sheets for Day 2 of the U.S. Winter Nationals in Atlanta, Georgia. On the psych sheets, released on November 27th, Dressel was the top seed in both the 200 IM and 50 free for today. He was also entered in the 100 breast, 100 free, and 200 free for this weekend, though it is not yet known whether or not he will be swimming at this meet at all. Coming off of his gold medal 4×100 free relay performance in Rio, he’s already put up the fastest times in the NCAA in the 50 and 100 free, and is tied for #1 in the 100 fly.
Dressel isn’t the only notable absence for the Gators, led by head coach Gregg Troy. 500 free top seed Mitch D’Arrigo has scratched that event, leaving high school star and Cal commit Sean Grieshop with lane 4 in the final heat of the men’s 500. Freshman Savanna Faulconer has dropped the 200 IM, where she was seeded 9th, while #6 seed Alex Lebed has also scratched the 200 IM on the men’s side. It looks as though the rest of UF’s squad is intact, however, with the exception of these four individuals.
There were three other notable scratches for today’s prelims session, two of which coming from the women’s 500 free. High school seniors Paige Madden (was #5 seed) and Sierra Schmidt (was #6 seed) have both taken themselves out of that race. Madden is headed to UVA and Schmidt to Michigan next fall. The last notable scratch was NC State sophomore Justin Ress out of the 200 IM, where he was seeded #2 behind Dressel. That leaves Indiana’s Ian Finnerty with the top spot this morning.
I’m speculating that academics may be taking a priority here (a final class project or presentation or exam) that Dressel couldn’t miss. We have to remember that the NCAA stars are students first, and being whisked away Tuesday-Saturday is pretty hard, especially in Junior year, when most courses of study are at their most difficult. Perhaps he’ll be making the drive over to Atlanta tonight and missing only his Friday classes.
If he no-shows for the rest of the meet, then there might be some cause for concern, as it appears that some gators are slowly arriving into Atlanta, for example Maxime Rooney was in the pool this morning for his 200IM prelim.
Update: I was wrong, it was a department decision because he already got his A-Cuts. While I’m bummed that we’ll get to miss an always exciting and explosive swimmer race some more, its completely understandable given the circumstances (I still maintain that the proximity to final exams and travel may play a hand in this).
Winter nationals lost all the excitement it barely had
Was hoping to see a 18 low ????
Are you serious? 😥 😥 😥 😥