200 Free – 2014 US Nationals
At the 100, Clay Youngquist and Conor Dwyer were pushing the lead, flipping at 52 low. Matt McLean had a huge back half to reach in and win the race. He hit the wall with his time of 1:46.93, booking his ticket to Pan Pac’s. Conor Dwyer was second at 1:46.93. Reed Malone surprised a lot of people today in prelims, and was able to do it again tonight during finals. He finished third, securing his trip to the Gold Coast, with his time of 1:47.41. Michael Weiss had the fourth fastest swim of the night, grabbing the final Pan Pac spot with his time of 1:47.87.
Clay Youngquist had an aggressive first 100 and wasn’t able to hang on through the final 50 meters. He finished fifth at 1:48.08. Michael Klueh was sixth with his time of 1:48.30. Michael Wynalda and Drew Cosgarea round out the final of the men’s 200 freestyle with their times of 1:48.66 and 1:48.73, respectively. Frank Dyer won the B-final heat of the men’s 200 freestyle. The race was close the whole way and it came down to the touch at the end of the race. Connor Jaeger finished second at 1:48.41. Townley Haas dropped close to a second to win the C-final of the men’s 200 freestyle with his time of 1:48.75.
Both Dwyer and Mclean went out a second slower in finals than in prelims, and both added time. They probably did it because they faded at the end of their races in prelims so try a different strategy. Schmitt and Luchsinger also faded at the end of their races. Maybe it was a missed taper. Agnel hasn’t exactly been on fire lately either.
Lazy Observer, you bring up a good point, maybe to many people in the pool.
GOAT>mortals
Too many Grand Prix , why we need to swim so fast all through the season.
I think that hurting NBAC
$$$$$$$$$$$$
This is NBAC we’re talking about. Elite of the Elite swimmers. I bet they’re on a 3-4 day drop off taper. I think they’re treating this meet as more of a tune up meet. You can tell, they’re making race plan strategies to win, not go best times. At worlds or pan pacs they will swim their race plans perfectly because they can, because they’re rested
Interesting to hear him disagree with the coaches’ input re: taking the first 50 out slower. I know people have been asking why NBAC in particular seems off its game. Is it the swimmers or the coaching?
Maybe the problem isn’t NBAC per se, but rather too many rising/setting stars in one place – either because it dilutes the amount of individual attention available for each swimmer and/ or because it creates a false sense that the wattage already in your home pool is enough for you to gauge where you need to be at the national and international level.
Or maybe, since most of these folks have been there 1 year or less, the changes they are being… Read more »