Day 2 Finals Live Recap: 2015 Speedo Junior Championships- East

2015 SPEEDO WINTER JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS – EAST

• Georgia Tech’s McAuley Aquatic Center – Atlanta, GA
• Wednesday, December 9 – Saturday, December 11
• (Bonus long course meter time trials on Sunday, December 12)
• Prelims 9AM / Finals 5PM (Th-Sat), Wed. Timed Finals 6PM (U.S. Eastern Time)
• Meet Page
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results

GIRLS’ 500 YARD FREE

Melissa Pish of Bloomington used a fast stroke rate to take the early lead in the B final out of lane eight. Dynamo’s Emma Layton took over around the 150, coming up to a bodylength lead over the field at the 300. However, Swim Florida’s Kendall Brent surged forward and ended up finishing first in 4:46.99. Pish finished second in 4:47.27, and Layton hit third in 4:48.97.

The championship final went to Hannah Cox of the Upper Valley Aquatic Club, who dropped nearly five seconds from her swim earlier today to hit 4:37.82. Lauren Case of Chattahootchee Gold came in two and a half seconds behind with 4:40.28, followed by the City of Mobile Swim Association’s Paige Madden with 4:43.31. Kaitlin Harty finished fourth with 4:45.29, followed by Fast Lane’s Kendall Dawson in 4:44.59.

BOYS’ 500 YARD FREE

Swim Ithaca’s Kevin Miller took the early lead in the packed field of the B final of the 500 free. T.C. Smith of the Sarasota Tsunamis edged up around the 300 mark, and then fought off a crew of competition at the finish, touching first and winning the B final in 4:26.86. Clark Beach finished second, followed by Jarrett Jones and Miller.

 Tennessee Aquatics’s Walker Higgins took what looked like a leisurely lead, about a bodylength ahead of the competition at the 350. In the last 100, Baylor Swim Club’s Trey Freeman turned his legs on and came up even with Higgins. It came down to the last couple of strokes, but Higgins (4:18.40) held Freeman (4:18.82) off for the win. Upper Dublin’s Jake Sannem grabbed the bronze in 4:22.42, followed by Coffman YMCA’s Hank Seifert’s 4:24.03.

GIRLS’ 200 YARD IM

The girls’ 200 IM B was a battle of the Hannahs as Hannah Kukurugya took on Hannah Foster. Kukurugya finished first in 1:58.81, followed by Foster in 2:00.30.

Gator Swim Club’s Isabel Ivey took the early lead after the fly leg. But, soon after, 14-year-old Nashville Aquatics swimmer Alex Walsh made her move, and held the lead for the rest of the event finishing first with 1:56.20. Ivey hit second in 1:57.04. Walsh’s teammate Tatum Wade finished third (1:57.70), grabbing major points for the Nashville team.

Walsh’s swim crushed the 13-14 National Age Group Record, a 1:57.70 set by Missy Franklin in 2010.

BOYS’ 200 YARD IM

Charles Vaughan of Carmel Swim Club took the B final in 1:48.11.

Metro Atlanta Aquatics’s Dean Farris dominated the event up through the first 25 of breaststroke, but then Gross Pointe Gator Jacob Montague and Barracuda Swim Club’s Daniel Chang jumped forward and ended up fighting it out at the finish. Montague took the gold in 1:46.72, followed by Chang in 1:46.82, while Farris finished third in 1:47.84. Fourth went to Cooper Hodge of the Mason Manta Rays in 1:48.22. 

GIRLS’ 50 YARD FREE

Bloomington’s Grace Ariola won the B final in 22.86, followed close behind by Brooke Bauer of the Lakeside Swim Team, who finished in 22.87

Pine Crest Swim Team’s Marta Ciesla took the gold in the 50 free in 22.52, dropping a little over a tenth from her swim this morning. The silver went to Grace Countie of the Marlins of Raleigh. SwimMAC’s Alyssa Marsh went 22.69 to take the bronze.

BOYS’ 50 YARD FREE

The Wahoos of Wellington’s Cody Kline took the consolation final, finishing in 20.35. The Bolles School Sharks’s Tyler Rice swam to second in 20.40.

Michael Jensen dropped .4 seconds from his prelim swim to become the only swimmer to break 20, posting a winning 19.85. Carmel’s Drew Kibler finished second in 20.02. Brody Heck from St. Andrew’s finished third in 20.19. Everyone in the championship final finished under 21 seconds.

GIRLS’ 400 YARD MEDLEY RELAY

The main race for the win in the 400 medley came in heat two, where Lakeside Swim Team’s A relay took on SwimMAC’s A team. Lakeside’s team of Asia Seidt, Kennedy Lohman, Brooke Forde, and Brooke Bauer kept a commanding lead until the end, when Jessica Merritt of SwimMAC began to really chase them down. Lakeside’s Bauer was able to hold her off, though, and they won the race in 3:36.61.

SwimMAC’s Julia Menkhaus, Caroline Hauder, and Alyssa Marsh teamed up with Merritt to take second in 3:37.57. Nashville’s Alex Walsh, Allie Raab, Tatum Wade, and Gretchen Walsh finished third in 3:38.66.

BOYS’ 400 YARD MEDLEY RELAY

Although Dynamo held the lead over both the Bolles School and Upper Dublin for the first half of the race, the Bolles School team of Andy Song, James Daugherty, Ariel Spektor, and Tyler Rice won the 400 medley in 3:14.51. Rice’s leg stood out among the crowd; he was the only freestyler to go under 44, swimming a 43.77.

Upper Dublin’s Alessandro Boratto, Wyatt Amdor, Michael Jensen, and Jake Sannem hit the wall second in 3:14.89, and Dynamo’s Michael Taylor, Derek Cox, Christian Lorys, and Jonathan Vater finished third in 3:16.53.

GIRLS’ TEAM STANDINGS (THROUGH EVENT 10)

1. SwimMAC Carolina 224  

2. Nashville Aquatic Club 172

3. Lakeside Swim Team 132  

4. Gator Swim Club 112

 5. Marlins of Raleigh 99  

6. Dynamo Swim Club 90

7. Y-Spartaquatics Swim Club 66  

8. Cardinal Aquatics 56

8. Bolles School Sharks 56

10. SwimAtlanta 53

BOYS’ TEAM STANDINGS (THROUGH EVENT 10)

1. Bolles School Sharks 159  

2. Upper Dublin Aquatic Club 144

3. Nova of Virginia Aquatics, Inc 131  

4. Dynamo Swim Club 116

5. SwimMAC Carolina 84  

6. SwimAtlanta 75

7. Tennessee Aquatics 60  

7. Carmel Swim Club  60

 9. Mason Manta Rays 56 

10. Lakeside Swim Team 50