During the prelims of Day 2 from the Orlando YMCA, Colorado Star Missy Franklin used a swift splash and dash to warm up for a smoking 100 backstroke, while Clearwater’s Becca Mann kept the good times rolling on day 2. Olympians Ryan Locthe, Tyler Clary and Tyler McGill are usually able to cruise the morning sessions during most meets and still make the big final but one of them may have cruised right out of the top 8.
Canadian Olympian Audrey Lacroix followed up her 3rd place finish in last night’s 100 fly (:59.71) by qualifying 1st in the Women’s 200 Butterfly with a 2:12.00. A solid prelim time but she’ll need to bring more than a 1:08.8 on the back half tonight if she wants to hold off Becca Mann who qualified 2nd with a 2:13.19. Mann’s Clearwater teammate, 3-time Olympic Gold Medalist Brooke Bennett, snuck into the A final qualifying 8th with a 2:19.99.
In the Men’s 200 Butterfly it was 19 year old Canadian Olympian, Alec Page, earning the center lane for tonight’s final with a 2:02.65. Page swam the 400 IM in London, but opted for the 200 free (winning the B final with a 1:51.99) instead of the 400 IM last night in Orlando. Wu Peng, who finished 4th in the 100 fly on night one (:54.63), qualified 2nd for the finals with a 2:03.64. Canadian Zack Chetrat is 3rd going into finals with a 2:03.80 in prelims. Tyler Clary qualified 4th with a 2:05.23 but turned it off at the end of the effort, finishing with an extremely relaxed last 50 of :34.49 which was the slowest 50 split of any swimmer that made the final.
2008 100 butterfly Silver Medalist Christine Magnuson was not in the 100 fly last night but qualified 1st in the Women’s 50 Freestyle in the prelims on day 2 with a :25.42. It could be that Magnuson has made the switch to a freestyle focus or it could be that she just wasn’t around for day one of the meet, either way she’ll have a race tonight with a star-studded field qualifying behind her in the splash and dash. Jeanette Otteson of Denmark was the runner up in the 100 fly on night one with a :59.36 and qualified 2nd in the 50 free with a :25.63 in the prelims of the 50. High School standouts Missy Franklin and Olivia Smoliga qualified 3rd (:25.89) and 5th (:26.19). US National Team members Amanda Weir and Madison Kennedy will also be in the championship mix tonight.
West Virginia Mountaineer Tim Squires is getting ready for Big 12s with by facing to top notch competition in Orlando. He took the top spot in the Men’s 50 Freestyle with a :23.09 in front of some big names. Anthony Ervin qualified 2nd with a :23.16, Josh Schneider will be on the other side of Squires in finals after his :23.19 in prelims, Adam Brown was 4th in the morning with a :23.27, and 100 fly winner Tyler McGill is 5th coming out of prelims with a :23.44. Ryan Murphy snuck into the final with the 8th fastest time in the morning of :23.59.
In case anyone in Orlando forgot, Missy Franklin is 100 backstroke Olympic Champion and she reminded everyone of that in the prelims of the Women’s 100 Backstroke. Shortly after her 50 freestyle, Franklin clocked a 1:00.64 to take the top seed by a pretty good margin. Hillary Caldwell of Canada will be the only finalist in the event over the age of 20, as she qualified 2nd with a 1:02.20. High school record holder and Short Course World Champion Olivia Smoliga was third with a 1:02.49.
Another Mountaineer from West Virginia grabbed a top spot in prelims as Bryce Bohman had the fastest time in the Men’s 100 Backstroke with a :55.56. Australian Olympian Robert Hurley, who is currently training with Tucson Ford, qualified 2nd with a :55.70. Ryan Murphy will be in the mix tonight as he qualified 3rd with a :55.81 and Olympic Gold Medalists Tyler Clary and Ryan Lochte did what they needed to in order to make the top heat, qualifying 5th and 8th respectively.
There were a lot of doubles during the day 2 prelims but it could be argued that none were tougher than Becca Mann’s. Mann finished off her session by earning the top spot in the Women’s 400 Freestyle with a 4:11.47. Last night she doubled up in the 200 free and 400 IM finishing 3rd and 1st in those events. Minnesota’s Ashley Steenvorden will be on one side of Mann in the finals as she clocked a 4:16.30 in prelims and 14 year old Samantha Cheverton will be on the other as she was 4:16.39.
It took a sub 4:00 effort in prelims to make the top 8 in the Men’s 400 Freestyle, and 2012 1500 Silver Medalist Ryan Cochrane lead the swift morning field with a 3:54.61. US Olympian Charlie Houchin of Ix3 Sports qualified 2nd for the final with a 3:56.44 and another victim of the 200 fly/400 free double, Alec Page, qualified 3rd with a 3:57.16. Michael Klueh and Connor Dwyer both clocked 3:58s in prelims, just enough to be in the big race tonight. Ryan Lochte didn’t have enough to earn a top 8 spot, as he qualified 12th with a 4:01.25.
Canadian Olympian and 2011 World Championship Bronze Medalist Martha McCabe, earned the top seed in the Women’s 200 Breaststroke with a 2:32.36 in the prelims. The 100 Breaststroke winner from day 1, Alia Atkinson, earned the third spot in finals with a 2:36.87 behind Lithuanian Olympian Raminta Dvariskyte who clocked a 2:34.14.
Filepe Lima and Mike Alexandrov could have a follow up bout in the Men’s 200 Breaststroke after the neck and neck battle they fought last night in the 100 breast. In the prelims of the 200 breast this morning Alexandrov earned the 2nd spot with a 2:19.97 while Lima clocked the 3rd fastest time of the morning with a 2:20.13. In the championship final tonight, Gabriel Souza will be right between the two after he had the fastest time in prelims with a 2:19.56.
For more information from the Grand Prix at the Orlando YMCA, you can keep up with live results here.
West Virginia’s Bryce Bohman and Timothy Squires are redshirting this season for the Mountaineers. August Querciagrossa, who is coming back for the 400 free tonight, is also redshirting
West Virginia’s Bryce Bohman and Timothy Squires are redshirting this season for the Mountaineers. August Querciagrossa, who is coming back in the 400 free tonight, is also redshirting.
You’re right, my bad. She’s only 32 and yup, I thought she was older because she overlapped with Janet Evans, and like Evans and some other female distance stars (e.g. Adlington) she peaked in her teens/early 20s and/or retired while still relatively young.
I want to see a 59.50 from Missy in the 100 back final. It would be very solid for this period of the season. And I want to see if she is still well behind her opponents after the first 15 meters or if she has improved this part of her race. I have watched again her olympic final recently and it’s always incredible to see her in 58.33 at the end although she was a half-body length behind the others after the first 15 meters. And I hope Miss Smoliga will give her a bit of adversity.
Way to go Brooke Bennett! She’s gotta be pushing 40 by now, not too shabby, eh.
You are way off. It seems that she is older because she was so good when she was young.