German star Theresa Michalak made the trip to Gainesville at the beginning of 2014 to join the Florida Gators and begin her college career. She wasn’t able to get eligibility issues ironed out in time to compete for Florida at SECs, but she is showing why she’s such a special pickup for Gregg Troy’s bunch. Michalak won back-to-back races to highlight night two at the Speedo Champions Series event in Plantation, Florida.
Michalak took home the 100-meter fly race in a touchout. Her 1:01.01 nipped Jamaican Olympian Alia Atkinson by just over a tenth for the win. Atkinson took second in 1:01.16.
Then, with only the men’s event in between, Michalak got back up on the blocks to win the 400 IM, easily running away from the field with a 4:49.06. Included in there was a 1:06.2 butterfly split and she showed no ill effects from consecutive races, coming home in 1:07.7.
That 100 fly was one of two runner-up finishes for Atkinson at the meet. She also swam the first event, the 200 free, and took second to Spain’s Patricia Castro Ortega. Ortega won with a 2:00.88 and Atkinson won a touchout for second, topping Paige Schultz 2:02.85 to 2:02.94. Fourth in the event was Michigan signee Clara Smiddy.
Atkinson vacated her signature breaststroke for the night; the race instead went to Canadian Martha McCabe in 1:11.54. That just beat out Russian Valentina Artemeva‘s 1:11.64. Artemeva is representing the Bolles School Sharks.
The men’s meet was headlined by Michael Andrew, who broke yet another 13-14 NAG record, this time in the 100 fly, going 54.59. That was second to the Bolles School’s Mario Todorovic, a Croatian national, who went 54.43.
The men’s 400 IM was another tight race. 15-year-old John Fulginiti of the Blue Dolphins went 4:37.66, just touching out Gator freshman Blake Manganiello, who went 4:37.89. Another Gator, Eric Stobbe, was third in 4:38.17.
Club Wolverine pro Michael Klueh paced the 200 free, his second win of the meet after taking the 800 last night. His 1:50.95 easily topped the field. The men’s breaststroke went to another Club Wolverine swimmer, Zachary Hayden. The 26-year-old went 1:02.37 to beat Anton Lobanov of the Bolles School by a second.
South Florida Aquatic Club won the women’s 800 free relay at the meet’s close. Their 8:35.94 was easily the fastest of the field. Swimming leadoff was Melissa Marinheiro, the 16-year-old who took second in the 1500 a night earlier. She split 2:07.28.
The men’s event went to Azura Florida Aquatic. Their 7:58.80 beat out Blue Dolphins by just over two seconds.
Results are available on Meet Mobile under “2014 Speedo Champions Series – SZSS.”
