Prelims/semis videos via tyrderbyproswim Instagram, and finals videos courtesy Chip Dumstorf, bisig.com.
On Friday night, professional female swimmers Alia Atkinson, Amanda Kendall, Amanda Weir, Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, Kelsi Worrell, Ivy Martin, Maddie Locus, and Megan Romano and pro male swimmers Josh Schneider, Caleb Weir, Derek Toomey, Joao de Lucca, Thomas Dahlia, Kristian Gkolomeev, Michael Andrew, and Roland Schoeman faced off in the TYR Derby Pro Meet in Louisville.
The eight men and eight women swam a shoot-off style competition where the last two finishers got knocked out in each of three 50 yard freestyle rounds.
The winners of the final round won $4,000 each, while second, third, and fourth place each took $3,000, $2,000, and $1,000, respectively.
Round One
On the women’s side, Kelsi Worrell of Louisville took the first round, coming in one of two swimmers under 22 with 21.92. Ivy Martin came in a close second with 21.94. Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace was third in 22.00.
Amanda Kendall and Megan Romano both got knocked out in the first round, swimming 22.65 and 22.94.
- Kelsi Worrell, Louisville: 21.92
- Ivy Martin, Wisconsin: 21.94
- Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, SwimMAC: 22.00
- Amanda Weir, SwimAtlanta: 22.35
- Maddie Locus, SwimAtlanta: 22.61
- Alia Atkinson, South Florida: 22.62
- Amanda Kendall, Mako: 22.65
- Megan Romano, NYAC: 22.94
On the men’s side, Josh Schneider took the first round in 19.41, followed by Michael Andrew in 19.47 and Kristian Gkolomeev in 19.50.
Caleb Weir and Thomas Dahlia didn’t make it through to the next round, swimming in 19.86 and 20.20, respectively.
- Josh Schneider, NYAC: 19.41
- Michael Andrew, Indie: 19.47
- Kristian Gkolomeev, Alabama: 19.50
- Joao de Lucca, Louisville: 19.56
- Roland Schoeman, Phoenix: 19.57
- Derek Toomey, BAD-MD: 19.76
- Caleb Weir, North Carolina: 19.86
- Thomas Dahlia, Louisville: 20.20
Round Two
Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace won round two as the only female swimmers under 21.73 and Kelsi Worrell hit second in 22.00.
Maddie Locus and Amanda Weir both were knocked out at round two, going 22.42 and 22.73.
- Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, SwimMAC: 21.73
- Kelsi Worrell, Louisville: 22.00
- Ivy Martin, Wisconsin: 22.03
- Alia Atkinson, South Florida: 22.39
- Maddie Locus, SwimAtlanta: 22.42
- Amanda Weir, SwimAtlanta: 22.73
Kristian Gkolomeev and Josh Schneider tied for first in the second round of the men’s competition, each swimming 19.38. Michael Andrew was third in 19.45.
Derek Toomey and Roland Schoeman were each knocked out in round 2, swimming 19.74 and 19.93, respectively.
- Kristian Gkolomeev, Alabama / Josh Schneider, NYAC: 19.38
- Michael Andrew, Indie: 19.45
- Joao De Lucca, Louisville: 19.55
- Derek Toomey, BAD-MD: 19.74
- Roland Schoeman, Phoenix: 19.93
Round Three
Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace blasted a commanding win in the final round, outswimming every other women’s swim of the night by .3 seconds with 21.43. That win won her the grand $4,000 prize.
Second went to Ivy Martin in 21.83, the third-fastest swim of the night. Kelsi Worrell finished in 22.06, and Alia Atkinson rounded out the final in 22.06.
- Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, SwimMAC: 21.43
- Ivy Martin, Wisconsin: 21.83
- Kelsi Worrell, Louisville: 22.06
- Alia Atkinson, South Florida: 22.55
Josh Schneider took the big overall win on the men’s side, finishing the event in 19.14.
Kristian Gkolomeev finished second in 19.34, followed by Michael Andrew in 19.47 and Joao De Lucca in 19.58.
- Josh Schneider, NYAC: 19.14
- Kristian Gkolomeev, Alabama: 19.34
- Michael Andrew, Indie: 19.47
- Joao De Lucca, Louisville: 19.58
99% of the great college swimmers swim
LCM throughout the college season. Some even swim more LCM than SCY during the college season. Swimming a few fun 50 yard frees isn’t killing anyone. If anything, it’s getting them excited and an opportunity to race in late April.
Let’s not act like the college system is all of a sudden a problem. More fast swimmers come out of USA college programs than anywhere else.
Let’s also not act like you must swim primarily LCM to be a great LCM swimmer. Years ago, Aaron Peirsol broke the WR in the 200 Back with only swimming a few LCM practices the 8 months leading up to the meet.
Once again, I have never said that the US college system was a problem.
Many swimmers improve a lot during their college years. Some others stall or even move backward in long course while they swim in NCAA. There’s no rule. However I don’t believe that the less you train in long course, the better you are in long course.
But you’re right about that meet. Swimming a few sprint races in yards right now doesn’t kill anybody.
Why not make the olympic trials in yards? It was just a joke!
That topic of yards is always very sensitive on swimswam! 😆
I can understand it’s for fun but yards at this period of the year, no, sorry, I can’t understand.
While you are at it, why not hosting the US olympic trials in yards too? 🙄
Swimming in yards is not going to hurt their long course performance. I don’t think it’s the case that every time you swim in a short course pool you become less adapted to long course.
While it is important to get in lots of long course racing practice before Trials, one or two short course meets don’t hurt one bit unless they come at the expense of a long course meet that was skipped.
You are going of the assumption that this collection of athletes are doing the bulk of their training in LCM. If that were the case then you would be correct. I doubt Andrew spends much time in a LCM pool considering he has that 25m polo in his backyard.
How much training do you think these guys are under right now?
7.
Well most of them are pure sprinters so not much 🙂
So it’s an Olympic year and here we have these swimmers playing around with 50 free SCY for three rounds. Given these preparations I have no idea why the US has slipped so much in freestyle 🙂
It is entertaining, but I think the focus isn’t directed in the right place.
Our fixation with short course yards looks more and more detrimental to international success. Let’s have the NCAA switch to LCM!
That would be impossible because of the lack of 50m pools in the US available to college athletes. It is true that most Olympians come out of top Division I programs, but that isn’t completely accurate. SwimMac isn’t associated with a collegiate program. Honestly, LCM meters is not that long of a season for USA clubs. I would consider a change in the LCM season before switching NCAAs to LCM.
I can understand that college swimming won’t change because it’s too prominent, but a lot of programs do have a 50m facility. I would be curious what the breakdown is.
It wouldn’t be impossible to host a few meets in LCM, but more so when that short course season is over then it’s time to step up and swim in the big pool if you have international aspirations.
The NCAA has been swimming SCY forever. I hardly think that all of a sudden it is detrimental to the international success of the United States.
I think the difference is that in the past the US was so far ahead of everyone that it didn’t matter, but now that the rest of the world is catching up the problem is more pronounced than before.
Michael Andrew 50 fr times were very consistent and that’s good sign.
Consistent but still hasn’t improved since last year. He’s a much better yards swimmer than LCM, but yes those 3 50 fr times much better than what we’ve seen him put up lately in LCM.