There are a lot of big-name professional swimmers competing at this weekend’s Elite Pro-Am meet in Oklahoma City, but future Stanford Cardinal swimmer Julia Anderson stole the show early in the first full-day of events.
The Fort Worth Area Swim Team member won the women’s 200 free in 1:44.62, which cuts over a second off of her lifetime best. She’s another swimmer who is a 100-200 freestyler (it seems like that is becoming more and more popular, just like sprint freestylers/backstrokers are). That 200 time is the fastest by a high school swimmer this season.
The other big-time mark in this race came from former Minnesota Gopher, and current Minnesota-Canadian post-grad, Jillian Tyler. She won the 100 breaststroke in 59.01, and she is likely unrested in this race (Minnesota swimmers typically rest for the Grand Prix in November). She’s swimming better-and-better in long course, and this swim improves her chances in an increasingly-crowded Canadian breaststroke field.
Kenyan Jason Dunford won the 100 fly in 46.10.
And in Thursday’s 1000 free, the precursor to the $1600 mile on SundayEmily Brunemann won in 9:29.00. She often swims well at this meet – that 1000 is the 2nd-best time of her career, behind only her swim at this same meet last year. Ashley Twichell took 2nd in 9:32.52. In general, Twichell swims comparatively better in the 1650 than does Brunemann, though Brunemann has the better mile time. What that means is that this mile for the big cash should come down to racing strategy and mental edge, which is all anyone can ask for with that much cash on the line.
Yeah… there were some impressive swims but I think Anderson’s 200 free was the biggest treat.