Justin Ress Jumps to #2 in U.S. Rankings in 100 Back in Charlotte

2018 Charlotte UltraSwim

• June 14th-17th, 2018
• Charlotte, North Carolina
• LCM (50m course)
• Meet Results on MM – “2018 Charlotte UltraSwim”

The 2018 Charlotte UltraSwim may no longer be a part of the USA Swimming Pro Swim/Grand Prix Series, where it used to be in regular rotation for some of the world’s biggest swimming stars, it has settled in as one of the faster meets in the country in the next tier of events. That includes drawing college swimmers from both North Carolina and neighboring states (especially South Carolina), locally-based pros like those from Team Elite – East, and pulling in lots of local youth talent – who earned their fair share of wins on night 2 of the meet.

The NC State Wolfpack opened up the session with a sweep of the titles in the 100 meter backstroke.

First, in  the women’s race, Elise Haan out-swam a pair of Cavaliers to win in 1:01.71, followed by Virginia’s Erin Earley (1:02.48) and Megan Moroney (1:02.63).

Then, in the men’s race, Justin Ress finished in 53.67 – which is only four-tenths of a second away from his lifetime best of 53.27, and ranks him as the 2nd-best American this season: behind World Record holder Ryan Murphy, but ahead of former Olympic gold medalist Matt Grevers.

He was followed by his teammates Coleman Stewart (55.38) and Wolfpack Elite recent post-grad Hennessey Stuart (56.04).

Ress later won the final of the men’s 50 back shootout running away, with a 24.90. That ranks him 12th in the world this year and 3rd in the U.S. behind Michael Andrew and Grevers.

In another standout swim in what has become a breakthrough summer, Rachel Bernhardt won the women’s 100 breaststroke by almost a full second, finishing in 1:09.65. Bernhardt, who swam collegiately at Drexel but spent last season as the Director of Operations at South Carolina, has now been under 1:10 seven times in 2018 alone. She’d never done so before this year. She ranks 10th among Americans so far this summer in the event.

In the conclusion of Thursday’s shootout preliminary rounds, Bernhardt also won the women’s 50 breaststroke in 32.02, ahead of NC State freshman Olivia Calegan (32.12). 14-year old Kaylee Hamblin swam 32.13 for 3rd place. While USA Swimming doesn’t keep official 13-14 records for the 50m stroke events, unofficially, according to the SWIMS database, that is the second-best swim ever by an American 14-year old in that event.

Other Event Results

• In the men’s 50 breaststroke shootout final, SwimMAC’s Nic Eriksson (a former Queens University swimmer) swam a 28.26 to win. SwimMAC junior William Chan (28.71) took 2nd in 28.71 – he’s headed to Michigan next season. Eriksson would later win the 100 breaststroke in 1:02.77.
• In the women’s 200 fly, Duke’s Isabella Paez swam a 2:14.18 to win, though that was slower than her 2:13.71 from prelims. Paez’s lifetime best of 2:10.2 from 2016 is just 7-tenths from the Venezuelan National Record.
• Zachary Brown from the Marlins of Raleigh Swim Team won the men’s 200 fly in 2:00.77, beating out German National Team swimmer Fynn Minuth (2:01.82). Brown, who will officially start at his home-tome school NC State in the fall, went sub-2 minutes at Nationals last year, and has already done so earlier in this long course season. He ranks as the 3rd-best American junior in the 200 fly so far this season.
• Former USA Swimming National Teamer Madison Kennedy won the women’s 50 free in 25.11.
• Former Yale swimmer Aaron Greenberg, who was born in the U.S. but represents Israel internationally, won the men’s 50 free by half-a-second in 22.89.
• Marlins of Raleigh 18-year old Grace Countie won the women’s 50 back shootout final in 28.60, beating out 100m winner Haan (28.75).
• South Carolina undergrad Emily Barksdale won the women’s 200 IM in 2:18.15 – about two-and-a-half seconds short of her season best.
• Virginia undergrad Ted Schubert, representing his home club NOVA, won the men’s 200 IM in 2:07.99. That beat out his Virginia teammate Robert Giller, who was 2nd in 2:08.13. Schubert built his lead on the backstroke leg, where his 31.44 was a two-and-a-half second advantage over Giller.
• Auburn’s Aly Tetzloff won the women’s 50 fly shootout final in 27.30. She finished 6th in this race at last year’s U.S. National Championships; if Kelsi Worrell qualifies for the team elsewhere and opts not to swim the 50 fly (a possibility given that once qualified for Pan Pacs, swimmers can add bonus events), Tetzloff would be a legit threat in this 50 fly to qualify for the Pan Pacs team. Last season, Hellen Moffitt was the next-best swimmer behind Worrell in 26.19. Tetzloff was only a few tenths back in 26.57.
• Another Auburn swimmer, Santiago Grassi from Argentina, won the men’s 50 fly in 24.53. He’s a former Argentine Record holder in this event, though he lost that record to Roberto Strelkov in April. Grassi still holds the 100 fly record at 52.09 – done in 2015 when he was only 18.
• Georgia’s Veronica Burchill, best known for her sprinting, swam two lifetime bests in the women’s 400 free on Friday. First in prelims, she swam 4:20.97; then in finals, she won the race in 4:17.49. That in total dropped 6.4 seconds from her previous lifetime best done in 2017.
• Defending NCAA mile champ Anton Ipsen got his 2nd win of the meet with a 3:50.51 in the men’s 400 free. That added to a 15:09.20 that he swam to win the 1500 on Thursday.