Reported by James Sutherland.
WOMEN’S 100 FLY FINAL
- Kelsi Dahlia, CARD, 57.38
- Mallory Comerford, UOFL, 58.51
- Hellen Moffitt, TE, 58.94
Just as we saw in the prelims Kelsi Dahlia of Cardinal Aquatics got out fast in the women’s 100 fly, turning in 26.85 before extending her lead coming home to win easily in 57.38. That puts her 6th in the world for the 2018 calendar year.
Her Louisville teammate Mallory Comerford was just 6th at the halfway mark, but charged back in 30.78 to grab 2nd in 58.51. Hellen Moffitt was the other swimmer sub-59 in 58.94 for 3rd, while HPC Ontario’s Rebecca Smith took 4th in 59.01.
Katie Drabot was 5th in 59.30, while Amanda Kendall and Veronica Burchill tied for 6th in 59.33. Ella Eastin got under a minute from the B-final in 59.67.
WOMEN’S 400 FREE FINAL
- Katie Ledecky, STAN, 3:57.94
- Leah Smith, FORD, 4:06.67
- Katie Drabot, UN, 4:08.29
Katie Ledecky was dominant in the women’s 400 final as expected, blitzing her way to a time of 3:57.94, which is the 2nd fastest in history. She breaks her own U.S. Open Record of 3:58.44, and now owns the ten fastest swims in history, knocking Federica Pellegrini‘s 3:59.15 from 2009 into 11th. Her world record stands at 3:56.46 from the 2016 Olympics.
Leah Smith had a rough mile last night, but came back with two solid 400s today, earning the runner-up position in a time of 4:06.67. Katie Drabot negative split the race to overtake Hali Flickinger late and claim 3rd in 4:08.29, with Flickinger 4th in 4:08.61. This was a quick turnarund for Drabot who swam the 100 fly at the beginning of the session. Erica Sullivan was 5th in 4:12.01, while Ally McHugh won the B-final in 4:11.41.
WOMEN’S 200 FLY PRELIMS
- PSS Record: 2:06.76, Cammile Adams, 2012
- Katie Drabot, UN, 2:08.38
- Hali Flickinger, ABSC, 2:09.11
- Ella Eastin, UN, 2:10.17
- Cassidy Bayer, NCAP, 2:11.15
- Kelsi Dahlia, CARD, 2:11.40
- Leah Smith, FORD, 2:12.57
- Lauren Edelman, KYA, 2:12.73
- Hannah Kukurugya, UN, 2:13.61
Entered with a yards time and thus swimming in heat 1, Stanford’s Katie Drabot dropped a massive personal best in 2:08.38 to qualify 1st overall. Drabot knocked her previous best of 2:25.34 down by over 17 seconds and moves into 14th in the world rankings. She finished 2nd to Ella Eastin this past season at the NCAA Championships in the event.
Hali Flickinger of the Athens Bulldogs won the final heat of the ‘A’ flight to qualify 2nd overall in 2:09.11, coming just over a second off her season-best (2:08.04) which currently ranks her 10th in the world. Eastin and Cassidy Bayer won their circle-seeded heats to advance in 3rd and 4th, with Bayer registering a new season-best of 2:11.15 (Eastin’s was also a season best as it was her first LC 200 fly of the year).
“I thought it was kind of fun to do the double.” This double is the 400 free in 4:08 and 200 fly in 2:08. Ouch. This is such a painful double, I have to question her sanity. She must do some serious yardage to manage a double like that.