Late Entries Matter: Three Score OT Cuts at Bolles Sprint to Indy Meet

2024 BSS Last Dash for Indy

• June 7th -8th, 2023
• Jacksonville, FL
• Uible Pool
• LCM (50m)
• Results
  • On Meet Mobile: “Tyr Sprint to Indy”

“If, at first, you don’t succeed…” 

Taking that to heart, Bolles School Sharks swimmer Landon Kyser tried and tried again. Kyser, who will be heading to Madison, Wisconsin, to represent the Badgers this fall, will first make a pit stop in Indianapolis for the Olympic Trials as he successfully hit the cut time on his 100 back of the meet. Chasing a 55.69 Olympic Trials entry time, Kyser was 55.73 in the individual event on Friday and later time trialed, hitting the wall in 55.80. Taking the morning off and perhaps realizing the 100 wasn’t the way to go, Kyser gave it a shot in the 200 back time trial on Saturday afternoon

Out in 26.72, the Wisconsin commit kept up the pace, coming home in 28.97 and hitting the 100 wall in 55.69, equalling the OT qualifying time. However, as it was a 200, Kyser still had to finish the race, and in perhaps one of the more joyous (and painful) back half,  he swam the last two 50s in 53.77 and 37.85, ultimately finishing in 2:27.31.

Kyser’s improvement curve in the 100 has been very steep, and at the start of the season, the trial cut may have seemed too far. He placed 44th at the US Open in a time of 57.27. However, he cut a massive chunk out at the Pro Swim Series – Knoxville meet, where he was 56.69 in prelims and took 3rd in the B final in 56.06. He attended the meet in San Antonio and was 56.6 again, but when he took the trip north to the Atlanta Classic, he broke 56 for the first time, swimming 55.70 in prelims and 55.80 in finals.

Kyser wasn’t the lone swimmer to qualify for the Olympic Trials at the meet. Nu Wave Swim Club’s Enzo Solitario, a fellow Furutre Badger but in the class of 2029, managed to get under the 100-fly standard of 53.59 in Friday’s time trial. Before this season, Solitario had a PB of 55.27 but blew it away at the Fort Lauderdale 18&Under Spring Cup, where he went 54.42, placing second to only Kaii Winkler.

Just last weekend at the LA Tiger Aquatic Tristan Vessel Invite, Solitario hit new heights, swimming 53.71 to put his Olympic Trials chances in much closet sight. Fast forward five days and Solitario continued his run of good form, dropping even more time. Out in 25.55, he closed in 27.82, managing to clip the standard by over two-tenths as he finished in a new personal best of 53.37.

Already having experienced the joys of making his Olympic Trials cut last month at the Ocala Sectionals meet, TJ Frost earned a second swim in Indy. After time trialing the 400 IM (4:23.50) and dropping nearly 10 seconds off his personal best from before the meet, Frost, who swims for Loggerheads Aquatics, set his sights on the 400 free.

Entering this weekend, Frost, a Best of the Rest swimmer in our recently re-ranked class of 2024 and who is headed to Miami, Ohio, this fall, had a personal best of 3:57.21 from his win in Ocala, before which he had never broken the four-minute barrier. In the time trial session on Friday, Frost attacked the 400 free, taking the first 100 out in 55.11 (in Ocala, he was 57.01) and kept up the pace, hitting the halfway mark in 59.56. While he was out fast, Frost came home strong as well, splitting 1:00.12 and 1:00.16 to finish in 3:54.95, clearing the Olympic Trials standard of 3:55.59.