Matt Fallon Breaks Another Record, Negative-Splits 400 IM at YNats

  • 2018 YMCA LONG COURSE NATIONAL SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
  • Monday, July 30th-Friday, August 3rd, 2018
  • Eppley Recreatin Center, University of Maryland
  • 50m (LCM)
  • Psych Sheet
  • Meet Site
  • Results

15-year old Matt Fallon from the Somerset Valley YMCA broke his 2nd National Record of the meet so far on Wednesday evening at the 2018 YMCA Long Course National Championships. After taking out the 200 breast mark on Tuesday, Fallon swam a 4:25.27 in the 400 IM on day 3 of the meet.

That took down Mark Andrew’s 2015 record of 4:26.57 in the event. It was also Fallon’s best time by more than 7 seconds.

What was most remarkable about the swim, though, is the way Fallon split the race. He actually negative split it, which is very rare in a long course 400 IM (splitting by 200: 2:13.13/2:12.14). For comparison of how remarkable that is, at Junior Nationals, the A finalists were each at least 4 seconds slower on the back-half of their races than the front.

For further emphasis, see the time progression between Fallon’s new record and Andrew’s old record below. Fallon split 1:10.85 on the breaststroke, whereas Andrew in his swim split a 1:17.30.

Time After: Matt Fallon Mark Andrew
Fly 1:02.84 59.93
Back 2:13.13 2:08.43
Breast 3:23.98 3:25.73
Free 4:25.27 4:26.57

At USA Swimming’s Junior Nationals, his time of 4:25.27 would’ve tied for 6th in prelims.

While Fallon’s 200 breast record was the only record-setting performance in the first two days of the meet, ‘the field’ caught up on Wednesday with two other YMCA National Records.

In the 50 breaststroke, 16-year old Jessica McMurray from the York YMCA in Pennsylvania snuck under the old National Record. That old record was set last year, by Michiana’s Madison Blakesley, in 32.54. Blakesley is heading to the University of Arizona in the fall.

Then, at the end of the session, the girls from the Red Bank YMCA in New Jersey swam a 1:57.19 in the 200 medley relay, which was another narrow record-breaking performance. The old mark of 1:57.21 was set last year by the Fanwood Scotch Plains YMCA, also in New Jersey. Fanwood was 16th this year, but with three 14-year olds on their roster, are poised to climb back up the ladder.

Red Bank’s record-setting splits:

  • Marie Schobel – 29.32
  • Emma Shaughnessy – 33.06
  • Ginger Hansen – 28.11
  • Megan Judge – 26.70

Schobel had the fastest backstroke split of anybody in the field. Other top splits include a 31.99 breaststroke from the aforementioned McMurray, and a 26.42 50 free anchor from her teammate Madison Nalls.

An out-of-pool note: air quality has been a problem at this meet, as it has been at almost every major indoor meet lately. 3 swimmers have required medical treatment to deal with breathing problems, including being given emergency oxygen.

Other Day 3 Winners:

  • Olivia Harper won the girls’ 100 backstroke in 1:02.21, which left her .07 seconds slower than the National Record. Schobel, from Red Bank, took 2nd in 1:02.70, and Blue Ash’s Emma Shuppert finished 3rd in 1:02.82.
  • 15-year old Somerset Hills YMCA swimmer Jack Alexy led the 100 back finals with a 56.65.
  • Red Bank’s Richie Trentalange won the boys’ 50 breaststroke in 29.10. His teammate Sean Cook finished 3rd in 29.80.
  • Hannah Cech from Lakota, Ohio won the girls’ 400 IM in 4:56.69. She was in 4th place coming into the freestyle, but clawed her way back to the top of the heap. Elizabeth Boyer from Cheshire was 2nd. The swim for Cech was a lifetime best by almost 10 seconds. She dropped 54 to place 7th in the 1500 free on Monday (17:25.39).
  • Abby Doss from Susquehanna, Pennsylvania came-from-behind over Megan Glass to win the girls’ 200 free in 2:02.32. She was three-tenths down going into the final 50 before making up a half-second coming home. Glass took 2nd in 2:02.55.
  • Josh Cohen won the boys’ 200 free in 1:52.60. Jack Alexy, earlier winner of the 100 back, was out fast in 53.67, but faded to 2nd in 1:53.44.
  • One (boys) race later, Alexy led off Somerset’s 200 medley relay (there was a split error) as they rolled to a comfortable win in 1:45.79.
  • While plenty of splits looked incorrect in the 200 medley relay, 16-year-old David Curtiss clocked an incredible 21.96 anchoring Hamilton’s relay in the B final. Curtiss hit a 19.75 flat start 50 in yards this spring, so considering he had a relay start, the swim sounds like it *could* be plausible. SwimSwam is trying to confirm the veracity of the split, though, so stay tuned.

Team Scores After Day 3

Top 5 Men’s Teams

  1. Red Bank Branch YMCA – 243
  2. Somerset Hills YMCA – 225.5
  3. Greenwich YMCA – 129
  4. Powel Crosley Jr  YMCA – 121
  5. Somerset Valley YMCA – 119

Top 5 Women’s Teams

  1. Red Bank Branch YMCA – 242
  2. Cheshire YMCA – 225
  3. ME Lyons Anderson YMCA – 161
  4. Blue Ash YMCA – 151
  5. York YMCA – 118

Top 5 Combined Teams

  1. Red Bank Branch YMCA – 485
  2. Cheshire YMCA – 283
  3. York YMCA – 236
  4. Somerset Hills YMCA – 232.5
  5. Somerset Valley YMCA – 205

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Nswim
5 years ago

Being at the meet I can confirm that Curtis’s split appears to be accurate as he just broke the y Nationals record in the 50 this morning with a 22.7. Also, the air quality is a huge issue, half of my team has had to take cough and cold medicine to help

Tea rex
5 years ago

For a swimmer of Fallon’s talent, 1:10 is a pretty bad backstroke split.

But for ANYONE, a 1:10 breaststroke split is great. At nationals, only 2 guys had a faster breaststroke split!

Name
Reply to  Tea rex
5 years ago

Takes a bath on his back to pop off the breast leg

fattymalone insider
5 years ago

fallon is a beast and runs a wicked good meme page on instagram too

Gary Hall
5 years ago

Nice job Matt! We are very proud of you at The Race Club!

RVR
5 years ago

The air quality is even worse than it’s being put here. Would not be shocked if the meet has to be shut down for safety reasons.

SwimmerOH
Reply to  RVR
5 years ago

We are here and that’s not going to happen.

Leto
5 years ago

We are here at this meet and I can confirm the air quality issues. My daughter was complaining about not being able to breath after prelims on Tuesday. Regarding David Curtiss, I believe that split is correct. We saw him live during finals of the 200 free relay and He split 22.33 with what I considered a poor relay start so for him to do a sub 22 split in the medley relay is not surprising.

TonyTerp86
5 years ago

After all the problems they’ve had this facility why would any large swim event go back to the University of Maryland ? I feel so bad for everyone of those athletes have to endure that environment for several days

Bon Jovi
Reply to  TonyTerp86
5 years ago

in PVS we have to swim there for our championship meets

Hint of Lime
5 years ago

By “Bledsoe” in the third paragraph — when referring to the negative split of the race — is that a typo in referring to Fallon and his race?

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Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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