Produced by Coleman Hodges.
Reported by Mitch Bowmile.
Maxime Rooney turned first at every wall and managed to hold on for the victory in the men’s 200m freestyle, becoming a national champion at just 17. At the touch Rooney just held off a charging Zane Grothe clocking in at 1:47.10 to Grothe’s 1:47.11.
Rooney’s national championship victory comes just after being named the US Jr National Champion in the same event. He’s shown drastic improvement since last year where he was a 1:51.92 at the 2014 US Summer Nationals.
That time for Rooney is the second fastest performance from any American swimmer in the 17-18 age group ever. The only swimmer in that age group to be faster than Rooney was Olympic legend Michael Phelps who holds the record at 1:45.99 from 2003.
Behind Rooney and Grothe was Blake Peironi. Peironi was right in the mix with the two leaders touching in for bronze at 1:47.30. With Peironi rounding out the top three it leftTownley Haas to settle for a fourth place finish with a time of 1:47.55. That time for Haas is the third-fastest 200 freestyle ever from an American in the 17-18 age group. Only Phelps’ 2003 time and Rooney’s winning time from tonight are faster.
He’ll have Switkowski (just went 1:47.0) and D’Arrigo (1:47.1) to train with during the college season, and those guys plus Wallace (1:47.0) and Rousseau (1:48) to train with during summers, plus Dressel, so he won’t lack for training partners.
And if he’s smart, Dwyer will come back and train with Florida in the leadup to Rio. He didn’t need to fix something that wasn’t broken. I still think he would have been a 3:43 in the 400 free by now if he hadn’t club hopped.
Even if not everybody was present, winning the US national championships at 17 must represent something.
Congrats to Rooney hoping he continues to develop in college.
And next year if he’s not eaten by the alligators in Florida, he will be a great solution for the US relay in Rio.
I think Conor Dwyer should be concerned, he has been distinctly unimpressive this year (like last year) and Maxime is within shooting distance now!
That’s also a World Junior Record for Rooney.