NCSA Spring Junior Nationals Day 1 Finals Live Recap

2016 NCSA SPRING JUNIOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

• March 15th-19th, 2016
• Short Course Yards Prelims/Long Course Meters Finals
• Prelims 8:30 AM Eastern Time/Finals 6:00PM Eastern Time (Except Tuesday, where they’re 4:00PM)
• Orlando YMCA // Orlando, Florida
• Psych Sheets
• Championship Central
• Live Results via MeetMobile: “2016 NCSA Spring Championship”

While we’ll have to wait until tomorrow for the first Michael Andrew/Reece Whitley breaststroke wonderkid showdown, there will still be plenty of exciting races tonight at the first session of the 2016 NCSA Spring Junior National Championships.

The first event of the night will be a race between top two seeds Megan Byrnes of Nation’s Capital and 2015 Speedo Junior Nationals 800 champion Joy Field of Magnolia Aquatic Club. They come in with 16:06.61 and 16:08.11, respectively, nearly 20 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Last year, Field was the runner up, and Stanford commit Byrnes (pictured above) finished third.

The boys of the 1000 come in seeded a little closer together, although Cincinnati Marlin Joshua MacDonald‘s seed time is four seconds ahead of the field with 9:03.50. MacDonald scored second in the event last year. Packed in behind him are challengers Robert ‘Trey’ Freeman of Baylor Swim Club, Frederick Schubert of Nova, Schubert’s teammate and Michigan commit Charles Swanson, and Team Greenville’s Talmadge Davis.

Girls’ 1650 Yard Free

1. Joy Field, Magnolia: 16:02.07
2. Megan Byrnes, Nation’s Capital: 16:17.49
3. Lindsay Stone, Pack: 16:20.00

Joy Field of Magnolia destroyed the competition in the girls’ mile, finishing fifteen seconds ahead of second-place Megan Byrnes of Nation’s Capital. Field won the event in 16:02.07, dropping over six seconds from her seed time, followed by Byrnes in 16:17.49. Third place went to Lindsay Stone of Pack Swim Team, who dropped over sixteen seconds from her seed time.

Wahoo twins Molly Kowal (an Ohio State commit) and Grace Kowal (a Virginia Tech commit) took the fourth and fifth slots with 16:34.15 and 16:40.21, respectively.

13-year-old Madison Kolessar of the Suburban Seahawks finished sixth in 16:40.53, followed by Nova’s Madeleine Hadd in 16:43.49 and Peyton Quattlebaum, swimming unattached in 16:44.55.

Boys’ 1000 Yard Free

1. Robert “Trey” Freeman, Baylor: 8:57.43
2. Frederick Schubert, Nova: 8:57.82
3. Aaron Schultz, Nova: 9:06.59

The boys’ 1000 free was a tight race between Baylor Swim Club’s Trey Freeman and Nova’s Fred Schubert. Although Schubert had the edge at the 500 with a 4:27.16 split to Freeman’s 4:28.13, Freeman made up the difference in the final 100, where he split a swift 51.18, compared to Schubert’s closing 52.41. Both boys dropped over ten seconds from their seed times, with Freeman winning the event in 8:57.43 and Schubert finishing second in 8:57.82.

There was a similar race for third place between Nova’s Aaron Schultz and Team Greenville’s Talmadge Davis. Schultz ended up with the edge, swimming 9:06.59 to Davis’s 9:06.78 for third.

Zachary Washart of GPAC moved way up from his eighteenth seed to score fifth with 9:11.37, followed closely by William Roberts of Naval Academy Aquatics in 9:11.29.

Seventh went to Nicholas Cruse, swimming unattached with 9:12.50, and eighth went to Nova’s Charles Swanson in 9:13.24.

Girls’ 200 Yard Free Relay

1. Ozaukee: 1:31.66
2. Academy Bullets: 1:32.46
3. Poseidon: 1:32.74

Led by one of our SwimSwam 17-18 Swimmer of the Year Honorable Mentions Katie Drabot, the Ozaukee Aquatics team took the gold in the girls’ 200 free relay. Drabot (22.57) swam the lead leg, followed by Skylar Fore (22.81), Mallory Fox (23.30), and Lillie Hosack (22.98) for a total 1:31.66.

The Academy Bullets’s Kayla Filipek (23.10), Avery Braunecker (23.07), Hanna Blankemeier (22.88), and Jennifer Hauser (23.41) took second with 1:32.46.

Third went to Poseidon’s Casey Fanz (22.88), Sonora Baker (23.29), Camryn Curry (23.58), and Katherine Nezelek (22.99) close behind in 1:32.74.

The next five teams were separated by less than a second. Patriot Swim Club took fourth in 1:33.34, followed by Magnolia in 1:33.38 and Machine in 1:33.39. New Trier hit seventh in 1:33.51, and NCAP rounded out the top eight in 1:33.53.

Boys’ 200 Yard Free Relay

1. Nation’s Capital: 1:21.33
2. Machine Aquatics: 1:21.50
3. Dayton Raiders: 1:21.62

The boys of Nation’s Capital took the title in the boys’ 200 free relay, when Samuel Pomojevich (20.56), Aidan Pastel (20.47), Johnathan Pollock (20.50), and James William Jones (19.80) teamed up for 1:21.33. Jones’s anchor split ended up making the difference for the NCAP team, as none of the Machine swimmers made it in under 20.

James Murphy (20.37), Joseph Bennett (20.60), Thomas Hallock (20.25), and David Herbert (20.28) scored 1:21.50 for second.

Third went to Dayton’s Cody Bybee (20.60), Dylan Curtis (20.40), Eric Knowles (20.47), and Thomas Cope (20.15) in 1:21.62.

Less than two seconds separated first through eighth in a tightly-contested final. Nova grabbed fourth in 1:22.20, followed by Gator Swim Club (1:22.43), NCAP (1:22.59), SwimStrongsville (1:22.78), and Metro Atlanta (1:23.10).

Girls’ 200 Yard Medley Relay

1. Nation’s Capital: 1:40.60
2. Long Island: 1:41.08
3. Ozaukee: 1:41.36

The Nation’s Capital ‘B’ team took the title in the 200 medley relay when Phoebe Bacon (25.06), Eireni Moshos (28.84), Jasmine Hellmer (24.02), and Katelyn Mack (22.68) teamed up for 1:40.60.

Second place went to Long Island Aquatic Club’s Kristin Romano (25.53), Margaret Aroesty (28.10), Lauryn Johnson (24.78), and Cara Treble (22.67) in 1:41.08.

Ozaukee’s Autumn Haebig (25.64), Katie Drabot (28.05), Skylar Fore (24.19), and Mallory Fore (23.48) took the third slot with 1:41.36.

St. Charles finished fourth in 1:41.83, followed by the Northern Kentucky Clippers in 1:42.13, Poseidon in 1:42.14, Magnolia in 1:42.46, and NCAP’s ‘A’ team in 1:42.58.

Boys’ 200 Yard Medley Relay

1. Nation’s Capital: 1:29.09
2. Dayton Raiders: 1:29.10
3. Nova: 1:29.38

The boys’ 200 medley came down to the closest of margins when the Nation’s Capital team outtouched the Dayton Raiders by just one one-hundredth of a second.

The NCAP team of Will Cumberland (22.98), Spencer Rowe (24.59), Samuel Pomajevich (21.43), and James William Jones (20.09) narrowly outswam the Dayton Raiders’ Dylan Curtis (22.34), Thomas Cope (24.33), Cody Bybee (21.88), and Eric Knowles (22.55), 1:29.09 to 1:29.10.

Third place went to Nova’s Sam Cuthbert (22.82), Charles Swanson (25.03), Frederick Schubert (21.34), and Aaron Schultz (20.19) in 1:29.38.

Machine took fourth in 1:30.38, followed by St. Charles in 1:30.70, Gator Swim Club in 1:30.98, the NCAP ‘B’ team in 1:31.02, and the Machine ‘B’ team in 1:31.73.