There are only a handful of scratches heading into tonight’s Winter Nationals finals, and none out of an “A” final.
The highest seed to scratch out is Gator Swim Club 17-year-old True Sweetser, who was 12th in the 400 IM. Sweetser is in the middle of a huge breakout meet; in prelims of the IM, he dropped six and a half seconds off his lifetime-best to go 3:53.43.
He’ll drop that event to focus on the 200 free tonight, where he’s seeded 23rd after going 1:37.95 in the morning. Given that the 200 came shortly after the 400 IM, he should have a great shot to better his prelims swim (already a lifetime-best) in the C final.
Other scratches for tonight’s finals:
Women’s 400 IM: #18 Bailey Nero, Fort Collins
Men’s 400 IM: #12 True Sweetser, Gator
Women’s 100 fly: #23 Rhi Jeffrey, Phoenix and #24 Megan Moroney, Saint Andrew’s
Men’s 100 fly: #21 Bruno Ortiz, Michigan, #23 Cullen Jones, SwimMAC and #24 Ian Finnerty, Counsilman Center
Women’s 200 free: #20 Grace Vertigans, Indiana
Men’s 200 free: #24 Jorden Merrilees, Oakland
