2018 EZ NORTH SPEEDO SHORT COURSE SECTIONALS (ITHACA)
- Thursday-Sunday, March 22-25th
- Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY
- Short Course Yards (SCY)
- Psych Sheet
- Live Results
Bridget Semenuk (16) took the women’s 200 free in a lifetime best 1:47.05, Outpacing runner-up Natalie Mannion (14), who went 1:49.28. Semenuk was out pretty fast, flipping at the 100 in 51.24, and coming back at 55.81. Semenuk’s best time going into the meet was 1:48.19, marking a solid drop for her. Mannion had a personal best of 1:50.04 going into the meet, marking a solid drop for her as well, and her first time under the 1:50 barrier.
The women’s 100 breast was almost as close a race as is possible, with only .07 seconds separating 1st from 3rd. Penn State recruit Olivia Jack got her hand on the wall first at 1:00.58, followed by 16 year old Katherine Douglass at 1:00.62, and Virginia recruit Kaki (Mary) Christensen coming in 3rd at 1:00.65. Jack was 3rd at the 50, coming in at 28.84 to Douglass’ 28.52 and Christensen’s 28.72, but then Jack came home the fastest, 31.74 to 32.10 and 31.93 from Douglass and Christensen respectively. Douglass was the only swimmer of the 3 not to go a best time, but was not far off her personal best of 1:00.26. Jack shaved a little of her personal best of 1:00.61, and Christensen had a little bit larger drop from her best of 1:00.02. Those times will surely excite the coaching staff at Virginia and Penn State, as both of them would have been the fastest 100 breaststrokers at their respective schools this year.
Douglass then went on to win the next women’s event, the 100 fly, in a best time of 53.97, narrowly out-touching 15 year old Megan Deuel (54.03), and 17 year old Andrea Wei (54.13). Of the 3, Douglass was out the fastest and back the slowest, posting splits of 25.17 and 28.80. Deuel was 25.46 and 28.57, and Wei was 25.38 and 28.75. All 3 swimmers had best times, with Douglass dropping the most from her previous best 54.81, and Deuel and Wei shaving off a little from their bests of 54.23 and 54.37 respectively.
Chauncey Nicholas (17) won the men’s 100 fly with his first sub-50 performance ever, touching in 49.92. He narrowly edged out 14 year old Tyler Sicignano, who touched in 50.03. Both had best times in prelims, with Nicholas goiung 50.13 and Sicignano going 50.03. That puts Sicignano 35th all-time for 13-14 boys.
It’s shame there is further commentary on this meet since many of the times posted during the Sunday prelims and finals events were pretty stellar, especially in the women’s’ freestyle events where the finals times eclipsed those of the TYR meet.
Sorry about the delay, Saturday’s recap has been posted: https://swimswam.com/young-swimmers-continue-to-shine-into-day-3-of-ithaca-sectionals/ Sunday’s recap will be coming shortly.