Pro Swim Series – Mission Viejo Day 1 Finals Live Recap

2022 TYR Pro Swim Series – Mission Viejo

• June 1 to 4, 2022
• LCM (50m)
• Marguerite Aquatics Center, Mission Viejo, CA
• Meet Central
• Pre-Scratch Psych Sheets

The first session of the 2022 Pro Swim Series in Mission Viejo kicks off Wednesday with four heats of the men’s and women’s 1500 freestyle. USA Swimming is live streaming every prelims session of the meet, but only Wednesday and Saturday finals, here.

Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medalist Erica Sullivan is making her return to competition today after suffering a shoulder injury in April. She is the top seed in the 1500, 800, and 400 freestyle this weekend and is ranked 5th in the 200 free. TAC Titan’s Caroline Pennington is ranked 2nd in the 1500 and is coming off a lifetime best time in the 1650 free at the Pac-12 Championships with USC in February. She hasn’t swum it in long course, however, since the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials. Sullivan’s fellow Longhorn Olivia McMurray is ranked 3rd. Sydney Wilson of Mission Viejo is the youngest swimmer in the event at 15 years old and will be swimming in her home pool.

Tokyo Olympian Michael Brinegar is the top seed on the men’s side followed by his The Swim Team (TST) teammate David Johnston, a rising junior at Texas. Johnston competed at the U.S. World Championship Trials in April where he had multiple races against two-time Olympic gold medalist Bobby Finke. At Trials, Johnston blasted a lifetime best 1500 free time to place 3rd. Brinegar also had an eventful month in April, turning pro after competing for Indiana for three seasons. Egyptian Olympian Marwan Aly ElKamash from Indiana Swim Club is the 3rd seed tonight, followed by Mission Viejo’s open water specialist David Heron.

Women’s 1500 Freestyle

• World Record: 15:20.48 – Katie Ledecky (2018)
• American Record: 15:20.48 – Katie Ledecky (2018)
• US Open Record: 15:20.48 – Katie Ledecky (2018)
• JR World Record: 15:28.36 – Katie Ledecky (2014)
• Pro Swim Series Record: 15:20.48 – Katie Ledecky (2018)

Top 8 finishers:

1. Erica Sullivan (TEX) – 16:34.91
2. Mattea Sokolow (TSM) – 16:59.96
3. Olivia McMurray (TEX)- 17:03.35
4. Sydney Wilson (MAC) -17:07.97
5. Sydney Willson (MVN) – 17:12.97
6. Juli Arzave (TAC) – 17:20.11
7. Taylor Kabacy (UT) – 17:39.56
8. Cathryn Salladin (RMDA) – 17:46.32

Erica Sullivan went after it in the first heat, establishing a body length lead at the 200-meter mark which just kept growing. Her lifetime-best time is still the 15:41.41 that won silver in Tokyo where she closed the race with consistent low-31’s and a final 30.78. Today, she held mid-to-low 33’s throughout and had a final 50 split of 32.50.

Also in heat one, Team Santa Monica’s Mattea Sokolow took 4 seconds off her lifetime best time from 2019 Summer Junior Nationals. Tritons Aquatic Club’s Juli Arzave went out fast, holding 34’s through the first 800 meters to stay in the hunt for 3rd. But, when she started splitting 35’s, Texas’ Olivia McMurray and Sokolow pushed ahead. McMurray finished about 30 seconds of her lifetime best from the 2019 Pro Swim Series.

This was a huge swim for Sydney Wilson of Multnomah Athletic Club who crushed her best time from 2 weeks ago by 14 seconds. She held a commanding lead in heat two.

Men’s 1500 Freestyle

• World Record: 14:31.02 – Sun Yang (2012)
• American Record: 14:39.48 – Connor Jaeger (2016)
• US Open Record: 14:45.54 – Peter Vanderkaay (2008)
• JR World Record: 14:46.09 – Franko Grgic (2014)
• Pro Swim Series Record: 14:53.12 – Jordan Wilimovsky (2016)

Top 8 finishers:

1. David Johnston (TST) – 15:18.32 
2. Marwan Aly ElKamash (IN) – 15:32.02
3. Isaac Fleig (TST) – 15:42.80
4. Lleyton Plattel (SUN) – 15:54.12
5. David Heron (MVN) – 16:00.63
6. Dylan Becker (UT) 16:07.24
7. Honza Zika (MVN) – 16:31.69
8. Fabian Gines Torres (PS) – 16:47.72

David Johnston and Marwan Aly ElKamash made heat one look like a swim-off for the first 800 meters, swimming neck-and-neck. At most, they were separated by one-third of a second and ElKamash was chipping away at Johnston’s lead a couple hundredths at a time. This continued until Johnston made his move at the 900 meter mark and never looked back. ElKamash came within 14 seconds of his lifetime best from March while was 10 seconds off the best time he posted at the U.S. World Championship Trials last month.

17-year-old Isaac Fleig was the youngest swimmer in this event and was within 7 seconds of his best time from March. He held 1:03’s to maintain his spot in 3rd throughout the entire race. Sun Devil Swimming’s Lleyton Plattel crushed heat two but was about 30 seconds off his best time from the 2019 Eindhoven Cup. Notably absent was top seed and Tokyo Olympian Michael Brinegar.