NAG Records Go Down; Boys’ 50 Free Sets Up Loaded Final

Day 1 of the 2013 Winter Junior National Championships is underway in Greensboro, North Carolina. There’s a 200 free relay, a 500 free, a 200 IM, and a 50 free (the meet follows the NCAA Championship three-day schedule) on Thursday, plus the 400 medley relay in finals. The meet is running in two courses at the newly-renovated Greensboro Aquatic Center, so even with long lists of heats, Friday’s prelims session should be relatively quick.

Live results are available here.
Live streaming is available here.

We will be updating with recaps from this morning’s prelims session as they happen.

Women’s 200 Yard Free Relay – Prelims

It didn’t take long at the GAC for the first National Age Group Record to go down. In the prelims of the first event, the girls from the Carmel Swim Club in Carmel, Indiana combined for a 1:30.49 to break the old 15-18 record of 1:31.09 that was set a week ago by a team from NCAP at Winter Nationals.

That team included a 22.95 by Missouri commit Rachel Hayden, a 22.07 from 16-year old Amy Bilquist, a 22.71 from Claire Adams, and a 22.76 from Veronica Burchill.

Chasing them in finals will be the team from PASA, who swam a 1:32.26, and a team from Bolles, who swam a 1:32.39. Bolles had a 22.8 lead-off from Kasey Schmidt and a 23.0 third-leg from 15-year old Sherridon Dressel, the youngest in a long line of impressive Dressel sprinters.

SwimMAC Carolina was 4th in 1:32.32, with no Kathleen Baker on their relay as she prepares for a trip to the Duel in the Pool.  Other impressive splits includes s 22.23 from Canyons Aquatics junior Abbey Weitzeil on the lead-off of her 9th-place relay. She’s the defending Junior National Champion in long course in the 50 free.

Men’s 200 Yard Free Relay – Prelims

The Scottsdale Aquatic Club swam a 1:20.75 to get the meet underway on the boys’ side of the pool. That included a 19.78 lead-off split from 15-year old Ryan Hoffer. He’s the swimmer who took the National Age Group Record in the 50 away from Caeleb Dressel, who will swim right next to him in finals – Dressel led off Bolles’ 2nd-seeded relay in 19.34, as they’re about two-tenths back overall. That’s only .05 shy of Dressel’s personal best, and 17-18 NAG Record.

Tampa Bay Aquatics was a 1:23.15 for the 3rd seed. Dressel and Hoffer were two of swimmers under 20 in prelims, both on lead-offs, along with Scottsdale anchor Jack Blake (19.89), also just 15 years old. Others got very close, though. That includes UNC commit Philip Perdue, who was a 20.05 on the second leg of East Carolina Aquatics’ 8th-place prelims relay.

Women’s 500 Yard Freestyle – Prelims

Leah Stevens, a junior at the Lakeside Swim Team in Kentucky, has nabbed the top seed in the women’s 500 free with a 4:45.48. There will be a lot of swimmers in this final, though, who are capable of clearing that mark (as is she), as Kylie Stewart, who was 2nd in the morning in 4:46.20, and Ceci Williams, who was 3rd in 4:46.35, have been 4:43’s in their career.

The youngest swimmer in the A-Final will be Jordan Stout of the Rockwood Swim Club, 4th overall, who was a lifetime best of 4:47.32 in the heats. Zoe Thatcher was 5th in 4:47.74, and North Carolina native Hannah More of the Triangle Aquatic Club was 6th in 4:47.83.

Men’s 500 Yard Freestyle – Prelims

Tennessee commit Sam McHugh (Robert if you’re keeping score at home) was recruited as a butterflier, a backstroker, and perhaps a 200 freestyler. Now, his value grows even further, as he was a 4:20.69 in the 500 yard free for the top seed – taking five seconds off of his season-best. That could mean good things in some of his other races later in this meet.

Second behind him is another senior, Dynamo Swim Club’s Kevin Litherland who is going to Georgia next year, with a 4:21.13 (a lifetime best for him).

Unlike the girls’ race, there were quite a few best times at the top of this boys’ prelim. The 3rd-seed Townley Haas (Francis on your scorecard) was the 3rd seed in 4:21.59, a two-second drop.

PASA’s Curtis Ogren broke that trend with a 4:23.10 for the 4th seed, and Jonathan Roberts of the North Texas Nadadores was 5th in 4:23.28. All of the A-Finalists aside from Haas are committed high school seniors.

At the top of the B-Final will be another committed high school senior: future Georgia Bulldog Gunnar Bentz with a best time of 4:25.80. Georgia has three commits in the top 9 of this heat.

Also of note is Nitro 15-year old Sean Grieshop, who was the 11th seed in 4:26.42.

Women’s 200 Yard IM – Prelims

Georgia commit Meaghan Raab, a top-10 commit in the class of 2014, continues to broaden her event profile as she heads toward her final season of high school swimming and first season of college swimming. She was a 1:57.34 in prelims of this race, which is her best time by half-a-second. That’s a very good sign for a swimmer not apparently feeling the effects of senioritis; most of her career-best times came from her sophomore year, including this race and her best event the 200 free, and now she’s started to trend that line back downward.

She’ll be joined in the A-Final by two future Georgia teammates: Megan Kingsley from the Mount Pleasant Swim Club, who is the 6th seed in 1:59.26; and Kylie Stewart from the Dynamo Swim Club, who is the 8th seed in 1:59.66.

SOCAL Aquatics’ Ella Eastin took the second seed behind Raab in the prelims, with a 1:58.06, followed by Stanford commit Ally Howe in 1:58.96. Eastin was the top seed coming into this meet, by almost three seconds, so she’s dangerous in the final.

Ozaukee Aquatics’ Katherine Drabot, who had a breakthrough summer, is continuing that here with a 1:59.09 for the 4th seed.

Men’s 200 Yard IM – Prelims

Swimming back-to-back events on the men’s side, though coming at the end of around 20 heats he had about a 45-minute break, Dynamo Swim Club’s Gunnar Bentz took the top seed in the men’s 200 IM. He swam a great freestyle leg to overcome PASA’s Curtis Ogren and his 1:47.27 for that spot.

That should be a good battle in finals; both are great breaststrokers, both are equivalent butterfliers, and it will be the difference between the backstroke legs (where Ogren is much better) and freestyle legs (where Bentz is much better) for the title.

That is, of course, unless Dynamo’s Jay Litherland, who had a huge drop, makes some noise. He was a 1:47.95 for the 3rd seed in prelims. The Baylor Swim Club’s Sam McHugh was the 4th seed in 1:48.16, followed by Bryce Kananowicz (1:48.14), Matthew Whittle (1:48.73), Austin van Overdam (1:48.86), and Colin Ellington (1:49.26).

Doubles will play a bigger factor in the final, which is made up entirely of seniors. The top four swimmers in this 200 IM prelim will all have the 500 free before hand (barring scratches), while the next four won’t.

Women’s 50 Yard Free – Prelims

The Canyons Aquatic Club’s Abby Weitzeil, who for the last year has been training under sprint guru Coley Stickels, is coming dangerously close to the 22-second barrier in the 50 yard freestyle. The high school junior was a 22.02 to break Lindsey Engel’s Meet Record in the race in prelims of the girls’ 50 free.

Engel was in this swim, and tied for 5th with the Denver Swim Academy’s Ann Ochitwa in 22.74 in the morning heats.

With that swim Weitzeil moves up to 6th on the all-time list, jumping Kara Lynn Joyce and with Missy Franklin being the only swimmer between her and 21-seconds.

Second-seeded behind Weitzeil is Alex Cleveland from the Zionsville Swim Club in Indiana, with a 22.45, and Amy Bilquist from the Carmel Swim Club also in Indiana, with a 22.59. That top three all went lifetime bests in prelims, and so will have the challenge to repeat it in finals.

Kasey Schmidt from Bolles was a 22.70 for the 4th seed, SwimMAC’s Nora McCullagh was a 22.83 for the 7th seed, and Constance Moseley was a 22.84 for the 8th seed. The 15-year old Moseley was the youngest swimmer to qualify for the A-Final. There was also a 14-year old, Lauren Pitzer, who qualified for the B-Final with a 22.89.

Men’s 50 Yard Free – Prelims

Two swimmers were under the old Meet Record in the men’s 50 free prelims. Bolles’ Caeleb Dressel got their first with a 19.29 in prelims of the morning’s final event, and Michigan commit Paul Powers took the 2nd seed in 19.51.

Dressel’s swim also tied his own 17-18 National Age Group Record in the event. Read more about that record here.

Those Meet Records are not the story, however, they are rather perhaps a symptom of an incredibly deep final. Three guys in prelims were under 20 seconds, including Scottsdale’s Ryan Hoffer in 19.74. Everyone else in the final has the opportunity to get there tonight: Brett Ringgold, the old Meet Record holder, was a 20.15 for the 4th seed; Tate Jackson from Nitro was a 20.22, Dylan Carter was a 20.26, Ty Powers was a 20.36, and Josh Romany was a 20.40 to score the top 8.

It took a 20.72 to even earn ones way into a swim-off for the C Final of this event. That’s as compared to last season, where the same 20.72 would have made one a 12th-seed out of prelims.

Finals begin at 5PM Eastern Time.