Robert Howard Posts 49.3 100 Free at Richard Quick Invite

2018 SE Richard Quick Invitational

• Friday-Sunday, June 22-24th
• James E. Martin Aquatics Center, Auburn, AL
• Long Course Meters
• Results (will be linked as soon as they’re available)

The 2018 Richard Quick Invitational, held by Auburn Aquatics, was held this past weekend, June 22nd-24th. The meet was open age group prelims/finals format, with an additional timed finals session for 12 & unders.

Robert Howard closed out the meet with a bang, throwing down a 49.33 in the 100 free. Howard’s splits were pretty tight, going out in 24.01, and coming home in 25.32. That time marks Howard’s fastest non-championship 100 free by almost a full second, and is only .29 seconds off his personal best of 49.04. Howard also posted great time in the 50 and 200 free. In the 50, Howard posted a 22.70, which again is his fastest non-championship 50 free, and was only .24 seconds off his personal best. In the 200 free, Howard posted a 1:50.23, which is his 2nd fastest 200 free ever, behind his lifetime best of 1:49.50. Howard again split the 200 50 very tightly, posting 50 splits of 26.05, 28.25, 28.37, and 27.56 for a 1st 100 of 54.30 and a 2nd 100 of 55.93.

Shane Ryan took the mens 100 back with a 54.47, missing his personal best of 53.84 from 2013 by .63 seconds. Ryan was out in 26.29, and came back in 28.18. Santiago Grassi won the 50, 100, and 200 fly, posting a best time of 2:01.91 in the 200 fly. Grassi posted a quick 24.24 in the 50 fly, just of his personal best of 23.89 from last Summer. In the 100 fly, Grassi posted a 53.16, 1 second off his personal best of 52.09 from the 2015 Pan American Games.

Sam Stewart took the mens 400 IM with a speedy 4:23.86. He was out with a 58.41 on fly, then posted a 1:09.03 back split, 1:14.26 breast, and 1:02.16 free split. That was Stewart’s fastest non-championship 400 IM ever, and was only 4 seconds off his lifetime best of 4:19.69.

Amanda Weir took the womens 50 and 100 free, posting times of 26.18 and 56.31. Weir’s fastest times in those events from last year were 25.72 and 54.59, both of which were from the 2017 Atlanta Pro Series. Weir’s lifetime bests in the those events are 24.23 and 53.02, both of which were swum at the 2009 World Championships in Rome, during the supersuit era.

16 year old Alex Massey won the womens 200 fly with a 2:14.64, dropping over 3 seconds from her best time of 2:17.97. Massey swam a consistent race, posting 50 splits of 30.66, 34.43, 35.26, and 34.29. 18 year old Trey Freeman beat out 16 year old Jake Magahey to win the mens 400 free, posting a 3:53.57 to Magahey’s 3:55.55. Magahey was leading at the halfway point, 1:57.09 to Freeman’s 1:57.29, but Freeman threw down a 56.54 on the final 100 to open up a 2 second lead over Magahey (58.64 final 100).