Runge, Bolles Boys Shine in Sprints on Day 2 Prelims at Jr. Nats

On the 2nd morning of the 2012 Jr. National Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana, the future stars of USA Swimming’s sprint races got their first crack at the water.

In the women’s race, Cierra Runge from North Baltimore was right on top of her best time with a 55.81 for the top seed overall. She, like many of the top seeds, didn’t make a significant drop in the prelims, but from what we saw on Monday many swimmers are stepping up in finals.

Faith Johnson of Star Aquatics in North Carolina, a Tennessee commit and one of the top sprinters in the incoming freshman class, was 2nd in 56.50. The biggest surprise (though in reality, maybe not) was Runge’s teammate Gillian Ryan in 3rd in 56.61 – nearly a two-second lifetime best. That continues a trend for her this summer; after not going a best time in the 800 all year, her speed has really stepped-up this summer. That’s something we’ve seen in a lot of the talented young distance group that was so good in 2011.

Victoria Toris (56.77) from Scotsdale, Katie McLaughlin from the distance gurus at Mission Viejo (57.10), and Emily Allen from North Mecklenburg (57.21) are also in this A-Final as just 15-year olds.

With so much depth in this race, a few tough morning swims left some top names in lower finals, but look for swimmers like Mary Schneider and Elizabeth Boyce to battle for top overall-times out of the B-Final.

In the men’s version of this race, the only two entrants at the meet from Bolles (Santo Condorelli and Caeleb Dressel) took the top two seeds in best times of 50.67 and 50.85, respectively. After the Sharks won the Winter Junior National team title in December, they’ve sent a very sparse squad this summer as they have spent a lot of time focusing on other meets.

Asphalt Green’s Michael Domalgla was the 3rd seed in 51.00, followed by Texas commit John Murray from Alamo. Sven Campbell from Orinda Aquatics is als in the final in 51.32; based on the performances of his teammates so far in this meet (including Steven Stumph in winning the 200 breast), he should be a 50-point in the final.

Other Notes from Prelims:

  • There are three 14-year olds in the A-final of the women’s 200 back: Kacey Oberlander of the York YMCA, Courtney Mykkanen of Irvine Novaquatics, and girls’ 200 breast champ Allie Szekely in 2:16.31. That’s two seconds off of Szekeley’s best time – can’t believe that will last after what we saw on Monday. She does have a tougher double today, though.
  • Aaron Greene took the top seed in the men’s 200 back with a 2:02.34, ahead of Campbell who was mentioned above as a finalist in the 100 free as well.
  • Allison Brown from Pleasanton is the top seed in the women’s 400 IM in 4:52.63, ahead of Maggie D’Innocenzo and Szekely again. All three should be in the 4:40’s in the finals.
  • Ryan Nelson from the Golden West Swim Club, coached by Mark Schubert, topped the men’s 400 IM prelims in a best time of 4:27.37.

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Bill Deere
11 years ago

You might mention that Aaron Greene swims with the North Texas Natadores.

Keith
11 years ago

Dressel, wow. 50sec in the 100 free is swift for a 15 y/o.

WHOKNOWS
11 years ago

Improvement in prelims based off entry times:
Women’s 400 i.m. – 7.40%
Men’s 400 i.m. – 31.48%
Women’s 100 free – 17.07%
Men’s 100 free – 44.28%
Women’s 200 back – 18.66%
Men’s 200 back – 42.85%

joeb
Reply to  WHOKNOWS
11 years ago

it seems like the men are improving at this meet at a much higher rate than the women….any reason why that might be?

swimmer24
Reply to  joeb
11 years ago

Over the past couple elite level meets (Trials, the Olympics, US Open, Juniors) and just other meets I have seen, it seems that women are not able (or don’t want to) to go as fast in the morning and again at night as men are. I think if we look at finals for the ladies, we will see a lot more best times and that most of the girls were “cruising” in the morning. However the girls that go bests or close to in the morning do not drop any more time. The boys on the other hand are more likely to go fast in both the morning and night. However in all cases there are exceptions.
***I don’t… Read more »

WHOKNOWS
Reply to  swimmer24
11 years ago

I believe that is true for the top tier of athletes (say top 16), but does not hold for those who should be having the swim of their life just to make it into the top 16 spots. I am starting to question the preparedness of the athetes coming into a “championship” meet.

WHOKNOWS
11 years ago

Watch for Kim Williams (BC) in the finals of the women’s 400 meter individual medley. She is a great finals swimmer!

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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