Day two of the 2014 YMCA Long Course National Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana, after a quiet morning session, exploded in finals with a slew of Meet Records and National Age Group Records going down, marking the start of what should prove to be easily the fastest version of this meet in its history.
The first record of the day went to Powel Crosley YMCA’s Jonathan Rutter in 2:15.96. Not only is that a back-to-back title for the Yale commit, but it’s a stellar two-second improvement off of his YMCA National Record set in 2013.
Rutter’s finals swim was a complete 180 from his prelims swim. In the morning, he was slow out of the gate (maybe intentionally), but fought back comfortably in the last 100 meters. In finals, Rutter led from the start and by the halfway mark had a clear, full second lead. That didn’t stop him, though, from dropping the proverbial “hammer” in the second 100 meters and extending that lead to three-and-a-half seconds by the finish.
Ocean County (NJ) 17-year old Jacob Limaldi took 2nd in 2:19.31, and Greenwich’s Alex Jahan was 3rd in 2:19.86.
The next record on the block was the 400 free, where two swimmers went under the old record. This was a two-pronged attack, between the young-gun Leah Braswell of the York YMCA, just 14 years old, and the veteran Caitlyn Moon, from Kishwaukee, who is 18 years old and entered this meet as the defending champion.
It was the younger, perhaps brasher, Braswell who pushed the pace for most of this race, and while Moon executed her race plan and was able to reel in both the ultimate third-place finisher Verity Abel, and her young opponent Braswell, the race was ultimately a stroke too short.
Braswell came away with the win in 4:16.64, while Moon was 2nd in 4:16.78 (after making up eight tenths in the last 50). Abel ran out of gas coming home, despite holding a top two position for the first 350 meters, to take 3rd in 4:18.03.
Braswell and Moon both cleared the old YMCA National Record set by Haley Lips in 2012 at 4:17.56.
In the very next championship final, Grant House of the Countryside YMCA broke one of the few really long-standing records left at the YMCA National Level. At just 16, House swam a 3:58.69 to win the men’s 400 free, beating the record set by Adam Messner back in 1996 at 3:59.19.
House was very casual and controlled in prelims, almost causing some concern, but he saved plenty of energy for finals, and won the race by only 5 seconds.
As a nice little punctuation on the swim, House finished in a 29.99 on the last 50 meters – a nice closing kick showing his potential in years to come.
Finishing the meet were the women’s and men’s 200 meter free relays. One broke a National Record, the other broke two, and both were taken by the YMCA of the Triangle Area in North Carolina.
First went the girls, who swam a 1:45.67. That took out the year-old record held by the Somerset Valley YMCA from the 2013 meet in 1:45.97. Somerset Valley took 2nd, also clearing the old record, with a 1:45.87.
The winning relay included Jenny Nusbaaum (26.92), Olivia Ontjes (26.05), Haley Bishop (26.52), and Christine Kerr (26.18). Somerset Valley had three of the same for swimmers as last year’s winning relay, and their last two legs actually both split under 26 seconds, but the margin was too big by the time they hit the water for them to win.
Shortly thereafter, the YOTA boys won in more handy fashion, swimming a 1:33.83. That broke the National Age Group Record set by the same team two years ago, but with a very different relay. Colin Ellington led off in 23.32, and he’s the only swimmer still around from the original record-breaking quartet; he was joined this year by Seth Maslowski (23.22), Chris Kohut (23.80), and Alex Carson (23.49).
That swim also broke the National Age Group Record, improving a record held by the Redlands Swim Team. Read more about that record here.
Those record-breaking swims were just the tip of the iceberg in Tuesday. Olivia Ontjes, who had the fastest split on the record-breaking YOTA relay in the 50 free, won a very different 200 breaststroke race individually earlier in the meet. She swam a 2:34.34 to get that win.
In the women’s 50, Ky-Lee Perry got the win on a flat-started 25.95. At only 16, she’s still developing, and is an exciting new face for sprinting in the United States. Ingrid Shu, taking 2nd at 26.00, fits that mold as well.
Ironically, in YOTA’s record-setting women’s relay, none of the swimmers finished in the top 11. The same could not be said for the YOTA men, as Colin Ellington took the win in 23.37, He was one of two YOTA swimmers in the A final, and one of three in the top 10.
Ocean County’s Zach Molloy took 2nd in 23.47, and Brad Zdroik from Somerset Valley placed 3rd in 23.50.
That was Molloy’s second swim of the session, and earlier he won the 100 fly in 55.40. That was a very fair battle against Wilton’s Tommy Kealy (55.53) as the two split very similarly. Experience, as it often does in this event specifically, dominated, with the top five finishers all registered as 18-year olds.
The winner of the women’s 100 fly was Maddie Zimmerman from the Upper Main Line YMCA in Pennsylvania with a 1:01.36. Amanda McNulty of Middle Tyger took 2nd in 1:01.74.
Top 5 Team Scores after day 2:
Men
1. Countryside YMCA – 117
2. Ocean County YMCA – 99
3. YMCA of the Triangle Area – 93
4. Wilton YMCA – 92
5. Middle Tyger YMCA – 87
Women
1. Wilton YMCA – 111
2. YMCA of the Triangle Area – 97
3. Countryside YMCA – 75
4. Somerset Valley YMCA – 72
T-5. York County YMCA – 63
T-5. Northwest North Carolina YMCA – 63
Yes. Should be 23.3
colin ellington at 22.37 has got to be a typo, right?