Southern Zone Florida Sectionals: Cielo posts top-10 time

Cesar Cielo had the top swim of the session at night of the Southern Zone Sectionals in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  There were a few other big names swimming tonight (Arkady Vyatchanin, Ryan Murphy, Martin Grodzki), but Ryan Lochte was absent after competing in two events on Friday.

Women’s 100 back

After winning the 100 fly last night, Caroline Colorado came back tonight to capture her second event of the weekend in a time of 1:01.70.  Colorado led start to finish, narrowly missing Gemma Spofforth’s meet record (1:01.67).  Clara Smiddy, a 17-year-old from the AK Sharks based out of Miami, dropped a full second off her best time to achieve a World Championship Trials qualifying standard in 1:02.46.  Another youngster—15-year-old Elise Haan—was 3rd (1:05.03).

Men’s 100 back

Former European champion Arkady Vyatchanin came home strong to overtake high school phenom Ryan Murphy to win in 55.09.  The 6’8” Russian was close to even splitting the race (27.24-27.85), letting Murphy (27.05-28.35) set the pace early before passing him over the final 50.  Connor Green of Bluefish (last night’s champion in the 400 IM) was 3^rd in 57.36.

Women’s 200 IM

Former Georgia Bulldog Jana Mangimelli used a strong middle 100 to pull away from the field, winning in 2:17.59.  Mangimelli, who is now competing for Gulliver Swim Club, abruptly left the Georgia women’s team this winter amidst much speculation.  Regardless, it’s good to see her competing again.

Erika Erndl, who seems to be getting better with age like fine wine, had a great last 50 to run down three other swimmers and finish 2^nd (2:18.91).  Brooke Zeiger of Bluefish was 3^rd (2:19.11).

Men’s 200 IM

Joe Schooling of the Bolles School Sharks out-split everyone in the field by at least 3 seconds over the middle 100 to easily win his second event of the weekend in 2:04.09.  Brian Poon of Phoenix Swimming, last night’s bronze medalist in the 200 IM, finished 2^nd in 2:06.72.  18-year-old Ryan Rosenbaum was 3^rd (2:07.37).

Women’s 50 free

Fresh off her second place finish in the 200 IM, Erika Erndl touched 1^st in 26.51, just ahead of Caroline Colorado, tonight’s 100 back champion (26.61).  15-year-old Kasey Schmidt of Bolles was 3^rd in 26.81.

Men’s 50 free

The fastest swim of the night came in the men’s splash-and-dash, courtesy of Olympic gold medalist and world record holder Cesar Cielo.  Cielo took down the Florida Gold Coast and Sectionals meet record with a time of 22.20.  That’s his fastest time in 2013, and ranks him 9^th in the world this year.

David Lambert was a distant 2^nd, touching in 23.41.  Bolles teammates Santo Condorelli (23.72) and Ryan Murphy (24.06) finished 3^rd and 4^th, respectively.

Women’s 400 free

Two-time Venezuelan Olympian Andreina Pinto won her first event of the weekend putting away the heat with a time of 4:17.53, her fastest time in 2013.   14-year-old Kendall Brent  from Swim Florida dropped six seconds from her seed time to finish 2^nd in 4:19.30 (a U.S. Open qualifying time).  Vien Nguyen, last night’s champion in the 400 IM, was 3^rd in 4:19.73.

Men’s 400 free

Prepping himself for NCAA’s in two weeks, Martin Grodzki of the University of Georgia pulled away for the win in 3:56.25.  It’s unclear as to why Grodzki traveled all the way to Fort Lauderdale for this meet, just 12 days from his first race in Indianapolis.

Yoelvis Pedraza, who swam collegiately at Florida and now trains at Davie Nadadores, was 2^nd (3:59.19).  Julio Galofre dropped almost six seconds from his seed time to finish 3^rd (4:00.42).