2015 SPEEDO WINTER JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS – WEST
- University of Texas’s Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center -Austin, TX
- Wednesday, December 9 – Saturday, December 11
- (Bonus long course meter time trials on Sunday, December 12)
- Prelims 9AM / Finals 5PM (Th-Sat), Wed. Timed Finals 6PM (U.S. Central Time)
- Meet Page
- Psych Sheets
- Live results
GIRLS 400 IM PRELIM
Four of the top swimmers heading into finals tonight were just shy of their entry times indicating that they may have been confident enough to back off and save a little for the final. That strategy may have backfired for a few though as gigantic improvements moved swimmers from deeper down the list to fill the rest of the A-final. Nitro’s Regan Barney claimed the top spot at 4:13.15, over two seconds behind her seed time, but still enough to hold familiar face Katie Drabot to second with her 4:14.83. Third in the morning was claimed by Greater Nebraska’s Dannie Dilsaver, who moved up from 22nd seed, improving almost five full seconds to hit 4:15.90. Iowa Flyers’ Ruby Martin was fourth (4:16.09,) Ft Collins’ Bailey Kovac was fifth (4:16.38,) and Evie Pfeifer (UN-CSP) was sixth at 4:16.67. DART claimed the last two positions with large improvements from both Chenoa Devine (4:16.77) and Kinsey Halladay (4:18.57.)
BOYS 400 IM PRELIM
Nitro’s Sean Grieshop was just shy of his seed time but easily held his top spot in the 400 IM prelim, touching almost six seconds ahead of the rest of the field with 3:44.93. Behind him, Jeffco Hurricane’s Michael Zarian was second with a three second improvement to 3:50.27. JH landed a second swimmer into the big heat with a 3:54.45 for sixth out of Keegan Foulke. PASA also claimed two spots in the A-final with a third place 3:52.04 out of Joe Molinari and seventh from Alex Liang’s 3:54.60. Edina’s Jonthomas Larson will be the number four seed tonight at 3:52.29, another three second improvement. The biggest surprises though were from 23 seed Carter Grimes from Sandpipers of Nevada and 14 year old 32 seed Jarod Arroyo from Wasatch Front Fish Market. Grimes cut nearly six seconds to land fifth in the prelim at 3:53.69. Arroyo’s improvement was even crazier as he was entered as the second highest LCM time, and the fastest SCY time he has in the system is a 4:04.56 from late March this year. That means that he cut 8.9 seconds to steal the 8th place position and earn a spot in tonight’s show.
GIRLS 100 FLY PRELIM
Longhorn Aquatics’ Victoria Edwards turned in the lone 52 second prelim swim for the 100 fly prelim at 52.92. Alexis Margett from Brea Aquatics was second in 53.28, followed by Tevyn Waddell from Mitchell, South Dakota at 53.51 for third. Last night’s showstopper, Ozaukee’s Katie Drabot came out of nowhere in the prelim, dropping 1.29 from her 24th place seed to take the fourth position in the final for tonight. KC Swim Academy’s Cailey Grunhard who moved up from 28th seeded 55.01 to take fifth at 53.81. Rounding out the rest of the top eight were Covina’s Catherine Sanchez (53.82,) Crow Canyon’s Maddie Murphy (53.84,) and Royal Swim Team’s Amy Okada (53.98.)
BOYS 100 FLY PRELIM
After Thursday’s results it would be hard to not get excited about tonight’s 100 fly matchup between Michael Andrew and Ryan Hoffer. Michael nearly scratched the 200 IM final after breaking the NAG 200 IM record in prelims which might have made the 50 free more interesting. Andrew’s 21.8 fly split leading the IM and Hoffer’s incredible 50 free add up to a heck of a showdown on the horizon. This morning just lit a fire under our anticipation as Andrew turned in 46.34 for the prelim breaking the 15-16 NAG Record for the event, just ahead of Hoffer who landed at 46.44. Don’t forget though, that Peak Swimming’s Jack Xie has was also entered at 46.75 making him a threat as well, as his 48.01 third place finish in the prelim may be deceiving. Chris Staka from Cabrillo Threshers landed fourth, just behind Xie at 48.04, with North Texas’ Jack LeVant improving to 48.08 for fifth. KING’s Thomas Anderson (48.20,) Santa Clara’s Matthew Thomas (48.24,) and Orinda Aquatics’ Jolen Griffin (48.57) claimed the sixth through eighth place spots for tonight’s final.
GIRLS 200 FREE PRELIM
Several familiar names will be returning for the girls’ 200 free A-final. Scottsdale’s Taylor Ruck landed the top spot in 1:46.48, which is not a personal best but may serve to redeem her absence from the A-final yesterday. Katie Drabot apparently hasn’t reached any sort of event limit, as she claimed the #2 position in tonight’s final with 1:46.57. Evie Pfeifer (1:47.19,) Mansfield’s Haley Yelle (1:47.53,) Austin’s Diana Dunn (1:47.85,) and Nitro’s Karling Hemstreet (1:47.98) took third through sixth for the morning round, with Rockwood’s Jordan Stout and North Bay Aquatics’ Miki Dahlke closing the top eight with a tie at 1:48.10.
BOYS 200 FREE PRELIM
The Nitro boys crushed the 800 relay in the first session of the West Junior National, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that they landed the top two seeds going into the final for the 200 free. Corban Rawls and Sean Grieshop will lead the field tonight with their 1:37.02 and 1:37.39 respectively. North Texas’ Jack LeVant was close behind with 1:37.58. The rest of the field are all within .31 of each other with Longhorns’ Grant Reed at 1:38.32, Sierra Marlins’ Bryce Mefford and North Bay’s Sheldon Boboff tied at 1:38.43, Redbird Swim Club’s Andrew Loy at 1:38.46 and Edina’s Jonthomas Larson returning for his second A-final of the day at 1:38.63.
GIRLS 100 BREAST PRELIM
Two girls managed to move under the one-minute mark during today’s 100 breast prelim, with Fort Collins’ Zoe Bartel and PASA’s Grace Zhao touching at 1:00.65 and 1:00.88 respectively. New Trier’s Ingrid Wall was third in 1:01.21, Bueneventura’s Alicia Harrison was fourth in 1:01.45 and Loveland’s Morgan Friesen was fifth at 1:01.72. The last three spots were taken by swimmers with big move-ups, the most impressive being Isabella Goldsmith of the Sandpipers who dropped from 1:03.56 and 31st seed to take 7th in the prelim at 1:01.91. Sixth and eighth were claimed by Greater Nebraska’s Olivia Calegan (1:01.76) and UN-North Bay’s Halle Morris (1:02.01.)
BOYS 100 BREAST PRELIM
Michael Andrew crushed this one in the prelim, breaking his second NAG Record of the day at 52.50, well over two seconds ahead of the next prelim time turned in. That time is .33 faster than Carsten Vissering’s 2014 NAG mark and is Andrew’s third record owned in the 15-16 age group. PASA’s Jeremy Babinet was the only other sub-55 swim in the prelim at 54.86. AZOT’s Alec Hsing is third at 55.13, with PEAK’s Jack Xie behind him at 55.66 for his second A-final appearance of the day. KING’s Mitch Hovis improved nearly half a second to take fifth at 55.68, followed by Missoula’s Adam Zimmer at 55.79. The seventh and eighth positions in the A-final were improvements from deeper in the psyche sheet as La Mirada’s Edgar Chin improved from 19th to 7th with 55.96 and Cheyenne Mountain’s Daniel Carr dropped from 18th seed to 8th at 56.01.
GIRLS 100 BACK PRELIM
Three of the top eight finishers in the girls’ 100 back prelim are returning for their second final of the day, with Mitchell’s Tevyn Waddell at 8th with 54.37, Taylor Ruck 2nd at 53.37 and Victoria Edwards who moved up from the 11th seed to the top position at 53.30. The rest of the A-final will be Lucie Norman at 53.44 (UN,) Rhyan White at 53.52 (Wasatch Front,) Regan Smith at 53.84 (Riptide,) Hayley Hynes at 54.18 (KC Blazers,) and Abby Richter at 54.21 from Boulder City. It is worth noting that Regan Smith is listed in the psyche sheet as only 13 years old.
BOYS 100 BACK PRELIM
The 100 back tonight is another one to watch with another match-up in the works between Ryan Hoffer who is first out of prelims with 46.57 and Michael Andrew third at 47.33. Between them is KING’s Thomas Anderson who rocked a 46.98 to make it that much more of a barn-burner. Sierra Marlins’ Bryce Mefford (48.13,) Metro’s Jason Park (48.38,) Cheyenne Mountains’ Daniel Carr (48.47,) Cypress Fairbanks’ Braxton Flowers (48.67 and PASA’s Benjamin Ho (48.77) claimed the rest of the A-final positions.
Stay tuned to SwimSwam as more action unfolds at West Juniors.
