2018 SOUTHERN PREMIER MEET
- March 2nd-4th 2018
- Nashville Aquatic Club, Nashville, Tennessee
- 25y (SCY) course
- Live results
Saturday’s finals session kicked off with big 200 medley relay battles on the boys’ and girls’ sides.
For the girls, Alex and Gretchen Walsh and their teammates Allie Raab and Julia-Jane Eskew of Nashville Aquatic Club competed against Cardinal Aquatics. Alex Walsh was 24.39 leading off, followed by a 28.11 from Raab and a 25.43 from Eskew. Gretchen Walsh anchored with a big 21.44 to combine for a 1:39.37, but it wasn’t enough to catch Cardinal Aquatics’ 1:38.67. It was the middle legs that made the difference– Krista Wheeler was out in 25.14 followed by a big 27.41 breast split from Kaylee Wheeler and a 24.06 fly leg from Zorry Mason. On the anchor was Gabi Albiero with a nice 22.06 split to turn in a 1:38.67 relay time.
The men’s race came down to the wire, with Dayton Raiders going 1:29.69 to touch out Tennessee Aquatics by a tenth (1:29.79). For the Raiders, Cody Bybee pulled out a big 20.78 fly split to bring them back in contention for a win after John Sampson‘s 23.14 lead-off and Nicholas Perera‘s 25.77 breast split. Josef Pohlmann was 20.00 on the anchor leg. TNAQ was out quick with Ben Boor (22.42), followed by Parker Kaye (25.72) and Caleb Harrington (21.44). Coleman Kredich was 20.21 on the anchor leg for them.
Gretchen Walsh won the 50 free, going 21.85 to set a new NAG record and become the youngest female swimmer to break 22 seconds in a 50 free. She just touched out her older sister Alex, who took 2nd in 22.08. In the 200 IM, the Walsh sisters would be part of a Nashville Aquatic Club 1-2-3-4 finish. Alex won it in 1:56.14, followed by Ella Nelson (1:58.53), Allie Raab (1:59.62), and Gretchen (1:59.85).
Gabi Albiero earned an event win, too, going 1:57.72 to take the 200 fly. She won the race by a second and a half.
Cody Bybee was stellar in his three individual swims, earning wins in all of them. In the 200 fly, he posted a 1:46.11, then turned around to drop a 20.34 to win the 50 free. Finally, in the 500 free, he raced to a time of 4:22.82, more than six seconds ahead of the next-best finisher.
NAC closed out the night with a win in the 400 free relay, going 3:19.45. Gretchen Walsh was 48.88 to lead off. The Dayton Raiders once again clipped TNAQ, this time 3:00.70 to 3:01.25, as Bybee’s 43.32 anchor leg propelled them to victory.
Also getting individual wins in the open age group were Lakeside’s Aldan Johnston in the 200 IM (1:48.01) and Aquatic Team of Mecklenburg’s Ellie Marquardt in the 500 free (4:53.40).
