2019 NCSA JUNIOR NATIONALS
- Tuesday, August 6 – Saturday, August 10, 2019
- Indiana University Natatorium, Indianapolis, IN
- LCM format
- Prelims 8:30 AM / Finals 5:30 PM (U.S. Eastern Time)
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheets
- Live results available on Meet Mobile under “2019 NCSA Summer Swimming Championships”
East Coast Aquatic Team’s Cason Wilburn has been quiet since a two-win opening night, but he’s in line for win #3 tonight after taking the top 100 fly spot in prelims.
Wilburn won the 100 free and 50 fly on night 1, and this morning went 55.03 to lead the boys 100 fly qualifying. Wilburn, 18, was 54.16 back in March, and could be hot after the NCSA meet record of 53.74 if he’s at his best tonight. Wilburn did hit a lifetime-best by eight tenths of a second in the 100 free, boding well for his prospects in tonight’s 100 fly.
Wilburn is one of the top high school sprinters in the nation. He’ll be a freshman this fall at Notre Dame.
Meanwhile Fort Wayne Swim Team’s Tristan Dewitt earned a new Olympic Trials cut in the boys 200 breast. Dewitt, 17, was 2:16.90 this morning, cutting 1.3 seconds from his previous best time. Dewitt gets under the 2020 Trials cut by almost a full second, and he’s the top qualifier in that event by 2.5 seconds. Dewitt has been so close to gold all week: his 200 medley relay took silver on night 1, he was the runner-up in the 50 fly and in the 100 breast, and he qualified second in the 100 fly prelims this morning. If he swims both races, he’ll have a shot to finally break through for gold tonight.
Dewitt also cracks the top 100 all-time in the 17-18 age group. His prelims time will sit 78th.
Other top qualifiers:
- It was a sleepy 100 fly prelims for the girls, with the top three qualifiers adding from their seed times. Emma Sticklen is the top qualifier at 1:01.00, and she has a chance to notch an official Olympic Trials cut (1:00.69) if she can match her personal-best tonight. Sticklen was 1:00.59 last summer, but that was before the official Trials qualifying period opened. Sticklen is a rising high school senior who is verbally committed to the Texas Longhorns.
- Greenwich Y’s Meghan Lynch is the top 200 breast qualifier. She went 2:35.91 this morning. Lynch was 2:32.30 last summer, ranking #19 all-time in the 13-14 age group. Just recently turned 16, Lynch would move to #68 in the 15-16 age group history if she could repeat her lifetime-best tonight. She was 2:33.55 last week at senior nationals.
- Katy Aquatic Team’s Tonni McNeese qualified atop the girls 400 free, going 4:19.34. Her lifetime-best of 4:18.64 from last summer will be the benchmark to chase tonight, with the Olympic Trials cut beyond that at 4:16.89.
- Sandpipers of Nevada 18-year-old Sawyer Grimes broke four minutes for the first time in his career, qualifying first for the boys. Grimes was 3:58.48 this morning, a drop of almost two full seconds. He’s now just 1.2 seconds from the Olympic Trials cut.
This morning, two of the five heats of the girls 800 free relay will compete in the timed-finals format event. The three fastest-seeded heats will swim tonight with finals.
