Day 1 finals of the 2015 Pro Swim Series in Austin, Texas (formerly the Austin Grand Prix) will begin with an exciting 100 freestyle, which will feature Katie Ledecky who rocked a personal best time this morning to take the top seed in the event heading into finals. Ledecky will have to battle Katinka Hosszu among others in the race. She’ll also be featured in the 400m freestyle final tonight where she also took the top seed.
2015 PRO SWIM SERIES AT AUSTIN
- Thursday, January 15 – Saturday, January 17
- Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center, University of Texas
- Prelims 9AM/Finals 6PM (Central Time)
- Psych Sheets
- Live stream
- Live results
- Day 1 events: 100 free, 200 breast, 400 free, 100 fly, 400 free relay (timed finals)
Women’s 100 Free – FINALS
Katie Ledecky was absolutely on fire this morning, taking the top seed in a new personal best time of 54.89. Tonight, she was just as spectacular winning the race in 54.55 over Katinka Hosszu and Megan Romano.
Romano and Hosszu were out quick, with Romano leading the way at the 50 meter mark. Romano turned in 26.74, but after about 70 meters was passed by Ledecky. Ledecky made a huge push in the last 10 meters to extend her lead a little bit, but so did Hosszu.
Ledecky clocked in at 54.55 for the gold followed by Hosszu in 54.66 and Romano in 54.79.
The three leaders were well ahead of the rest of the field. NBAC’s Allison Schmitt was fourth overall almost a full second behind Romano in 55.78.
The time for Ledecky is extremely impressive given what she was in the 100 freestyle at this point last season. Last season, she finished eighth overall with a time of 55.57. Granted, all the swimmers who swam the race in 2014 aren’t present, however Ledecky still won over a very tough field.
She also dropped over a second off the time she swam last year in the event, and over half-a-second off her personal best time that she swam last summer at Nationals.
The current time for Ledecky would have also ranked her 36th in that event that season, and close to top six in the United States which would have given her a relay spot.
Men’s 100 Free – FINALS
The men’s 100m freestyle was all about Nathan Adrian who charged to an early lead. He was out quick in 23.49, far from everyone’s view in lane seven. Turning with him was Jimmy Feigen and Conor Dwyer.
On the last 50 Adrian continued to surge ahead against the rest of the field, and saw a huge charge from Cal sophomore Rayn Murphy. Murphy, swimming in the middle of the pool, began to creep up into a medal position as did Dwyer.
At the touch Adrian won by almost half-a-second with a time of 49.11. It was Dwyer who managed to pass Murphy and grab the silver with a time of 49.60 leaving Murphy with the bronze in 49.88.
That time for Adrian was a lot slower than what he swam last year at this meet. Last year in Austin, Adrian was a 48.26 to win the race. Adrian wasn’t much faster for the remainder of the season however, so this could just be an indication of a different approach to training for the 2014-2015 season.
Women’s 200 Breast – FINALS
Maria Garcia was the fastest qualifier following this morning’s prelims and was also the youngest swimmer in the final. Garcia, 20, took out the race with no fear, leading the way at the half-way mark with a time of 1:10.36.
Hot on her trail was Micah Lawrence, one of the best breaststrokers in the United States at the present time, who turned just behind her in 1:10.36.
The Cal swimmer began to fade a tad and Lawrence took advantage of this, pushing ahead of her on the back half of the race to create a lead. Heading into the wall it seemed as though it was a race for third between Garcia and a charging Breeja Larson, however Garcia managed to hold off all advances and finish second behind Lawrence.
Lawrence was the winner in 2:25.75 followed by Garcia’s 2:26.43 and Larson’s 2:26.82.
Men’s 200 Breast – FINALS
Cal undergrad Josh Prenot killed the back-half of this swim to take home a big win in Austin.
BJ Johnson was the leader throughout the first half of the swim, beating Prenot to the 100 meter mark. Prenot was second there, but began to speed up, passing Johnson and charging ahead of the field.
Prenot won the race in a very fast time of 2:12.17, beating Johnson by over a second. Johnson was able to hold on for the silver with a time of 2:13.38 giving the bronze to Anton Mckee. Mckee was a 2:14.36 to round out the top three.
Women’s 400 Free – FINALS
Katie Ledecky was fast in the 400m freestyle prelims, 100m freestyle prelims, and 100m freestyle finals. When Ledecky is on, she’s on, and that made for a lot of excitement heading into the 400m freestyle final.
Right from the get-go it was Ledecky who took out the first 50 under world record pace with a split of 27.92. It was already decided then that Ledecky would win the race over Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu who ultimately finished second in the race.
At the 100 Ledecky was over a body-length ahead of Hosszu and turned in 57.39; half a second under world record pace. She carried that pace through to the 200 where she turned in 1:57.99. She was slightly over at the 300 mark by about 0.3 seconds with a split of 2:28.65.
She held a great pace for the remainder of the race solidifying a gold medal and a fantastic time of 4:00.47. Just to put into perspective how great Ledecky’s swim was, no other swimmer has ever been faster than that other than Federica Pellegrini who swam a 3:59.15 at the 2009 World Championships in Rome.
Second was Hosszy in 4:09.17 just holding off Elizabeth Beisel who chased her down, but ended up third overall in 4:09.62.
Men’s 400 Free – FINALS
Connor Jaeger ran away with the men’s 400m freestyle beating out an extremely tough field featuring some of the best swimmers in the world in the distance events. There’s no doubting that this race was an absolute dog fight with Conor Dwyer, Michael McBroom, and Ryan Cochrane all competing in the event.
Jaeger established a lead at the halfway point with Dwyer, McBroom, and Cochrane all very tightly bunched.
Jaeger kept his lead throughout the remainder of the race as Dwyer, McBroom, and Cochrane all traded places. It was Dwyer however who surged to a second place finish with a time of 3:49.33 followed by a very swift 3:49.53 to keep the Canadian off the podium.
McBroom passed Cochrane on his way to a bronze medal by a small margin, as Cochrane finished fourth in 3:49.53.
Lost in the commotion of the race was a solid time for Dwyer. Dwyer is usually very prominent in his 200 swims, however this 400 is an indication that he is in fantastic shape starting off 2015.
Women’s 100 Fly – FINALS
Canadian Noemie Thomas was out very quickly to pick-up a great win in the 100m fly over Katie McLaughlin and Cassidy Bayer.
Thomas and Bayer were out first with Thomas touching in 27.31 followed by a 27.85 for Bayer.
Thomas and Bayer began to head home, but right on their tails was McLaughlin. McLaughlin split a 30.81 on the last 50, a time 0.45 seconds faster than the second fastest last 50 split which was Thomas’.
Holding on for the win however was Thomas with a time of 58.57. McLaughlin was able to pass Bayer and grab the silver medal with a time of 58.77 leaving 15-year-old Bayer with a bronze medal in 59.31
Men’s 100 Fly – FINALS
The men’s 100m fly featured some of the best Texas swimmers currently in college swimming. Jack Conger, one of if not the best swimmer on the Texas roster at the current moment, absolutely dominated the race to drop a personal best time of 51.64.
Prior to that swim, Conger’s best time was a 52.51 from the prelims, showing a massive time-drop in the event.
Conger was out first in 24.20 followed by Tim Phillips. Conger began to extend his lead while Phillips faded and another Texas star took his place behind Conger. Tripp Cooper passed Phillips and ended up grabbing the silver medal with a time of 52.91.
Coming third overall was Cal commit Andrew Seliskar swimming out of NCAP. Seliskar was a swift 53.20 to take home the bronze.
Women’s 400 Free Relay – FINALS
The SwimMac ladies won the 400 freestyle relay in a time of 3:47.78. The team which featured Kathleen Baker, Katie Meili, Kristy Coventry, and Becca Postoll took down the Texas A&M teams that finished second and third respectively.
Men’s 400 Free Relay – FINALS
The men’s race was a lot closer, however, that too went to the SwimMac team. Swimming on the last two legs was Cullen Jones and Tyler Clary, however the UBC Thunderbirds, a Canadian University squad, almost caught them with a great anchor leg swam by Yuri Kisil.
Kisil was a 49.82 on the anchor to almost catch SwimMac, but they weren’t able to, settling for a second place finish in 3:24.99 comparing to the winning time of 3:24.88.
Part of the explanation that the stands are empty may be that classes at Texas are not yet in session and students are not back on campus. Classes start on Monday. The Texas student body is traditionally pretty good at supporting its athletes, so some of the “noisy” fans may not be there yet. Hopefully this weekend will be better, because swim fans are definitely missing some great races!
Are there not any swimming fans in Texas? I thought it was a big swimming state. Where is Phelps? Anyone know if he is training again?
He was seen at the meet
The SwimMac women’s relay leadoff was by Kathleen Baker, not Cassidy Bayer.
Where is all that big oil money? These prize purses are almost laughable compared to the fina world cup.
$48 West Texas crude & falling. Gonna hurt .
A few other statistical thoughts about Conger’s 100 fly.
1. Fastest in the world in 2015 (okay, so we’re only two weeks into the year, but still).
2. It makes him the 9th-fastest US performer in the event.
3. From a quick search on the USA Swimming site, it looks like the only two US men who swam faster at the age of 20, well…they traded off the world record in the event quite a few times, and of them still has it.
Texas could very easily put four in the A final and another two in the B final of the 100 fly at NCAA’s this year. Anyone know if that has any precedent?
3 Texas flyers are now top 12 in the world in the 100 meter fly!
Conger has found his forte