2015 U.S. Nationals: Day 1 Finals Preview

2015 U.S. NATIONALS

• Thursday, August 6 – Monday, August 10
• Northside Swim Center – San Antonio, Texas
• Prelims 9AM/Finals 6PM (Central Daylight Time)
• Full Coverage
• Psych Sheets
• Live Stream Link
• Live Results

2015 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS – DAY ONE

• Day 1 Finals Heat Sheet

Women’s 100m Butterfly

Kelsi Worrell blew away the field in the prelims of the 100 fly, swimming just three tenths off her personal best set at the Pan Ams and over a second and a half ahead of 2nd place. Also of note is the 57.53 posted by Worrell is faster than the prelim times of any swimmer from the world championships other than Sarah Sjostrom. Dana Vollmer made a statement this morning swimming a 59.18 and qualifying for the A final 2nd overall behind Worrell. Vollmer showed marked improvement from the 1:00.05 she swam at LA Invite. 15 year-old Cassidy Bayer also swam a time of 59.18, tying Vollmer for 2nd. 2nd seed coming into the meet Felicia Lee from Stanford swam a solid 59.34 placing her 4th overall heading into tonights final. Also cracking the A final for tonight was Hali Flickinger, Christina Behctel, Amanda Kendall and Kara Kopcso. Vollmer will swim in lane 3, Worrell in 4, Bayer in 5 and Lee in 6. It took a time of 59.54 to qualify for the A final. There will also be B and C finals swum at these nationals, with B final qualifiers including Aliena Schmidtke of Germany and Katherine Mills of Swim-Mac. There was a tie for 16th place this morning between Alys Margaret Thomas of Wales and Andrea Ward, who were forced to swim-off for the spot in the B final. Thomas ultimately won in 59.12, much faster than her prelim swim of 59.85. The qualifiers for the C final includes 15 year-old up and comer Eva Merrell. C finalists will all be 18 years of age or younger.

Men’s 400m Freestyle

Zane Grothe of Badger Swim Club had a very strong morning swim posting the top time of 3:48.93. Grothe’s swim was very impressive, as only two of his eight 50’s slipped above 29 seconds, showing great consistency throughout the race. Qualifying 2nd was Clark Smith of Texas in 3:49.05, swimming slightly faster than his entry time. Smith is coming off an NCAA title in the 500 freestyle this year and will certainly challenge Grothe for the title. Qualifying 3rd and 4th was a couple young stars in Townley Haas and Nicholas Sweetser. Haas and Sweetser swam 3:49.38 and 3:49.52 respectively and will both be looking to to take off some more time to challenge Grothe and Smith in the final. The rest of the A finalists are Matthew Hutchins, Jonathan Roberts, Bobby Hurley and Frank Dyer. Haas, Grothe, Smith and Sweetser will have the middle of the pool tonight in lanes 3 through 6. Among those qualifying for the B final there was top seed Ryan Feeley also of the Badger Swim Club. Feeley swam over 5 seconds slower than his entry time of 3:49.40 in 3:54.77 and failed to qualify for the A final. Also in the B final will be 16 year-old Matthew Hirschberger who posted a 3:54.23 this morning. C final qualifiers include Stanford commit Grant Shoults. 2012 Olympian Andrew Gemmell and Michigan stud Michael Wynalda were among those who missed the final, along with Arthur Frayler, Evan Pinion and Thomas Luchsinger.

Women’s 200m IM

Madisyn Cox led the way in the women’s 200 IM this morning, out-touching Caitlin Leverenz in the 15th heat for top spot heading into tonights finals. Cox swam a 2:11.61, while Leverenz followed close behind in 2:11.71. That swim by Cox is a new personal best. Also qualifying for the A final was Sarah Henry, Bethany Galat, Meaghan Raab, Karlee Bispo, Emily Cameron and Justine Bowker. Hali Flickinger originally qualified for the A final but has scratched the event. Tonight Cox will have lane 4 and Leverenz will have 5. Surprisingly Pan Am silver medalist Meghan Small didn’t qualify for the A final, swimming the 10th fastest time of 2:14.27. She’ll swim in the B final tonight along with breastroker Laura Sogar and Katherine Mills of Swim-Mac. The top seed for the C final is 17 year-old Kirsten Vose who swam a 2:15.82 in the prelims. Breastroke specialist Katie Meili was disqualified in the preliminaries.

Men’s 100m Breastroke

Andrew Wilson, who swims in college for the Division 3 team Emory University, posted an outstanding preliminary swim in the men’s 100 breast going 59.68 and grabbing the top seed heading into finals. Wilson showed great speed, with the fastest 50 split of anyone with a time of 27.99 going out. Wilson has been training with the Texas Longhorns this summer which might be the secret to his recent success. He is followed by Craig Benson, Chuck Katis and Nicholas Schafer who qualified 2nd through 4th and all swam under 1:01. Joining these men in the A final will be Marcus Titus, Michael Jamieson, Brad Craig, and Sam Tierney. Tierney was 8th in 1:01.23. Wilson will have lane 4 tonight, and will be surrounded by Katis and Benson who will be in 3 and 5 respectively. Jamieson will be in 7. Will Licon just missed the A final, finishing 9th this morning in 1:01.24, one one-hundredth behind Tierney. He will be joined in the B final by Michael Andrew, Reece Whitley and Josh Prenot. The C final will feature Junior national champion Devon Nowicki and 16 year-old Chandler Bray. BJ Johnson, Mike Alexandrov and Sean Mahoney were among those missing the finals, along with  Caeleb Dressel who had a surprisingly strong 1:02.26 and Bruno Ortiz of Michigan.

Women’s 400m Freestyle

Swimming out of lane 1, Allison Schmitt posted the top time in the prelims in the women’s 400 free going 4:09.14. She was followed closely by Stephanie Peacock who went 4:09.24 in the same heat, and Hali Flickinger who will swim in her second A final of the night. Joining these ladies in the A final will be Sierra Schmidt, Courtney Harnish, Yawen Hou, top seed Lindsay Vrooman and Hannah Cox. Tonight Schmitt will swim in lane 4 with Peacock in 5 and Flickinger in 3. Recently we had seen Allison Schmitt focus more on the 100-200 freestyle events, so it is good to see her back in the mix in the 400. Among those qualifying for the B final was Haley Lips of Indiana University and open water up and comer Chenoa Devine. The C final will feature a couple of 15 year-olds in Gabrielle Kopenski and Melissa Pish, along with top seed Megan Moroney. Pan Am bronze medalist in this event Gillian Ryan missed the final, as did former 1500m free world record holder Kate Ziegler.

Men’s 400m IM

After initially being absent from the psych sheets, Gunnar Bentz grabbed the top time in the men’s 400 IM this morning going 4:17.34. He tied with Sean Grieshop who also went 4:17.34 for the top spot. Australian Travis Mahoney qualified 3rd overall in 4:17.45, followed by Max Williamson in 4th and Andrew Seliskar in 5th. Rounding out the field tonight will be Curtis Ogren, John Martens and Corey Okubo. Every swimmer who broke 4:20 made the A final. Expect the top 5 men to fight it out for the title, especially Seliskar who has no weak stroke. Look for Bentz to make a move on the breastroke leg. Among those in the B final tonight will be Max Litchfield from Great Britain. Litchfield held the top seed coming into the meet, so he is no doubt disappointed missing the A final. Joining Litchfield in the B final will be Michael Meyer of South Africa and Andrew Gemmell. The C final will have 15 year-old Andrew Abruzzo and top seed Grant Sanders. Will Licon finished 9th this morning in 4:20.70, and subsequently scratched out of the B final tonight.

Men’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay

The first heat of the mens 4x100m free relay will feature Club Wolverine in lane 3 and University of Louisville in 4. The 2nd and top seeded heat will feature Scottish Swimming in lane 1, Auburn in 2, Stanford in 4 and California in 6, among others. Heat 3 has the slowest 6 seeds, including the Bolles School Sharks in lane 4.