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2020 U.S. Open – Indy Thursday PM Recap: El Kamash Hits 800 Free PR

2020 U.S. OPEN

Action at Indianapolis’s site of the 2020 U.S. Open kicked off this afternoon with the 800 free.

Indiana Swim Club’s Marwan El Kamash shot out to a lead in the men’s top-seeded heat and never relinquished it, winning in the only sub-8:00 time of 7:52.19, a lifetime best by over three seconds. That brings him within three seconds of the Egyptian national record.

Indiana University sophomore Michael Brinegar led the pack in a tight race behind El Kamash, going 8:03.00 and coming eight seconds off of his best. University of Michigan freshman Jake Mitchell was third in 8:03.11, followed by Louisville University junior Hayden Curley (8:04.06) in a lifetime best.

Notre Dame sophomore Jack Hoagland had a great swim out of the second heat, going under nine minutes for the first time with an 8:07.36.

Ally McHugh of Wisconsin Aquatics led the women’s 800 free wire-to-wire, hitting an 8:29.36 to win easily. That time comes in about five seconds off of her lifetime best of 8:24.22 from the 2018 U.S. Summer Nationals, and it’s her third-best performance ever. It’s an improvement from this meet last year, the 2019 U.S. Open, where she clocked an 8:33.24.

Lakeside Swim Team’s Mariah Denigan, an Indiana University commit, took second place with an 8:36.72. That’s her fifth-best outing ever in this event, off of her lifetime best of 8:28.15 from the 2018 U.S. Summer Nationals. She’s almost two seconds better than she was at this meet in 2019.

University of Georgia commit Rachel Stege of FMC Aquatic was third (8:53.29) and Club Wolverine 15-year-old Hannah Bellard was fourth (9:03.11).

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Swimmer A
4 years ago

When did we start using PR and when did we stop saying best time?

Entgegen
4 years ago

Notre Dame sophomore Jack Hoagland had a great swim out of the second heat, going under nine minutes for the first time with an 8:07.36.”

What a way to break the 9-min barrier… by 53 seconds.

Khachaturian
Reply to  Entgegen
4 years ago

Reminds me of the first and second time I ever swam a 500 free. Went a 7:30 the first time and then 6:00 the second time

Thomas
4 years ago

No Zach Yeadon?

Entgegen
Reply to  Thomas
4 years ago

He transferred to Cal

SAMUEL HUNTINGTON
4 years ago

Don’t know if you said this anywhere, but what sites will you be posting recaps for?

Coach Mike 1952
Reply to  Braden Keith
4 years ago

Yes! Thanks SwimSwam – all was the only real answer.

SAMUEL HUNTINGTON
Reply to  Braden Keith
4 years ago

wow, amazing!!

Spectatorn
Reply to  Braden Keith
4 years ago

Yeah and thanks! It will be hard to follow all the happenings at different sites and time zone.

Just out of curiosity and checked usaswimming website – seems only have streaming for Indy, Irvine and Greensboro.

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  Braden Keith
4 years ago

The Kornacki of swimming.

HoosierEli
Reply to  Braden Keith
4 years ago

“Since tonight is only the 800s…” Wow, way to make all those swimmers feel unimportant. As a parent of a distance swimmer, it’s a little frustrating to hear people complain about the state of US distance swimming and then read comments like that.

Karl Ortegon
Reply to  HoosierEli
4 years ago

@HoosierEli this is about the fact there is only one event tonight at each of the nine sites. Doing a live recap is technically what we’re doing… we’re just not publishing the article outline pre-session. If it was only the 50 free tonight, we’d do the same thing.

HoosierEli
Reply to  Karl Ortegon
4 years ago

My bad everyone. Just a tad bit over-sensitive! 🙂 THANKS to SwimSwam for all of their coverage

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  HoosierEli
4 years ago

Don’t let Karl fool you. If it were a 50 free and Dressel was in it, there would be live interviews.

Kitajima Fan
Reply to  HoosierEli
4 years ago

He’s referring to the number of events chief, not the 800 itself

GowdyRaines
Reply to  HoosierEli
4 years ago

Think you totally misconstrued his comment. He used only in the literal definition, not the inferred negative connotation. You’re gonna need thicker skin to survive in the comment section, son

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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