2015 Arena Pro Swim Series Santa Clara: Day Four Prelims Live Recap

2015 ARENA PRO SWIM SERIES AT SANTA CLARA

• Thursday, June 18 – Sunday, June 21, 2015
• George F. Haines International Swim Center, Santa Clara, California
• Prelims 9AM/Finals 5PM Pacific Time (Fri-Sun), Thursday: 4PM
• Psych sheets
• Unofficial timeline
• Live video
• Live results
• Sunday morning heat sheets

Women’s 800 free

With the top nine seeds swimming in tonight’s final, the time to beat belongs to Olivia Anderson of Etobicoke Swim Club. Anderson won a very exciting race in the first of the morning heats, edging Bruna Primati of SESI, 8:52.31 to 8:52.39. Just behind the two leaders, Stephanie Peters of Marietta Marlins out-touched Natalia Jaspeado Becerra of Mexico, 8:53.18 to 8:53.40.

200 IM

Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu continued to impress with her morning swims. Swimming virtually alone against the clock, the Iron Lady put up a 2:09.78 to lead the qualifiers for finals. That’s the third-fastest time so far this year. (Hosszu went 2:08.66 in Charlotte to lead the world rankings.)

Caitlin Leverenz posted the number two time of the morning, coming back from a .8 deficit at the 150 to out-touch Trojan Swim Club’s Yulia Efimova, 2:14.30 to 2:14.65, to win the first of the circle-seeded heats. Madisyn Cox was also in that heat; she ended up with the fourth-fastest time of 2:15.25. Maya DiRado, who was slated to swim in the middle lane of the next heat, was absent from competition.

The rest of the “A” final qualifiers were Karlee Bispo of Palo Alto Stanford (2:16.20), Celina Li of California Aquatics (2:16.64), Argentina’s Virginia Bardach (2:16.79), Siobhan Bernadette Haughey of Hong Kong (2:16.94), and Emily Overholt of West Vancouver (2:17.04).

The public was treated to several heats of really good racing in the prelims of the men’s 200 IM. Josh Prenot of California Aquatics won the first circle-seeded heat with 2:03.34 to lead the qualifiers at that point. In the next heat, Fiat’s Thiago Pereira, Gunnar Bentz of Dynamo, and Stanford’s Max Williamson battled down the stretch, coming to the wall in 2:03.41, 2:03.43, and 2:03.45, respectively. Pereira was later disqualified.

In the final heat, it was North Baltimore teammates Michael Phelps and Chase Kalisz who put on the show. Phelps turned first at the 100 wall, but Kalisz outsplit him by nearly a second on the breaststroke. While Phelps was faster by .4 coming home, Kalisz touched at 2:00.75, just in front of Phelps’ 2:00.77.

The “A” finalists are: Kalisz, Phelps, Prenot, Bentz, Williamson, Mohamed Hussein of Retriever Aquatic Club (2:04.10), Alex Lebed (2:04.85), Club Wolverine’s Dylan Bosch (2:04.97), and Tucson Ford’s Michael Meyer (2:05.04).

200 back

Hosszu led the pack in the women’s 200 back with a morning swim of 2:09.83. Stanford Swimming’s DiRado, who skipped the 200 IM in favor of this race, went 2:11.19 to post the second-fastest time, only .6 off her seed time. Missy Franklin of Colorado Stars won the final heat with the number three time overall, 2:12.14. Mexico’s Fernanda Gonzalez Ramirez went right at her time with 2:12.74 for fourth.

The rest of the championship final will consist of Gisela Morales of Guatemala (2:13.15), Erin Voss of Greater Holyoke (2:14.12), California Aquatics’ Elizabeth Pelton (2:14.30), Meryn McCann of Etobicoke Swim Club (2:14.31), and Grand Canyon Aquatics’ Iryna Glavnyk (2:14.53).

Tyler Clary of SwimMAC was the only one to crack the 2:00 barrier in prelims, winning his heat in 1:59.97. Top-seeded Ryan Murphy of California Aquatics went 2:00.58 to win the final heat, while Trojan Swim Club’s Omar Pinzon won his in 2:00.75. The trio will claim the middle lanes in tonight’s final. Joining them in the championship are top qualifiers Connor Green of Bluefish Swim Club (2:01.40), Matt Grevers of Tucson Ford (2:01.52), California’s Jacob Pebley (2:01.89), 16-year-old Michael Taylor of Dynamo (2:02.26), Club Wolverine’s Tristan Sanders (2:02.49), and North Baltimore’s Phelps (2:03.01).

There is a lot of depth of talent in the men’s 200 back final; it should be quite a race tonight if no one scratches.

50 breast

Russian Yulia Efimova nearly matched her season-best in the 50 breaststroke on Sunday morning in just prelims, swimming a 30.44. That’s barely slower than the 30.39 she swam at the Russian Championships in April, which was the best time since she returned from an 18-month doping suspension.

She’ll be chased by American Jessica Hardy, the second qualifier in 31.12.

The third qualifier through to the 9-swimmer final is Laura Lindsay from the Canton City Schools team, where she both coaches and trains. She could be quietly one of the better stories heading toward the 2016 Olympic Trials, as a former All-American at small school Toledo who has made an impressive return to competition in the last year.

Jamaica’s Alia Atkinson, most likely to challenge Efimova for the title, is the 4th qualifier in 31.65, followed by Danielle Herrmann of the Clovis Swim Club in 31.72, Sarah Haase (31.81), Laura Sogar (32.38), Argentina’s Julia Sebastian (32.41), and Emma Schoettmer (32.54).

The men’s 50 breaststroke field was led in prelims by two top international veterans: Brazil’s Felipe Lima (27.86) and New Zealand’s Glenn Snyders (28.26). Cody Miller, who had been in the second-to-last heat, was disqualified.

Not far behind Lima and Snyders was Chuck Katis in 28.33. Katis just finished his college career, and is now looking to make a big transition to long course at his first Pro Swim Series meet as a pro. His 100 wasn’t spectacular (he was a second-and-a-half short of his best time), but this 50 was a new lifetime standard for him.

Mike Alexandrov was 4th in 28.40, French (New Caledonian) swimmer Thomas Dahlia was 5th in 28.51, and Colombian Jorge Murillo was 6th in 28.52.

In a final that averaged almost 27 years of age, 16-year old Michael Andrew qualified 7th with a 28.71 – which is within a tenth off his personal best.

Azad Al-Barazi (28.72) and Zach Hayden (28.79) round out the A final, though five more swimmers were under 29 seconds and wound up in the B.

100 free

Femke Heemskerk of Netherlands, who posted the world’s top time (52.69) at Eindhoven in April, went 53.83 to lead the field by nearly a half-second. Stanford’s Simone Manuel edged Margo Geer of Tucson Ford to win their heat, 54.26 to 54.74, and the pair qualified second and third for tonight’s final. California Aquatics’ Natalie Coughlin, who finished right behind Heemskerk in their heat, wound up disqualified.

Allison Schmitt of North Baltimore went 55.35 to claim the fourth spot for tonight’s race. Stanford’s Lia Neal (55.55), Daynara De Paula of Sesi Sao Paulo (5.63), Madison Kennedy of SwimMAC (55.67), Trojan Swim Club’s Jessica Hardy (56.06), and Siobhan Bernadette Haughey of Hong Kong (56.06) will join them in the championship. Missy Franklin took the top spot in the “B” final with 56.10.

It was a tight field at the top after 18 heats of men’s 100 freestyle. California Aquatics’ Nathan Adrian put up the top time (49.36) in a heat that also included Michael Phelps (50.60) in his third swim of the morning. Trojan Swim Club’s Vladimir Morozov qualified second in 49.64, 1.7 seconds off his world-leading time of 47.98 from Russian Nationals in April.

Fiat Minas’ Nicolas Oliveira (49.76), Federico Grabich of Argentina (49.79), Brazil’s Joao De Lucca (49.80) and Trojan Swim Club’s Alexander Sukhorukov (49.80) were all under 50 second in prelims. They will be joined in the championship final by Anders Lie Nielsen of Club Wolverine (50.04), Auburn’s Mercelo Chierighini, and the winner of a potential swimoff between Trojan Swim Club’s Dylan Carter and Geoff Cheah of Hong Kong, both of whom swam 50.11 this morning. It remains to be see who will stick around for finals, though; a swimoff may not be necessary.

Men’s 1500 free

True Sweetser of Gator Swim Club won the first of the men’s 1500 heats in a great race with Marcelo Acosta of Azura Florida. Acosta led for most of the race, but Sweetser turned on the jets over the last 200 and wound up with the win, 15:26.20 to 15:29.22. In the next men’s heat, Yale’s Kei Hyogo built up a huge lead early on and never let go. He won with a personal-best 15:26.59, ahead of teammate Brian Hogan who was representing Badger Swim Club (15:48.06).

4×100 medley relay

Current Pro Swim Series Points Standings

Each Olympic-distance event yields points towards a swimmer’s season total. A win is worth 5, second place 3 and third place 1. Prize money roughly correlates to those point values, with a win earning $1000, second place $600 and third $200.

Men

1. Conor Dwyer – 61
2. Tyler Clary – 40
3. Connor Jaeger – 30
4. Ryan Lochte – 29
5. Arkady Vyatchanin – 28

Women

1. Katinka Hosszu – 63
2. Caitlin Leverenz – 39
3. Elizabeth Beisel – 38.5
4. Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace – 37
5. Katie Ledecky – 35