Veronica Burchill Swims Another Middle Distance Best Time in Charlotte

2018 CHARLOTTE ULTRASWIM

• June 14th-17th, 2018
• Charlotte, North Carolina
• LCM (50m course)
• Meet Results on MM – “2018 Charlotte UltraSwim”

Veronica Burchill may have arrived at Georgia as more of a sprinter than a middle distance freestyler, nobody escapes Jack Bauerle’s women’s team without showing serious improvement in the 200 free. Afterall, he’s had swimmers on the U.S. Olympic 800 free relay at the last 3 Games, including 2 each in 2012 and 2016.

Burchill is a prime example of that. She finished high school with a 2:02.14 in the 200 free in long course, and on Saturday at the Charlotte UltraSwim, she swam a 2:00.19, which is a new lifetime best. That’s on top of her best time of 4:17 (a 6 second drop) in the 400 free on Thursday, where she won that event as well.

Later in the session, she finished 2nd in the 100 fly in 59.25 (behind Aly Tetzloff, who was 59.12); and was 2nd in the 50 free (25.61) shootout final behind Madison Kennedy (25.13).

Other Day 3 Winners

• NC State’s Anton Ipsen won his 3rd event of the meet in the 200 free, finishing in 1:50.80. That added to prior victories in the 400 free (3:50.5) and 1500 free (15:09.2). Besides his traditional longer freestyles, Ipsen has also dabbled in some backstroke this week, including a 2:08.17 in the 200 back on Saturday.
• After a win in the 100 breaststroke on Friday, Rachel Bernhardt won again in the 200 breaststroke in 2:32.18: the 2nd-best time of her career (after a 2:31.1 that she swam in Santa Clara just over a week ago). Bernhardt is a South Carolina post-grad, and beat out South Carolina undergrad Emily Barksdale (2:33.80) for that title. The South Carolina women’s team has a strong recent history in the breaststroke events – arguably more than any other event.
• Nils Wich-Glasen, another South Carolina post-grad, won the men’s 200 breaststroke in 2:20.12. He had to fight off Virginia’s Matthew Otto, who was 1.7 seconds behind at the turn but finished just .06 seconds behind Wich-Glasen. 15-year old Max Iida took 3rd in 2:20.82.
• Auburn’s Santiago Grassi, a Venezuelan international, won the men’s 100 fly running away in 53.58. Coleman Stewart was 2nd, by more than a second, in 54.62.
• Virginia rising sophomore Erin Earley swam a lifetime best in the 200 yard back by more than a second at the ACC Championships: her first in the event in two years. In long course, she hasn’t been a best time in the 200 back since she was 15, in 2015. She started back toward that best time on Saturday with a 2:12.25: the fastest she’s been in long course since 2015, and 1.3 seconds better than she was last summer.
• Hennessey Stuart was 3rd in the 100 back on Friday, placing behind a pair of teammates, but in the 200 he was in a class of his own on Saturday, winning by over 2 seconds in 2:02.20. He was faster, in 2:01.18, in prelims.

Shootout Finals

• Aly Tetzloff swam a 26.96 to win the women’s 50 fly, which was her best of the 4 rounds and first time she’s been under 27 seconds this season, or this early in a season.
• After winning the 100 fly earlier in the session, Santiago Grassi won the men’s 50 fly in 24.43 – half-a-second ahead of Ryan Baker.
• Elise Haan from NC State won the women’s 50 back in 28.22, beating out future ACC rival Grace Countie (28.56) from Marlins of Raleigh. Countie is a UNC commit.
• John Whiteside scratched and Coleman Stewart was disqualified, leaving just 2 legal swimmers in the men’s 50 back final. In that race, Justin Ress won going away in 24.47 (after swimming the #2 American 100 back on Friday). That’s the world’s 3rd-best time this year in that event, and the fastest by an American.
• Rachel Bernhardt capped her breaststroke sweep with a 31.58 in the 50 on Saturday.
• Nic Eriksson won the men’s 50 breaststroke in 28.37.
• Madison Kennedy won the women’s 50 free final in 25.13.
• Israeli National and former Yale varsity swimmer Aaron Greenberg won the men’s 50 free final in 22.67.