Video interview is courtesy of Kelsey Floyd. Video edit is courtesy of Coleman Hodges.
2013 US Winter National Championships – Women’s 200 Butterfly – as reported by SwimSwam / Jared Anderson
2012 Olympian Claire Donahue went out like a rocket in the women’s 200 fly, leading by nearly a full second at the 100 but wasn’t able to hold on, fading all the way to 7th. Top-seeded Kelsi Worrell came back for the national title, taking another seven tenths off her lifetime-best prelims swim. Worrell was 1:54.12, the second-best swim in the NCAA this season, leapfrogging her teammate Tanja Kylliainen. (Kylliainen is not swimming this meet as she is competing for Finland in the European Championships). Worrell is new to the 200 fly, but Louisville’s coaching staff has to be seriously considering swimming her there instead of the 100 free come conference and NCAA time, considering her performances today.
Following her was the Cal pair of alumni Caitlin Leverenz and undergrad Rachel Bootsma, both of whom were 1:55. Indiana’s Brenna Maclean took fourth, also in 1:55. 17-year-old Remedy Rule of SMAC took fifth and Indiana’s Gia Dalesandro was sixth. Next was Donahue (who went from 2nd to 8th over the final 50) and eighth was Cal’s Sophia Batchelor.
In the B final, Heather Lundstrom of Tennessee (1:56.60) just touched out Hannah Saiz (1:57.10), who swam her college years at Kenyon and Celina Li (1:57.37) of Cal. All three women were significantly faster than their prelims swims.