Andrew Seliskar Swims Lifetime Best in 100 Fly at Cal-Stanford Long Course Dual

Cal Aquatics-Alto Swim Club Dual Meet

• June 22nd, 2019
• LCM (50m)
• Legends Aquatic Center, Berkeley, California
• Results on Meet Mobile: “Cal Aquatics – Alto Swim Club Dual Meet”

While in most sports, Cal and Stanford are arch-rivals, in swimming, that rivalry takes on a lot of familiarity, especially given that the coach of the defending women’s NCAA Championship team, Stanford’s Greg Meehan, used to be the assistant coach of the defending men’s NCAA Championship team, Cal & Dave Durden. In fact, the bond is so close that the two will be the US Olympic team head coaches in 2020, and their families frequently stay together at international meets.

The two schools got together for a dual meet on Saturday in Berkeley, racing under their official club team monikers for the sake of including post-grads and pros in the competition.

It was an unpublicized, low-key affair that still managed to produce a lot of really fast times.

Among the highlights from the Olympians was a pair of swims from Katie Ledecky that were faster than any other American not named Katie Lededcky has been this season. In the 200 free, she swam a 1:55.89 to out-duel fellow Olympic champion Simone Manuel, who was 2nd in 1:57.61. Ledecky’s season-best in that event is a 1:55.32 from Winter Nationals in December.

Later in the session, Ledecky swam a 4:01.57 in the 400 free. Globally, only Ariarne Titmus of Australia has been faster this season (3:59.35); Ledecky remains the world leader with a 3:59.28 from the Santa Clara International earlier this month.

Another highlight of the day was a pair of wins from Nathan Adrian, who swam his fastest times since returning from treatment for testicular cancer earlier this month. On Saturday, he swam 22.17 in the 50 free and 48.50 in the 100 free. That’s compared to times of 22.22 and 49.31 at his other post-surgery meet in Bloomington a month ago. Adrian appears to still be on track for his 400 free relay swim at the World Championships later this summer in spite of the lost training time.

Ryan Murphy, the defending Olympic Champion in the event, won the 200 back in 1:55.77. After a 1:57 in Richmond in April, Murphy’s times have been steadily improving this season, culminating with this swim: a new season-best for him by 4-tenths of a second.

Other Highlights of the Meet:

• Stanford rising senior Katie Drabot continued to have a hot hand, winning the 200 fly in 2:07.35. That’s the 4th-best time of her career, and is the follow-up to a 2:06.67 at the Santa Clara International 2 weeks ago that is her lifetime best. She also won the 100 fly in 59.43. Simone Manuel swam 1:01.33 in that 100 fly.
• Andrew Seliskar had his best meet of the season. He swam 1:46.89 in the 200 free and 51.42 in the 100 fly. In the case of the 100 fly, that time is a lifetime-best for him by more than 8-tenths of a second, beating his swim from last summer’s National Championships.
• Cal rising senior Abbey Weitzeil swam 24.82 in the 50 free and 54.05 in the 100 free. Both swims were season bests. The 50 undercut the 24.90 she swam in Santa Clara, while the 100 time matched it exactly. Stanford’s Allie Raab swam a lifetime best of 56.37 for 2nd place in that 100 free.
• Brooke Forde swam a 4:39.06 in the 400 IM. Not only is that the 2nd-fastest swim of her career, it’s the fastest outside of a championship meet by more than 4 seconds.
• Behind Adrian in the 100 free were Cal’s Michael Jensen (49.70), Stanford’s Jack Levant (51.26 – World Championship team member working his way back from health issues), and short course sensation Ryan Hoffer (51.58).
• 5’8″ Daniel Roy of Stanford beat 6’8″ Reece Whitley of Cal in the men’s 100 breaststroke. Roy swam 1:01.16 while Whitley went 1:01.33. That’s a lifetime best for Roy – his previous fastest was actually a week ago in Clovis when he swam 1:01.41. Hank Poppe was 3rd in 1:02.26, which is his lifetime best too – his first in almost 2 years.
• Morgan Tankersley finished 3rd in the 200 free in 2:01.27. She hasn’t been close to a best time in this event in nearly 3 years, but this swim was the second-best of her career, and her fastest since a 1:59.54 in August of 2016.
• Keaton Blovad touched 1st in the 100 back in 1:00.85, while Stanford post-grad Ella Eastin was 2nd in 1:02.35. Eastin’s times were not as explosive as other swimmers of her caliber were at the meet, overall. She did win the 200 IM in 2:13.13.