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Blake Pieroni: “I thought my 100 was going to struggle” (Video)

2018 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Reported by Lauren Neidigh.

MEN’S 100 FREE:

  • World Record: 46.91- Cesar Cielo, 2009
  • American Record: 47.17- Caeleb Dressel, 2017
  • Championship Record: 47.58- Jason Lezak, 2008
  • U.S. Open Record: 47.58- Jason Lezak, 2008
  1. GOLD: Blake Pieroni– 48.08
  2. SILVER: Nathan Adrian– 48.25
  3. BRONZE: Townley Haas– 48.30
  4. FOURTH: Zach Apple– 48.34

Though Indiana’s Zach Apple had the fastest time of the day with his 48.06 from prelims, it was teammate Blake Pieroni who brought home the national title, swimming a lifetime best 48.08 to win the final. That snapped the winning streak of Nathan Adrian, who touched 2nd in 48.25 and lost the race for the first time since 2009. Apple was 4th tonight in 48.34.

Notably, World Champion star sprinter Caeleb Dressel missed the team in this event. He improved on his prelims time by 2 tenths, touching 6th in 48.50. It’s likely Dressel will make the team elsewhere, though, and will be able to swim this race at Pan Pacs.

Texas’ Townley Haas was within a tenth of his best to take 3rd in 48.30. Michael Chadwick, who swam the 400 free relay at 2017 Worlds, clipped his best to place 5th in 48.44, just shy of a potential Pan Pacs qualification. After his 48.27 in prelims, Maxime Rooney was a 48.56 for 7th tonight, leaving him out of Pan Pacs consideration in this race.

Interestingly, Texas’ Tate Jackson had the 2nd fastest swim of finals in 48.20, but won’t qualify for Pan Pacs since he was in the B final. Harvard’s Dean Farris, who has spent some time training with Texas this summer, broke 49 for the first time for 2nd in the B final at 48.52.

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Kobe
6 years ago

I honestly don’t think he is fully rested. He did this last year and exploded at worlds. I hope he is okay!

ERVINFORTHEWIN
Reply to  Kobe
6 years ago

I hope too ….he has time to get more rest before the 100 fly & 50 free . the 50 Butterfly will show us if he has recovered some freshness .

samuel huntington
Reply to  Kobe
6 years ago

except last year at Trials he was 47.9…this year 48.5, big difference

Mikeh
6 years ago

Safe to say that Dressel is either sick, or his coaches really, really messed up his taper.

Caeleb Dressel Will Win 9 Gold Medals in Tokyo
Reply to  Mikeh
6 years ago

Or again, he aint tapered.

BMW
Reply to  Mikeh
6 years ago

1. He obviously wasn’t tapered enough for this meet 2. His turn at the 50 was sooooo long. He lost all momentum (about half a second lost). The turn definitely cost him the race. My prediction: Dressel tapers like he usually does and ends up swimming the event at Pan Pacs and going Sub 47.0.

Admin
Reply to  BMW
6 years ago

While the short course pool is obviously different…don’t forget that in college, he was usually very fast at SECs and then even faster at NCAAs. So, other data points indicate that there’s something different going on here.

Zanna
Reply to  BMW
6 years ago

Will Caeleb swimming the 100free individually at Pac Pacs means that someone has to give up their spot? I doubt Blake, Nathan or Townley will be willing to give up that spot.

Riley
Reply to  Zanna
6 years ago

Every member of the Pan Pacs team could swim every event if they wanted to – the placements at this meet are jsut for initial selection. Different rules than Olympics, Worlds etc. Kind of spices things up a bit

Aquajosh
Reply to  Zanna
6 years ago

No. All Caeleb has to do is MAKE the Pan Pacs team and he can swim whatever he wants there. It’s just that only the top 2 swimmers from each country can make the A final there. He just has to get to the meet and swim the fastest or second-fastest time overall and he will swim it at Worlds. No one has earned a Worlds spot (except Ledecky really) until after Pan Pacs.

bear drinks beer
Reply to  Mikeh
6 years ago

I hope they give him an interview and ask what has happened. He didn’t show up at the press conference at day 0 as well. Is it because they didn’t invite him or he couldn’t be there for some reason?

SchoolingFTW
6 years ago

For anyone who thinks 50free/200IM cannot be done just because Dressel couldn’t do it, I give you Alice Mills. 2003 Barcelona World Championships: 50 free silver medalist (just behind the great Inge De Bruijn), and 200 IM silver medalist (just behind the great Yana Klochkova.

DMacNCheez
Reply to  SchoolingFTW
6 years ago

Dressel couldn’t do it? That’s an interesting statement given neither event has happened yet.

SchoolingFTW
Reply to  DMacNCheez
6 years ago

My comment was in response to those in Live recap who said Dressel sprint suffer due to him training 200 IM.

And there were quite a number of those people who said that succesful feats in 50free/200IM is impossible.

Riley
Reply to  SchoolingFTW
6 years ago

Or George Bovell…

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