Despite Chierighini & Miressi, Centurions’ Mixed Relay Needs Back Half Help

2020 INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING LEAGUE: MATCH 3

• Saturday, October 24: 12 PM – 2 PM Local Time (6 AM – 8 AM Eastern, 7 PM – 9 PM Japan Time)
• Sunday, October 25: 5 PM – 7 PM Local Time (12 PM – 2 PM Eastern, 1 AM – 3 AM J+1 Japan)
• Duna Arena – Budapest, Hungary
• Short Course Meters (SCM) Format
• 2020 ISL Scoring Format
• 2020 ISL Prize Money and Bonuses
• How To Watch
• ISL Match 3 Full Results
• Teams: Toronto Titans, Tokyo Frog Kings, Aqua Centurions, LA Current

The mixed free relay represented the sole team event on day 2 of ISL match #3 and the race went to the eventual overall contest winners of the LA Current (LAC).

The squad of Maxime Rooney, Kristian Gkolomeev, Aly Tetzloff and Andi Murez combined to clock a time of 3:17.64, getting to the wall just under 2 seconds ahead of the next closest squad of the Toronto Titans (3:19.59).

Entering the relay, the Tokyo Frog Kings were ahead in the overall team standings, albeit by just 10 points. The new-to-season-2 team held 413.5 points to LA Current’s 403.5, with the Toronto Titans and Aqua Centurions behind, carrying respective point totals of 332 and 237.

Below, we’ll take a look into the splits of the mixed event and look at who the difference makers were.

Men’s Lead-Off Splits

Italy’s national record holder Alessandro Miressi scored the fastest split of the lead-off round, but only by less than a tenth of a second of LA Current’s Maxime Rooney. Miressi represents the Aqua Centurions, whose team has suffered setbacks due to coronavirus-related withdrawals.

Of significance is that the entire lead-off field’s range spanned 1.06 seconds, making this men’s grouping noticeably closer than that of match #2. In that earlier match, DC Trident’s Zach Apple scorched a 45.98 opener, while London Roar’s Scott McLay checked in with the slowest beginning leg of 48.43, giving the field a 2.45-second spread.

The Titans and Frog Kings raced this event for the first time since this was their first match, but the Aqua Centurions and LA Current have one mixed relay apiece under their belts.

In match #1, Rooney raced the 2nd leg of one of the LAC’s squads, registering a split of 47.35, as opposed to lead-off as he was here. Also last time around, AQC led off their relays with Marcelo Chierighini (46.69) and Gabriel Santos (47.17), changing it up to Pedro Spajari and Alessandri Miressi tonight.

Men’s Flying Splits

Despite the fact that the Aqua Centurions still held the lead after the 2nd leg of this mixed free relay, the squad ultimately fell to a 4th place finish overall. This result speaks to the fact that the Italy-based team is heavily weighted on the men’s side, with the women’s side unable to continue the momentum through the remainder of the back half.

On the 2nd leg Gkolomeev kept the LA Current close, touching just .11 behind leader Chierighini, while Toronto fell to the back of the pack on both relay squads, courtesy of Michael Chadwick‘s and Blake Pieroni‘s 7th and 8th ranked splits of the 2nd leg in 47.13 and 47.22, respectively.

Women’s Flying Splits

As soon as the Aqua Centurions’ men exited the pool, the other teams’ women got to work, with LA Current’s Andi Murez busting out a new Israeli national record with her flying split of 51.90. That represented the only sub-52 second leg of the field, with the next-closets being that of Tokyo Frog Kings’ Catie DeLoof, who produced a time of 52.21.

DeLoof placed 2nd in the individual 100m free event, clocking a time of 52.20 behind winner and eventual match MVP Beryl Gastaldello of LA Current (51.71). As such, DeLoof is now the go-to 100 freestyler for the Tokyo Frog Kings as they try to improve upon their runner-up finish in their next match.

As for the AQC women, they ranked 14th and 15th among the women’s splits.

Mixed Relay Results