Hansen, Vollmer, Beisel Win on Day 1 at Nationals

Day 1 finals are in the books from Palo Alto, California, at the 2011 USA Swimming Nati0nal Championships. The biggest (though not only) story of this session was clearly the return of Brendan Hansen in the 100 breaststroke.

He headed into this final as the top overall seed, and as the fastest American in this race this year, and despite taking two-plus years off of the sport, came away with his first National Championship since 2007 with a winning mark of 1:00.08. That was about a tenth faster than he was in prelims, and while many might have been hoping for him to break a minute, I think that this result was about what was expected from him in the final. 

Hansen’s post-race comments indicated that, despite coming out of the meet ranked 9th in the world this year, he still doesn’t feel good about racing. The training is obviously there, but Hansen said that he didn’t really get into his rhythm until the 75 meter mark, which was confirmed by the race visual. Tucson Ford’s Marcus Titus was actually leading the raceat that point, but then Hansen caught his speed and blew to the finish. In a stroke like breaststroke, that is so rhythm-oriented, it’s not much of a surprise that he didn’t feel that in only his second meet back. On the other hand, his ability to put up marvelous times without really feeling it bodes well for his chances in London.

SwimMAC’s Kevin Swander took 2nd in that race in 1:00.59, with a great closing 50, and Titus was 3rd in 1:00.82. Eric Shanteau, swimming his only race of the meet, took 4th in 1:01.18, and will now head into a break to recharge before gearing up for next summer’s Olympic Trials.

One other notable finish in this race was Clark Burckle of Tucson Ford, who won the B final in 1:01.38, which is a career-best time for him. That’s a great swim for him headed into the World University Games that will take place in China later this month.

Cal Aquatics’ Dana Vollmer continued her hot swimming by winning the women’s 100 fly in 57.26. While she swam three 56’s in Shanghai, a 57-low, while jet-lagged, a week after her goal taper, is none-too-shoddy either. Western Kentucky’s Claire Donahue took 2nd in 58.05. While she missed her goal of a “57-anything,” it’s hard to be disappointed by a career-best swim. This should earn her a spot on the Pan Am Games roster, if she chooses to accept it.

In the women’s 200 IM, Elizabeth Beisel of the Bluefish Swim Club and the University of Florida posted a 2:10.75 to take the win. She’s another World Championship swimmer who’s dealing with the challenges of coming off of a taper meet halfway around the world, but believe it or not that’s a career-best swim for her by nearly a second. It will be interesting to see if she challenges for the 2nd IM spot in London next year.

Surprisingly, Beisel took this race away from FAST’s Katie Hoff on the freestyle leg, which is a stroke where Hoff normally excells. Beisel really showed her 400-IM conditioning with that closing leg of 30.52, which is very fast. Hoff ended up touching 2nd in 2:11.26. In 3rd was Stanford sophomore Maya DiRado, who represented well for her home crowd in 2:11.92.

Missy Franklin, who was one of the female stars of the meet at the World Championships, swam a 2:12.08 for 4th. That’s not a best time for her, and probably not what anyone would have expected based on her swims last week. However, without a great comparison swim, it’s hard to classify this swim without context. The jury’s still out on her skills in the 200 IM until we see her times in a more known-quantity-race, like tomorrow’s 100 back or 200 free.

Matt McLean, who was the NCAA Champion last year in the equivalent 500 yard free, took the men’s 400 free title in 3:47.33. His thus-far short stint at the FAST training center seems to be paying off as he prepares for the World University Games. That’s a career-best time for him, and his first USA Swimming National Championship (though he’s won titles on the NCAA and Junior National levels). Behind him was his Shenzen partner-in-crime Michael Klueh in 3:48.48.

Charlie Houchin, off of a World Championships trip, placed 3rd in 3:48.84, which was a touch off of his prelims swim, but still very close to his time in Shanghai.

In the women’s version of the same race, Minnesota’s Ashley Steenvoorden won in 4:07.63. That’s a huge career-best for the defending Big Ten Champion, and despite a clustered field of 400 freestylers in USA Swimming, she could sneak in and steal an Olympic spot next year if she continues to develop.

Chloe Sutton finished 2nd in 4:08.52, though she was not happy with her silver-medal placing afterwards. After failing to final in this race in Shanghai, she came back with a time that was three-tenths slower than her mark there, but seems to have been hit hard both jetlag and feeling a little under the weather, so all-things-considered, this was a solid swim for her. Beisel, on her second final of the night, took 3rd in 4:09.25. She’s been faster this year in Santa Clara, but that’s a good performance for a 2nd-swim.

In the absence of the two-biggest stars, the men’s 400 IM came down to a battle between the young Conor Dwyer (22) and the veteran Robert Margalis (29). This came down to a tale of two races: Margalis is a big-time front-half swimmer, whereas Dwyer’s strengths lie in the breaststroke and freestyle that end the race. To that extent, this final played out about as expected. Margalis opened up over a three-second lead at the halfway mark, before Dwyer started to reel him in. By the end of the breaststroke, the gap had been cut in half, and though Dwyer continued to make up ground on the freestyle, he simply ran out of room at the finish. Margalis took the win in 4:15.62, and Dwyer was 2nd in 4:15.97.

Though he finished 2nd, that’s a three-second career-best for Dwyer, which shows the huge leaps he made during his senior season at Florida, despite a disappointing NCAA Championship meet.

Impressive out of the B-final was 17-year old Chase Kalisz, who is the next in line in the North Baltimore 400 IM lineage (Michael Phelps, Todd Patrick). Kalisz, however, does it a bit differently than his elder counterparts, and he split a 1:10.83 breaststroke leg, which was even faster than World Champion Ryan Lochte swam in Shanghai. A the touch, he stopped the clock in 4:18.43, which was the 3rd-best time overall.

And in the day’s final event, the men’s 400 free relay, SwimMAC Carolina’s A-squad quartet of Nicholas Brunelli (49.50), Tim Phillips (49.18), Josh Schneider (49.62), and Eugene Godsoe (50.25) took a total time of 3:18.55 for a gold medal and a National Championship.

Phillips is the interesting time there, as he really led this relay with his 2nd-leg. At Nationals last year, he earned his way onto the USA Swimming National Team as a butterflier, but he showed in his sophomore year at Ohio State that he could be a big factor in the freestyles as well. Working with one of the top sprint freestyle programs in the country right now, and rumored to be redshirting next year to focus on the Olympic Trials, he’s really expanding his chances at an Olympic berth with his freestyle improvements.

Stanford’s group finished 2nd in 3:19.60, with Tucson Ford just behind them in 3:19.72. Maybe the best split of the entire event was Davis Tarwater’s 49.08 flat-start from SwimMAC’s B-relay, which finished 4th overall. That’s a career-best time for him, and shows that he’s really getting back into form after a hiatus while studying at the prestigious Oxford University in England. Though he was not totally out of the sport, he was certainly training at a lighter level than he was in the United States.

Team Scoring

Thus far, defending champions Tucson Ford is tied with the home-team Stanford Aquatics for the lead in the overall team scoring. SwimMAC Carolina sits well-back in 3rd, followed by FAST, Longhorn Aquatics, and the Trojan Swim Club. Though team scoring has lost some of its luster at this meet, with swimmers so often having to swim “unattached” after changing clubs or representing programs that they don’t actually train with, it can still be a jewel on the crown of any big program.

1. Tucson Ford 167
1. Stanford 167
3. SwimMAC Carolina 122
4. FAST Swim Team 90
5. Longhorn Aquatics 76

Full Day 1/Live Meet Results available here.