The last prelims session of the 2014 Texas Swimming & Diving Hall of Fame Invite in Austin, Texas is now complete. Today’s events include the 1650 Freestyle (afternoon session and finals only), 200 Backstroke, 100 Freestyle, 200 Breaststroke, 200 Butterfly, and the 400 Freestyle Relay (finals only). Here’s your quick recap of the biggest swims of the morning session:
200 Backstroke
The top seed for the women’s 200 Backstroke tonight will be Arizona’s Bonnie Brandon. Brandon finished first in a time of 1:53.20, followed by Sarah Denninghoff of Texas in 1:53.53 and Megan Romano of the New York Athletic Club in 1:54.38. The top ten finishers achieved the NCAA B cut time of 1:59.19; however, no one has clocked an A cut (1:52.52) in this event so far. In the men’s event, top qualifier Jack Conger of Texas touched in 1:40.63, an NCAA A cut time. Harvard’s Jack Manchester finished second in 1:42.29, followed by Will Glass of Texas (1:42.33) and Jake Taylor (1:42.42) from BYU, the winner of the 100 Backstroke event last night.
100 Freestyle
In the women’s 100 Freestyle, Margo Geer (unattached – Arizona) topped the swims this morning with a time of 48.14. Wisconsin’s Ivy Martin, the Texas Invite 50 Freestyle champion from Thursday night, finished with the second best seed time (48.53). Megan Romano once again claimed a top-three spot, finishing third in 48.84. In the men’s event, Texas holds the top two seed times heading into tonight’s finals. John Murray finished first in a time of 42.61, just .1 seconds off the NCAA A cut. Brett Ringgold of Texas is in second with a 42.96, followed by Nick Soedel of Utah (43.01) and Matt Ellis of Texas (43.02).
200 Breaststroke
USC’s Andrea Kropp claimed the top seed in a time of 2:09.32, over a second ahead of the next finisher, Gretchen Jaques of Texas (2:10.52). Emma Schoettmer of Arizona and Stina Gardell of the Trojan Swim Club finished in 2:11.21 and 2:11.83 respectively. In the men’s event, Will Licon of Texas won prelims with a time of 1:54.25, within a second of the NCAA A cut of 1:53.68. Kevin Cordes, the 2014 NCAA Champion and American record holder in this event, finished second in a time of 1:55.03. Finishing third and fourth were Nick Shafer of Wisconsin (1:55.43) and Eric Ronda of Harvard (1:56.02).
200 Butterfly
Elizabeth Pepper of Arizona swam the 200 Butterfly in a time of 1:56.84, the top time this morning in prelims. Jasmine Tosky of USC finished second in a time of 1:57.54, just ahead of Kelsey Leneave of Texas (1:57.90) and Dana Grindall of Wisconsin (1:58.13). In the men’s 200 Butterfly, Clark Smith continued his impressive string of swims at the Texas Invite by achieving the NCAA A cut time in 1:42.67. Joseph Schooling of Texas claimed the second seed in 1:43.33, followed by UCSB’s Mickey Mowry (1:44.58) and Texas’s John Martins (1:45.30).
Live results can be found at http://sidearmstats.com/texas/swim/index.htm. Check back tonight for a recap of the 1650 Freestyle afternoon session, tonight’s finals, and the official team scores.