DAYTON, Ohio, July 24. A number of races came down to the final touch, with one actually ending in a tie, during the first night of long course meter swimming at the Dayton Speedo Sectional.
Danielle Jansen, 15, of the Mason Manta Rays and Jenna Hillier, 17, of New Albany Aquatics gave the crowd an exciting finish when both hit the wall in 27.15 to share the women's 50 freestyle title.
Meanwhile, the men's 50 free almost wound up in a tie as Redhawk Aquatics teammates Ryan McHugh and Dave Brown placed 1-2 in the splash-and-dash with readouts of 23.84 and 23.85, respectively.
The women's 200 backstroke also came down to the final touch with Sarah Andrews, 16, of the Dayton Raiders and Margaret Fish, 17 of the Mason Manta Rays fighting to the end. Andrews, however, stopped the clock first in 2:19.63, while Fish placed second in 2:19.71.
In similar fashion, the men's 200 back wound up with a head-to-head battle between Andrew Abeysinghe, 16, of the Dayton Raiders overcoming Michael Templeton of the Oakland Live Y'ers, 2:07.13 to 2:07.85.
Colleen Schweitzer of Ohio State knocked off Sheila Carson of Club Wolverine in a Big Ten battle as Schweitzer clocked a 2:39.53 to win the 200 breast over Carson's 2:40.14. Additionally, Justin Peterfish of Westerville Aquatics claimed the men's 200 breast crown in 2:21.67 as Jared Miller of the Cincinnati Marlins finished second in 2:23.09.
The distance freestyle events featured a bit larger margins of victory. Amanda Smith of the Mason Manta Rays captured the 800 free title in 8:52.59, while Matt Lee of Bulldog Aquatics clocked a 16:05.88 in the men's 1500 free.