Hannah Cox of Upper Valley Aquatic Club swam the two longest events on today’s schedule at the USA Swimming Sectionals in Buffalo, and won both of them in new lifetime bests. The meet is being conducted in long course meters.
The first event of the session was the 200 free, and Cox won by three seconds with a 2:01.79. That beat her previous best by one hundredth of a second. At the end of the session, Cox dropped five seconds off her best time in the 400 IM with a 4:50.66. The 17-year-old was already qualified for the Olympic Trials in the 200 free, and got her Trials cut in the 400 IM tonight.
A day after winning the 800 free in a personal best, Jack McIntyre of Eastern Express added the 200 free to his win list with another lifetime best of 1:55.57. He was even with George Schnaars at the 100-meter mark but pulled away to win by 1.4 seconds.
Talk about close: Jarrett Jones of Cape Cod Swim Club got under the Olympic Trials qualifying time in the men’s 400 IM by one hundredth of a second, winning in Buffalo with a 4:27.48. The 17-year-old sliced a second off his personal best to get the privilege of swimming in Omaha next year. Well back in second was Pitt’s Zachary Lierley with a 4:31.80.
The session didn’t completely belong to high school swimmers. Kinga Cichowska, a sophomore at the University of Pittsburgh who hails from Poland, won the women’s 100 breast with a 1:10.53. That’s a personal best for the Polish national champion, and a win tonight by 1.4 seconds over 14-year-old Olivia Jack, who just dropped her lifetime best by nine seconds to post a 1:11.79 and miss Olympic Trials qualifying by three tenths of a second.
Drew Modrov, a former NCAA finalist for Auburn, had a battle on his hands with Ryan Dudzinski in the 100 fly final, overcoming an eight-tenth deficit at the 50-meter mark to win with a 56.03. The 18-year-old Dudzinski, representing Upper St. Clair and heading to Stanford in the fall, finished second with a 56.16. His personal best is 55.04 from last summer’s junior nationals.
Also winning events were Garrett Clarke with a 1:04.79 in the men’s 100 breaststroke and Fiona Hardie with a 1:02.54 in the women’s 100 butterfly.
Complete results available on Meet Mobile.
Casie Quinn Walton
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JC Stones