Katie McLaughlin, Katie Drabot Move into World’s Top 5 This Year
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The 2019 Santa Clara International concluded on Sunday with a packed finals session, led again by Katie McLaughlin, who turned in another stellar performance to put her in the top five performers in the world this year in the 200 free.
Meanwhile, Katie Drabot moved into fourth place in the world this year in the 200 fly.
Here is a look at what happened on Sunday:
Women’s 200 Fly
Stanford’s Katie Drabot opened the final session of the meet with a decisive victory in the 200 fly.
Drabot won the race in 2:06.67 to hold off the field by four seconds.
Cal’s Cassidy Bayer was second in 2:10.70, followed by Mabel Zavaros (2:11.05), Summer Smith (2:13.08), Morgan Gore (2:15.39), Genevieve Sasseville (2:15.50), Brynn Wright (2:16.03) and Sophie Krivokapic-Zhou (2:18.39).
Men’s 200 Fly
Christopher Gore claimed victory in the men’s 200 fly, winning in 2:03.79.
Ethan Hu was a close second in 2:04.10.
Matthew Chung finished third in 2:05.73, followed by Brian Wong (2:05.87), Maximillian Saunders (2:06.88), Roderick Huang (2:06.96), Christopher Roling (2:09.20) and Bertrand Phung (2:01.54).
Women’s 100 Breast
Stanford’s Allie Raab put together a strong race to win the 100 breast in 1:08.78.
Nina Kucheran finished second in 1:10.54, followed by Katherine Kustritz (1:11.45), Claire Beaty (1:11.73), Skyler Smith (1:12.40), Jordan Morgan (1:13.27), Melanie Julia (1:13.54) and Tessa Cieplucha (1:14.09).
Men’s 100 Breast
In the closest race of the meet, Alto’s Carl Poppe won the 100 breast in 1:02.86, holding off Brody Lewis by a mere three hundredths of a second.
Eli Wall was third in1:03.08, followed by Gabe Mastromatteo (1:03.20), Marco Flores (1:03.65), Jonathan Cook (1:04.15), Ben Dillar (1:04.78) and Matthew Wilcox (1:05.45).
Women’s 200 Free
California Aquatic’s Katie McLaughlin continued her strong performance this week by winning the 200 free in 1:56.48.
McLaughlin’s time bettered the field by a second and a half. It makes her the fifth-fastest performer in the world this year behind Ariarne Titmus (1:54.30), Sarah Sjostrom (1:55.39), Katie Ledecky (1:55.44), Emma McKeon (1:56.00), and tied with Femke Heemskerk (1:56.48).
Stanford’s Brooke Forde finished second in 1:58.94. She was the only other swimmer in the field to break 2 minutes.
Nicole Oliva finished third in 2:01.10, followed by Miranda Heckman (2:01.58), Morgan Tankersley (2:01.85), Keaton Blovad (2:02.87), Kennedy Goss (2:03.04) and Brooke Schaffer (2:05.57).
Men’s 200 Free
Colby Mefford dropped more than two and a half seconds off his prelims time to win the 200 free in 1:51.34.
Tyler Lu finished second in 1:53.72, followed by Matthew Driscoll (1:55.02), Calvin David (1:55.16), Taito Dacosta (1:55.23), Lleyton Plattel (1:56.00), David Mertz (1:56.78) and Alexander Axon (1:57.81).
Women’s 200 IM
Cal’s Alicia Wilson dropped nearly two seconds from her prelims time to win the 200 IM in 2:12.18.
Stanford’s Brooke Forde was second in 2:14.04 as the only other in the field to break 2:15.
Swim Ontario’s Tessa Cieplucha finished third in 2:17.40, followed by Summer Smith (2:17.97), Mabel Zavaros (2:18.07), Chloe Kennedy Isleta (2:20.99), Nicole Oliva (2:21.86) and Kaia Li (2:21.95).
Men’s 200 IM
California Aquatic’s Christopher Jhong won the 200 IM in 2:04.40, bettering the field by nearly three seconds.
Matthew Chung finished second in 2:07.19, followed by Taito Dacosta (2:08.44), Jarod Hatch (2:08.65), Roderick Huang (2:09.76), Kaikea Crews (2:09.97), Ben Dillard (2:10.48) and Alex Ren (2:10.54).
Women’s 50 Back
Cal’s Keaton Blovad finished the women’s portion of the meet with a victory in the 50 back. She finished in 28.45, dropping three tenths from the morning.
Madison Broad finished second (29.11), followed by Sophie Krivokapic-Zhou (29.59), Grace Cooper (30.17), Emily Giles (30.25), Mai McKenna (30.31), Danielle Carter (30.66) and Elizabeth Murphy (30.67).
Men’s 50 Back
Christopher Staka closed the meet with a 25.32 in the 50 back to earn the victory.
Colby Mefford finished second in 27.03, followed by Zachary Dietz (27.07), Maximillian Saunders (27.30), Matthew Driscoll (27.51), Andy Huang (27.69), Tianyi Zhang (28.19) and Brian Wong (28.21).