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The final night of the 2019 Speedo Junior Nationals will have the 200 IM and 50 free as well as the women’s 1500 free and men’s 800. This is the final session of a long two weeks for the Avery Aquatic Center in Palo Alto, California where they hosted US Nationals last week and Speedo Junior Nationals this week. Finals will begin at 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
The 200 IM will start the session with 13-year-old Leah Hayes leading the women’s qualifiers this morning. Hayes is one of the young up-and-coming athletes in this sport. She was a featured age grouper of the month in Swimming World in 2016 and was also Sports Illustrated’s Sports Kid of the Year in 2018. Hayes is seeded two seconds ahead of 15-year-old Justina Kozan and 17-year-old Felicia Pasadyn.
16-year-old Tim Connery is the top seed in the men’s 200 IM for Swim MAC Carolina as he is head and shoulders above the rest of the field. Arsenio Bustos is seeded second two seconds behind Connery as those two were the only ones to go under the Olympic Trial standard this morning. Zach Hils is seeded third.
Juli Arvaze is the top seed in the women’s 1500 as the top three seeded swimmers are under the Olympic Trial cut with Summer Smith and Sophia Karras in second and third.
The 50 free is the last individual event for the women with Stanford commit Emma Wheal leading the way for the finalists. Wheal is the top seed ahead of Indiana commit Cora Dupre and 16-year-old Lindsay Flynn. 14-year-old Zoe Skirboll is also one to watch in the future and she is seeded fifth.
Hunter Armstrong is the top seed in the men’s 50 free as he will be headed to West Virginia University this fall. Armstrong was the only one to get under the Olympic Trials cut this morning with August Lamb and Matt King sitting in second and third.
The men’s 800 free will be the last event for the men with James Plage sitting as the top seed in the timed final event. He is about seven seconds seeded ahead of Jake Narvid and Owen Lloyd.
The men’s and women’s 4×100 medley relays will close out the meet.
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