By Kate Walter, Swimming World Intern.
After two days of nonstop excitement and competitive racing, the swimmers on night three of the Greensboro Speedo Sectionals delivered another heightened evening of competition. Kentucky Aquatics kicked off the finals by winning the first three events. Multiple title winner Zachary Brown added another win to his list of accolades in the Men’s 100 fly. Cole Claverie gave Pinnacle Swimming their first win of the meet by placing first in 100 breast. Lakeside Swim Team ended the evening by winning both the Men’s and Women’s 800 free relay.
The 2019 Speedo Sectionals Greensboro are held in the Greensboro Aquatic Center from July 11-14. After the third night of competition, the top three combined team scores are as follows.
- Kentucky Aquatics 843.5
- Lakeside Swim Team 699.5
- Marlins of Raleigh 507.5
Full results can be found here.
Women’s 400 free
Geena Freriks gave Kentucky Aquatics their first win of the night by touching first in the Women’s 400 free with a time of 4:16.98. Unattached Emily Ilgenfritz (4:18.36) and Mackenzie Glover of Wolfpack Elite (4:19.19) were next to the wall. Bryanna Cameron of North Carolina Aquatics (4:20.11) and Unattached Easop Lee ( 4:21.26) took fourth and fifth place. Teammates Bryn Handley (4:23.19) and Ashley Neas (4:23.75) of Kentucky Aquatics finished together. Kaitlynn Wheeler (4:25.45) of Springfield YMCA rounded out the night’s final.
Men’s 400 free
Kentucky Aquatics proved their dominance in distance events when Hank Siefert emerged victorious in 400 free with a time of 3:53.24. Wolfpack Elite’s Eric Knowles (3:54.37) and Ross Dant of Hickory Foundation (3:55.65) arrived at the wall soon after. Teammates Curtis Wiltsey (3:56.72) and John McIntyre (3:56.89) of Wolfpack Elite followed. Nicholas Smith of Kentucky Aquatics, Enzo Kihara (4:03.74) and Daniel Blake of Kentucky Aquatics secured the final places in the competitive final of the Men’s 400 free.
Women’s 100 Fly
Isabella Gati was the only swimmer to go under a minute in the Women’s final of the 100 fly with an impressive time of 59.56. Her success marked Kentucky Aquatics third consecutive win of the night. A close fight for the following places emerged, with Abigail Arens of Marlins of Raleigh (1:00.47), Rachel Klinker of Lexington Dolphins (1:00.58), Jessica Nava of Cavalier Swimming (1:00.78), Unattached Kayla Purcell (1:00.82) and Emma Cole of North Carolina Aquatics (1:00.85) battling it out. Adaline Bullock (1:01.29) of Stingrays and Riley Gaines (1:01.46) placed seventh and eighth in the final.
Men’s 100 Fly
Zachary Brown of Marlins of Raleigh added yet another event title to his name with a win in the Men’s 100 fly (53.81). Noah Henderson of Star Aquatics touched shortly after with a 54.51. The following places were awarded to three different swimmers with the name of John, starting from John Mitchell of Kentucky Aquatics (54.80) to Unattached John Frith (54.87) and finally John Healy of Marlins of Raleigh (55.32). Teammates Allen Ross (55.64) and Caleb Tosh of Kentucky Aquatics (55.93) finished next. Jesse Ssengonzi (56.21) of Marlins of Raleigh rounded out the final. All the swimmers in the ‘A’ Final of the Men’s 100 fly improved upon their prelim times.
Women’s 100 Breast
Rachel Bernhardt of Gamecock Aquatics posted an impressive time of 1:10.20 to narrowly win the Women’s ‘A’ Final of the 100 breast. Close on her tail was Allyson Reiter of North Carolina Aquatics (1:10.51) and Bernhardt’s teammate Emily Barksdale (1:10.78). Olivia Fisher of Wolfpack Elite and Bailey Bonnett of Kentucky Aquatics tied for fourth place, both touching the wall in a time of 1:10.97. Coming in sixth and seventh place was Taylor Steele of Coastal Aquatics (1:11.39) and Unattached Jane Donahue (1:12.71). Claire Donan of Lakeside Swim Team (1:13.46) rounded out the competitive Women’s 100 breast final.
Men’s 100 Breast
Carlos Claverie gave Pinnacle Swimming their first win of the competition, going a 1:02.43 to walk away with the victory in the Men’s 100 Breast. Following closely was Keefer Barnum of Lakeside Swim Team (1:02.78) and Unattached Nils Wich-Glasen (1:03.05). Jack Moranetz of Wolfpack Elite and Unattached Benjamin Cono took fourth and fifth place. The final competitors to round out the ‘A’ Final of the Men’s breast were Unattached Jacob Rauch (1:03.94), SwimMAC Carolina’s Nic Eriksson (1:04.01) and Kentucky Aquatic’s Wyatt Amdor (1:04.63).
Women’s 800 free relay
Continuing their success in relays from the past evenings, Lakeside Swim Team won the Women’s 800 free relay in a time of 8:33.32 with a team of Claire Donan, Emily Lenihan and Annabel Crush, and Mackenzie Lanning. Lakeside’s success didn’t end there, with their ‘B’ Team taking second in a time of 8:40.45. The Marlins of Raleigh ‘A’ Team (8:47.56) and the YMCA of the Triangle Area (9:06.68) were next to arrive to the wall.
Men’s 800 free relay
In the final event of the night, Lakeside managed to pull out yet another relay win, with a team of Hunter Tapp, William Cole, John Anderson and Cooper Tyler emerging victorious (7:56.64). Nearly 14 seconds later the Marlins of Raleigh ‘B’ Team touched the wall with a time of 8:10.02. YMCA of the Triangle Area Swim ‘A’ Team (8:13.34) and Lakeside Swim Team ‘B’ (8:13.71) fought for the final places.
The action continues today with the 100 free, 200 breast, 200 back and the 1500 free. Prelims start at 9:00 a.m. EST and finals begin at 6:00 p.m. EST.
