By Kristy Kinzer, Swimming World College Intern
Today, hundreds of talented young swimmers around the US have suited up for the relatively new long-course Futures Championship meets taking place across four different host cities from August 3 to August 6. We will be seeing some up-and-coming USA Swimming competitors in four different host cities vying for top times during this exciting weekend, overlapping with YMCA Nationals and the U.S. Open competition.
Competitive juices were flowing in the Centennial Sportsplex, located in the heart of Nashville, Tennessee. Kicking off the weekend were the longer freestyle events: women’s 800, men’s 1500, women’s 800 relay, and men’s 800 relay.
Managing an upset victory in the 800 meter freestyle was the 15-year-old Elise Bauer, representing the Central Florida Marlins. Entering finals with a seed time of 9:12.87 well behind the top times of preliminaries, Bauer managed to drop nearly 20 seconds to secure the win with a time of 8:53.49, just edging out Madison Murtagh of Fast Lane Aquatics.
Murtagh was the favorite going into the meet with a top seed by over two seconds, while Bauer was seeded at a modest 14th place. Though Murtagh was able to finish in a personal record time, she fell about a second and a half short of Bauer, finishing with the time of 8:54.95. The two Central Floridian teens had little surrounding competition as they battled it out to the wall.
Blazing his way through the competition in Music City, USA for the men’s 1500 meter freestyle was 17-year-old Cole Forbes of Area Tallahassee Aquatic Club, finishing more than a few body-lengths ahead of second place finisher, Jamison Rzepecki. Forbes dropped almost 15 seconds from his seed time, marking a pattern of large time drops across the field, with a few outliers. Notably, Cale Russell of Marlins Swimming dropped from 11th seed at 16:30.61 to a third-place finish with the time of 16:01.68.
The Tennessee Aquatics Club easily stole the limelight in both the men’s and women’s 800 freestyle relays. The women’s relay, made up of Carissa Armijo, Abbey Aycock, Rachel Aycock, and Emily Aycock, boasted a first place finish with a time of 8:29.29. Relay team dynamics were sweet with the three sisters backing each other up.
The men’s relay, made up of Alex Hines, Noah Salcido, Ethan Sanders, and Coleman Kredich stole the championship with a three second time drop, finishing with a time of 7:43.49. Sanders enjoyed a top podium finish with his relay after finishing fourth over all in the 1500 meter freestyle earlier this evening.
Full results available on Meet Mobile: “2017 Futures championships”.
.jpg "2017 Futures Championships- Nashville - logo"){kind=logo}
HEY! Good post