For full results, recaps, live broadcast and photos from the meet, go to the CeraVe Invitational Event Landing Page
Reporting by special Swimming World student reporters Regan Fink and Zach Miller
PISCATAWAY, New Jersey, January 9. THE first day of open preliminary action came to a close at the CeraVe Invitational sponsored by Berkeley Aquatic Club and held on the campus of Rutgers University.
Women's 800 free slower heats
Kacie Ciampoli, 16, of Germantown Academy Aquatic Club finished first in prelims with a time of 9:14.87, cutting off a second from her seed time. Finishing behind her was 15-year-old Kelly Johanson from Badger Swim Club with a time of 9:16.03. Peddie's Kathryn Raplee came in third with a time of 9:21.39. Meghan Baker (9:21.68) of Badger Swim Club, Meghan Zarriello (9:23.84) and Sarah Schlichte (9:25.39) of Long Island Aquatic Club, Rachel Kessler (9:30.15) of Badger Swim Club, and Victoria Cassidy (9:33.44) of Eastern Express followed with A final times.
The top contender from tonight's fastest-seeded heat is 23-year-old Lauren Morford of Agua Swim Team with a World Championship Trials seed of 8:48.40. Second seed is Jersey Wahoos Swim Club's Maureen McCotter, 16, with a U.S. Open time of 8:54.44. Following is Nicole Vernon from Delaware Swim Team with a time of 9:00.74. Also expected to swim tonight are Lauren Ross of Berkeley Aquatic Club, Kailey Gardener of Ithaca Aquatics Club, Lauren Loughran of Peddie Aquatic Association, Long Island Aquatic Club's Julia Festa, and Daniela Rueda of Agua Swim Team.
Men's 800 free slower heats
Finishing first in prelims today and was Ryan Signorin, 14, of Peddie Aquatic Association with a time of 8:50.14, five seconds faster than his seed time. Following Signorin was Berkeley Aquatic Club's Cameron Rattray with a time of 8:54.59. Kevin Hughes of Badger Swim Club earned the third seed with a time of 9:02.25. Other top finishers were Trevor Leland (9:06.29) of New Jersey Wave, Eastern Express's Matthew Kietlinski (9:09.52), Brody Lawson (9:11.22) and John Werner (9:15.94) of Berkeley Aquatic Club and Chris Cipolla (9:12.44) of Scarlet Aquatic Club.
Seeded first in finals tonight is Sam Petersen of Berkeley Aquatic Club with a time of 8:41.62. Long Island Aquatic Club's Johnathan Derlath is seeded second with a time of 8:27.78. Petersen's teammate Paul Nolle is also a major contender with a seed time of 8:28.56. Others swimming tonight are Luca Spinazzola and Graham Eve of Bluefish Swim Club, Paul Soley of Berkeley Aquatic Club, Eastern Express's Sean Mackenzie, and Sean Minderlein of Delaware Swim Team.
Women's 100 breast
The top swimmer for tonight is Annie Zhu, 14, of Agua Swim Team with a World Championship Trials qualifying time of 1:12.03. Next to her will be Emma Jackson of Bluefish Swim Club, who finished prelims with a time of 1:15.03, and Westchester Marlin's Alexandra Gorki, who posted a time of 1:16.05. Other swimmers in the A final are Ji Young Lee (1:16.39) and Meghan McGuirk (1:19.96) of Peddie Aquatic Association, Kristine Ng (1:17.75) of Scarlet Aquatic Club, X-Cel's Rebecca Lewinson (1:18.97), and Ellesse Lunde (1:17.33) of Bay and Ocean State Squids.
Swimmers in the B final include Breanna Stewart and Katie Radin of Bluefish Swim Club, Delaware Swim Team's Katie Steeves, Emily Tan of Long Island Aquatic Club, Arlene Douglas of Berkeley Aquatic Club, Maddy Berkman of Westchester Marlins, and Scarlet Aquatic Club's Melissa Lang.
Swimming tonight in the C final will be Jessica Simunek, Emma Carpenter, Meghan Miceli, Christine Werner Emily Healy, Natalie Omary, Maggie Puch, and Erin O'Brien.
Men's 100 breast
Finishing first in prelims was Robert Power of Suburban Swim Center with a time of 1:08.80. Second-place finisher was teammate Ian Clark with a time of 1:09.15. Also swimming next to Power will be Lansing Car's Lucas Zelehowsky, who finished with a time of 1:09.82. The other contenders in the A final are Scarlet Aquatic Club's Chris Cipolla (1:12.67), Matthew Karle (1:11.85) of Westchester Marlins, Peddie Aquatic Association's Daniel Fine (1:11.72) and Steven Jacobi (1;12.33) as well as Patrick Olson (1:13.43) of Jersey Wahoos Swim Club.
Expecting to swim in the B final will be Alec Szlachta-McGinn of Suburban Swim Center, teammates Patrick Sullivan, Timmy O'Neil and Paolo Deluca of Bluefish Swim Club, Berkeley Aquatic Club's Jonathan Bender, Seiji Groome of the Cayman Islands, and Chris Lyons of Badger Swim Club.
The C final will have Chris Chrzanowski, Matthew Hadley, Mark Cereste, Peter Ko, Johnny Carroll, Scott Groel, Andrew Gusev, and Nathan Pursley.
Women's 200 free
The top swimmer for tonight is Lauren Morford of Agua Swim Team with a time of 2:07.57. Finishing second with a time of 2:08.83 was Berkeley Aquatic Club's Lauren Ross. Alex Frasier has the third seed with a time of 2:09.05. The other swimmers in the A final are Kate Toth (2:09.33) of Berkeley Aquatic Swim Club, Annie Zhu (2:10.45) and Daniela Rueda (2:10.16) of Agua Swim Team, Bluefish Swim Club's Anna Senko (2:10.82), and Kelly Johanson (2:10.84) of Badger Swim Club.
Swimming in the B final will be Laura Loughran of Peddie Aquatic Association, Bluefish Swim Club's Perry Ashenfelter and Kaia Simmons, Lili Shiota of Agua Swim Team, Nicole Vernon of Delaware Swim Team, Long Island Aquatic Club's Julia Festa and Nicole Vernon and Kacie Ciampoli of GAAC.
The C final will include Annie McCotter, Meghan Baker, Kellie Lyver, Taylor Scilufo, Kathryn Raplee, Courtney Ciardiello, Christie Clarke and Sarah Aemisegger.
Men's 200 free
Peddie's Connor Signorin, 16, will vie for the men's 200 free title after being the only swimmer to break 2:00 in this morning's preliminaries with a 1:58.24. Bay and Ocean State Edwin Angjeli and Bluefish Jeffrey Thomas will provide a tough test for Signorin after missing the two-minute mark by just seconds with times of 2:00.79 and 2:00.27, respectively. Thomas will by joined in the A-final by teammate Pat Myers (2:01.08). Sean Mackenzie (2:01.21) of Eastern Express, Sam Petersen (2:01.47) of Berkeley, and Jonathan Derlath (2:01.14) and Nick Spinella (2:01.43) both from Long Island will also compete in the A final.
Two 18-year-olds, Wesley Mullins and Jorge Fortin will compete in tonight's B final, as will two 15-year-olds, Sean Sullivan and Trevor Leland. 17-year-olds Nicholas Cerra and Graham Eve and 16-year-olds Luca Spinazzola and Sam Gyory round out the field for the B final.
John Vatkevich, Cameron Rattray, Chris DeLafuente, Paul Nolle, Ryan Signorin, Kevin Hughes, Nick Ankosko and Aleksandr Galinskiy will compete in tonight's C final.
Women's 100 fly
After this morning's preliminaries in the women's 100 fly, 17-year-old Alex Forrester from Bluefish Swim Club established herself as the favorite with a time of 1:02.38, nearly three seconds faster than her closest competitors Taylor Scilufo (1:05.32) and Carolyn Fittin (1:05.51). Scilufo and Fittin are both 15 and from Badger and Peddie respectively. Forrester's teammate Kaia Simmons will join them in the final with a time of 1:05.96. Three 14-year-olds were able to qualify for the A final, Rachel Kessler (1:06.33), Morgan Karetnick (1:05.75) and Annie McCotter (1:06.40). Agua 17-year-old Lili Shiota (1:06.23) will be the final swimmer in the A final.
Kim Holden and Courtney Ciardiello will compete in tonight's B final after swimming fast enough to qualify for sectionals. Ali Polhill, Grace Senko, Arlene Douglas, Dani Sims, Katie Hughes and Elizabeth Floyd will join Holden and Ciardiello in the B final.
The C final qualifiers are Erin Henn, Emily O'Brien, Perry Ashenfelter, Alisha Cervone, Shannon Jones, Daniela Rueda, Maureen McCotter and Kaitlyn Jones.
Men's 100 fly
Louis Arruda, 25, swam fastest in the men's 100 fly prelims with a time of 58.04. Arruda, of Bluefish Swim Club, was closely followed by Peddie 18-year-old Nimrod Hayet, who finished with a time of 58.76. Arruda will be joined in tonight's A final by teammate Pat Myers (59.61), while Hayet will be joined by two teammates, Connor Signorin (59.66) and Wesley Mullins (1:00.11). Lucas Zelehowsky (59.41) from Lansing Cats, Nicholas Cerra (59.65) from Long Island and Clifton Gordon (1:00.54) from Delaware all qualified for sectionals and will compete in tonight's A final.
Two 15-year-olds, Joshua King and Sean Sullivan, qualified for the B final and will be joined by 16-year-olds Paul Schafer, Edwin Angjeli, Sam Gyory and Ricky Martin as well as 17-year-old Nick Spinella.
Joe Conti, John Vatkevich, Chris DeLafuente, Arthur Hong, Jorge Fortin, Mark Hansen, Sam Petersen and Matthew Kietlinski will compete in tonight's C final.
Women's 200 IM
Annie Zhu, 14, of Agua was impressive in this morning's women's 200 IM preliminaries with a time of 2:22.56, the best time by more than two seconds. The second and third best times were recorded by 15-year-old Nicole Vernon (2:25.04) and 14-year-old Kaitlyn Jones (2:26.02), both from Delaware Swim Team. They will be the youngest of the eight swimmers in tonight's A final. Anna Senko (2:28.28) and Kaia Simmons (2:29.67) of Bluefish, and Kacie Ciampoli (2:28.57) of Germantown will also compete for the title. Marlins Alexandra Gorki (2:27.74) also made the A final.
Peddie 19-year-old Ji Young Lee, who will compete in tonight's B final. She will be joined by 17-year olds Katie Steeves, Lili Shiota and Katie Radin, 16-year-olds Victoria Cassidy and Katherine Ashenfelter, 15-year-old Taylor Scilufo and 14-year-old Rachel Kessler.
Alex Frasier, Adrienne Groccia, Rebecca Lewinson, Courtney Ciardiello, Ellesse Lunde, Stephanie Koziol, Emily Logan and Katie Hughes will compete in the C final.
Men's 200 IM
Suburban 24-year-old Ian Clark established himself as the favorite for tonight's 200 IM A final with a preliminary time of 2:10.84. Clark and teammate Robert Power will swim in the center lanes as Power qualified with a preliminary time of 2:13.56. Bay and Ocean State's Edwin Angjeli (2:14.98) and Eastern Express' Sean Mackenzie (2:15.16) both qualified for the A final.
The youngest swimmer in the A final will be 15-year-old Sean Sullivan (2:16.77) of Long Island, and rounding out the field for the A final will be Peddie's Nimrod Hayet (2:17.22), Lansing's Lucas Zelehowsky (2:16.89) and Bluefish's Pat Myers (2:17.53).
Nicholas Cerra and Nick Spinella of Long Island will start in lanes 4 and 5 respectively and look to take home the B final crown. Their chief concern may be Bay and Ocean State 18-year-old Jorge Fortin, who will start in lane 3. 17-year-old Peter Ko, 16-year-olds Clifton Gordon, Mike Leddy and Patrick Sullivan, and 15-year-old Chris Lyons will also compete in the B final.
Ryan Signorin, 14, and 18-year-old Scott Groel are the favorites for the C final, where they will be joined by Cameron Rattray, Paul Schafer, Chris Cipolla, Mark Hansen, Patrick Olsen and Nick Charriez.
Women's 800 free relay seeding
Bluefish Swim Club will look to run away with a victory in tonight's women's 800 free relay after qualifying with a seed-time of 8:13.64, more than 15 seconds faster than the second-best seed time held by Asphalt Green Unified Aquatics. Bluefish's seed time is good enough to qualify for the World Championship Trials this year. Both Scarlet Aquatic Club and Badger Swim Club have two relays entered into tonight's timed finals, and will be joined by Berkeley Aquatic Club and Westchester Marlins.
Men's 800 free relay seeding
Bluefish Swim Club is a heavy favorite in the men's 800 free relay timed finals, as it qualified with a seed time of 7:42.86, more than 23 seconds faster than the seed time of its closest competitors, and good enough to qualify for the U.S. Open. However, the race for second between Lansing Cats, Scarlet Aquatic Club, Eastern Express, Berkeley Aquatic Club and Westchester Marlins should be exciting as all five squads are within 10 seconds of each other's seed time. The field will be rounded out by B-relays from Berkeley Aquatic Club and Scarlet Aquatic Club.
