By Caitlin Daday, Swimming World College Intern
In the last event of the evening at Speedo Sectionals in Columbia, Dominique Bouchard obliterated the 200 backstroke field with a speedy 2:10.01. The 2016 Canadian Olympian, though nearly two seconds off her entry time, won the event by eight seconds. The race for second, however, was a tight one, with Edwardsville YMCA’s Bailey Grinter edging out Erin Oeltjen by .02. Their times were 2:18.12 and 2:18.14, respectively.
The night kicked off with the final heats of the 800 freestyle for both men and women. Empire Swim Club’s Christine Blomquist handily won the event in 9:00.19. Kelsie Walker of Southern Illinois University took second in 9:05.99, while Rockwood’s Jordan Stout was third in 9:07.17. On the men’s side, Minki Kang out of Missouri State also took home a big win in 8:11.46, with Razorback Aquatic Club’s Antonio Thomas in second, six seconds behind in 8:17.84.
In the 100 freestyle, Lauren Votava from Rockford also won big, finishing nearly a second ahead of the field in 56.38. Her teammate Stout, coming off her third place 800, followed her in 57.13. Katherine Sullivan, representing the Kansas City Blazers, finished third in 57.45.
The men’s 100 free was by far the closest race of the night, with Rockford’s Jack Dolan just touching out Springfield Aquatics’ Sean Feher in 51.54 to 51.55. Noah Reid of the Tsunami Swim Team was just behind in 51.61.
Tsunami’s Madison Strathman solidly won the women’s 200 breaststroke in 2:34.08. Splash Club’s Haley Downey followed her in 2:35.45, while Jordan Ehly from Club Huskers took third in 2:36.20.
In the men’s 200 breaststroke, Missouri State’s Christopher Heye topped Rockford’s Phillip Willett, 2:17.81 to 2:18.03. Heye’s teammate Nicholas Theunissen finished third in 2:19.62.
The men’s 200 backstroke was much closer than the women’s. Brennan Balogh from Lincoln Select Swimming won in 2:03.00, a full second ahead of Flyers’ Nicholas Alexander, who was 2:04.21. Missouri State’s Paul Le was third in 2:06.77.
All results can be found on Meet Mobile.
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