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ORLANDO – A national age group record by a promising 14-year-old was the big highlight of tonight’s long course racing at the NCSA junior national championships, and also featured some impressive swims by some of the future stars of American swimming.
Trey Freeman, representing Baylor Swim Club, posted a 1:53.31 in the C final of the 200 freestyle to break Tom Kremer’s 13-14 national age group record of 1:53.52. Freeman, 14, placed 18th overall in the event to continue an impressive meet that included a 9:07.58 in the 1000 free and a 3:59.64 in the 400 free.
Katie Drabot of Ozaukee Aquatics, coming off a gold medal in the 200 freestyle last summer at the junior Pan Pacific championships, won that event tonight with a 2:00.02. She used a strong final 100 to pull away from the pack, which included runner-up Megan Moroney (2:01.45) and third-place finisher Lauren Case (2:02.76). Later in the evening, Drabot came from behind on breaststroke to win the 400 IM with a 4:47.56 over the 4:47.89 by Maggie Aroesty of Long Island Aquatic Club and the 4:50.86 by Emily Barksdale.
Another double winner tonight was Nation’s Capital Swim Club’s Andrew Seliskar, who started off with a strong 4:16.51 in the 400 IM. He had a strong opening 200, splitting 57.48 in butterfly and 1:06.26 on backstroke. He faltered a bit on breaststroke with a 1:12.09 and came home on freestyle with a 1:00.68 to fall just five tenths short of his lifetime best. Just 10 minutes later, Seliskar won the 50 butterfly with a 23.97, which falls just outside the top 10 global rankings.
Grant House of Countryside YMCA broke away from a tight pack of three at the 100-meter mark in the 200 free final to post a 56.77 in the final 100 and win with a lifetime best 1:50.79. Matthew Hirschberger of Nation’s Capital, swimming in lane one, snuck into second place with a 1:51.23. James Murphy of Machine Aquatics, who had been running second for most of the race, fell to third with 1:52.01.
Carsten Vissering won the 50 breast with a 28.34, which is a tenth slower than his opening split in last night’s 100 breaststroke, but was good enough for the win. Vissering fell behind Ian Finnerty of Councilman Center Swimming at the start but passed him at the finish, where Finnerty took second with a 28.51. Matthew Salerno of Maverick Swim Club was third with a 28.70.
Olivia Anderson of the Aquajets posted the sole swim under 32 seconds in the women’s 50 breast final with a 31.81. Alexis Wenger of Grosse Poine Gators took second with a 32.20, while Ingrid Wall of New Trier was third with a 32.36.
Caroline McTaggart of All Star Aquatic used her long arms to reach for the win in the 50 butterfly with a 27.12 to beat out the 27.14 by Lauren Case of Chattahoochee Gold. Rounding out the top three was Alexandra Preiss of Aquajets with a 27.35.
2015 NCSA Junior Nationals, Day 3 Finals – Results
