Photo Courtesy: Griffin Scott
GREENSBORO – Nathan Adrian certainly didn’t want to be left out of the fun being had Saturday night at the USA Swimming short course nationals. After two American records in the 1650 freestyle by Connor Jaeger and Katie Ledecky, Adrian almost made it record number three in the 100 free.
The Olympic champion certainly put himself in reach of the record, splitting a 19.49 at the 50-yard mark. But he couldn’t seal the deal, as his American record of 41.08 lives another day. Adrian won by a second with a 41.31, which stands as the 11th-fastest performance in history.
Indiana’s Anze Tavcar continued his superb season with a second-place time of 43.03. As fast as that time is, it’s still a half second slower than the NCAA automatic qualifying time but good enough to be top five in the collegiate ranks. Ohio State’s Josh Fleagle lowered his lifetime best by one tenth of a second to finish third with a 43.09. Daniel Kanorr of Counsilman Center Swim Team was fourth with a 43.14, another big lifetime best.
Junya Koga of Club Wolverine (43.28), Mark Weber of SwimMAC Carolina (43.39), Joe Bonk of YMCA of the Triangle Area (43.48) and Sidni Hoxa of Monarch Aquatics (43.55) also competed in the swift final.
Matthias Lindenbauer of Louisville beat out Scotland’s Robbie Renwick and Ohio State’s Michael Disalle to win the B final with a 43.53 to Renwick’s 43.57 and Disalle’s 43.64. Also in the thick of it was Bruno Ortiz of Michigan with a 43.66 for fourth.
Michigan freshman Paul Powers put up a very strong 43.55 to win the C final over the 43.93 by Indiana freshman Blake Pieroni and the 43.95 by Grand Canyon postgrad Marcus Schlesinger.
