Ross Dant Crushes 1000 Free Record on Night One of YMCA Nationals

Photo Courtesy: Hickory Photography

The 2019 YMCA National Championships began today at the Greensboro Aquatic Complex in Greensboro, North Carolina. The meet will be held April 1-5.

Hickory’s Ross Dant stole the show on the meet’s opening night, winning the 1000 free in record-setting fashion.

Click HERE for full results.

Girls Meet

Greater Des Moines Iowa’s Ellie Clark (26.69), Mary Martin (28.06), Berit Quas (24.65) and Jasmine Rumley (22.53) began the meet with an exciting start in the prelims of the 4×50 medley relay, out-touching the second-place qualifiers by only five-hundredeths with a final time of 1:41.93.

Right behind them was Blue Ash in a close second with a time of 1:41.98 while Greater Spartanburg finished in third with a combined time of 1:42.04. Finals for this event will be held on Tuesday evening.

Emma Weyent dominated the 1000 free, dropping over eight seconds from her entry time to finish 15 seconds ahead of the field. She was the first of only six swimmers in the field to crack the 10-minute barrier, doing so in an impressive 9:39.41.

Sarasota swept the podium as Weyent’s teammates Michaela Mattes secured the runner-up spot with a time of 9:54.06, while Christina Cianciolo rounded out the top three finishers with a 10-second time drop of 9:55.45.

Boys Meet

Somerset Hills’ Jack Alexy (22.23), Joe Castagno (25.87), Lukas Scheidl (22.20) and Roo Fenton (20.22) earned the top spot for the 4×50 medley relay final by finishing first during prelims with a combined time of 1:30.52.

Triangle Area (1:31.25) and Upper Main Line (1:31.75) finished second and third, respectively, to swim on either side of current YMCA National record-holders Somerset Hills tomorrow during finals of this event.

Dant dominated the 1000 free, winning the opening individual event by 17 seconds as the only athlete in the race to sneak under the nine-minute marker. His winning time of 8:50.29, which is also a seven-second lifetime best, destroyed Nicholas Caldwell of Sarasota’s 2011 National mark of 8:55.55.

Also shaving seven seconds from his previous best time was Fanwoodscotch’s Josh Cohen who earned silver in 9:07.91 while Hamilton Area’s Matthew Lequang grabbed the bronze medal with a final time of 9:12.68.

Prelims will start tomorrow morning at 8:45 a.m. EST. Day two will see action in the 200 back, 100 fly, 200 breast, 4×100 free relay prelims and 4×50 medley relay finals.

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