By Nick Pecoraro, Swimming World College Intern.
The distance session of the Rochester Futures meet started off just as expected – loaded with battles. Most notable was not one, but two battles for top spots in the men’s 800 free relay. The men of Nitro Swimming and Lakeside Aquatic Club were put head-to-head at the last turn for a mad dash for the title. The Central Iowa men were also in a battle from a different heat to get a top-three time. Read on to find out how these warrior relays finished.
For the women’s team standings after day one, only one point separates leader Lakeside Aquatic Club and current runner-up Cypress Fairbanks Swim Club, with 54 and 53 points respectively.
The men’s team standings also have Lakeside on top with 72 points. Right behind them is Nitro Swimming with 68 points.
Results can be found on Meet Mobile under “2018 USA Swimming Futures Championship RSC” or by clicking here to view full day one results.
Women’s 800 Free
Winning the first event of the meet was unattached-Empire KC’s Christine Blomquist, taking the title at 9:03.71. Foothills’s Kathryn Shanley (9:07.66) won her heat with a time good enough for second place.
In a tight race for third place, unattached-Riptide’s Katia Soudakova (9:08.19) out-touched fourth place finisher Club Husker’s Kaylyn Flatt (9:08.46).
Men’s 1500 Free
Dylan Moffatt of Black Hawk Area Swim Team took the grueling men’s distance race title at 16:14.37. Lincoln Way’s Joseph Bozzi took second place at 16:18.96 and Riptide’s Timothy Rizzo capped off the top three at 16:21.23.
Women’s 800 Free Relay
The Cypress Fairbanks relay of Sydney Stanford (2:05.73), Allie Thome (2:08.93), Aislinn Holder (2:07.34), and Carson Kaufmann (2:06.69) took the first relay title with a time of 8:28.69. An exciting race for second came down between the ladies of Springfield YMCA and Nitro Swimming.
By the last exchange, the Nitro women were trailing seven seconds behind the Springfield ladies. However, Nitro anchor Ana Herceg split a blazing 2:02.45 to close the cap and narrowly miss taking second over Springfield anchor Kendra Preski. The Springfield YMCA ladies took second place with a time of 8:31.19 with the Nitro women touching in at a 8:31.82.
Men’s 800 Free Relay
The men’s relay featured a close battle for the title with Nitro Swimming and Lakeside Aquatic Club contending. Flipping dead even on the last turn, it was Nitro anchor Corby Furrer who took down Lakeside anchor Garrett Hollcroft. The Nitro men took the title at 7:47.41, featuring Bryce Flynn (1:59.58), Reilly Gilbert (1:58.81), Vincent Ribeiro (1:54.94), and Furrer (1:54.08). The Lakeside men took second at 7:47.81.
A remarkable swim was made by the Central Iowa men with anchor Trent Frandson boosting his relay with his blazing split of 1:53.19 to achieve a time good enough for third place. The Central Iowa squad finished in with a time of 7:50.65, just out-touching Alamo Area Aquatic Association’s fourth place time of 7:50.99.
More battles for day two of the Rochester Futures resume tomorrow with the 200 Free, 100 Breast, 100 Fly, 400 IM, and 400 Free Relay. Prelims begin at 9 am CDT, finals begin at 6 pm CDT.
