U.S. Nationals: Dare Rose Top Seed in 100 Butterfly; Caeleb Dressel Takes 9th; Heilman Breaks Own NAG Record
The men’s 100 butterfly was one of the biggest question marks coming into the meet.
Caeleb Dressel is just coming back and not back to world-class form.
Dressel finished in the C final of the 100 freestyle, but bounced back to finish third in the 50 butterfly on Day 2 in his return to major competition.
It left a lot of opportunities open, and Cal swimmers were ready to pounce on them.
Dare Rose took the top seed at 50.87, while Ryan Murphy was second (51.35). Shaine Casas had a strong race and was third in 51.37, followed by Zach Harting (51.51), Cal’s Gabriel Jett (51.61), Thomas Heilman, who broke his own 15-16 national age group record (51.78), former Cal swimmer Trenton Julian (51.78) and Luke Miller (51.84).
Dressel had the ninth seed at 51.95 at U.S. Nationals.
The first circle-seeded heat, Michael Andrew took a lead at the 50 mark but was overtaken by Thomas Heilman, who won the heat in 51.78, lowering his own 15-16 national age group record. He was 51.98 before. Andrew did not make the finals.
The second circle-seeded heat saw Murphy, Casas and Rose battling for most of the race with Rose using a late burst of speed to get to the wall in 50.87 ahead of Murphy (51.35) and Casas (51.37).
The final heat saw Dressel take a strong start and early lead. At the 50, it was Harting in front, though the pack was close. Harting hung on to win the heat in 51.51.
Dressel finished with the ninth seed in 51.95.
