(Clive Rose/Getty Images)
Links
• Friday, Jan. 16 — prelims 10 a.m.; finals 7 p.m. Eastern
• AM heat sheets and stimated preliminary timeline
• Live streaming
• Real time results
Order of events
‘A’ flight (10 a.m.)
• 400-meter individual medley
• 200 freestyle
• 200 backstroke
• 50 freestyle
A ‘B’ flight in the same order will commence at approximately 12:24 p.m. once the top-seeded ‘A’ flight heats conclude.
400 IM
Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu, the former short-course meters world record holder in the event, cruised in at 4 minutes 42.02 seconds to qualify first overall. U.S. swimmers Caitlin Leverenz (California Aquatics), Elisabeth Beisel (Gator Swim Club) and Sarah Henry (Texas A&M) made up a tight core of likely challengers, all finishing within 1.5 seconds of each other, with Leverenz leading at 4:45.37.
Nation’s Capital’s Megan Byrnes, an Oakton junior, will have the center lane for tonight’s ‘B’ final, finishing in a personal best 4:55.07. Joining her is teammate Isabella Rongione, a Langley sophomore, who qualified 16th overall in 4:57.36.
Kylie Jordan, a high school junior also training with NCAP, qualified second for the ‘D’ final in 5:05.85.
In the men’s event, Ryan Lochte claimed the top seed for the championship final in 4:22.96, followed by California’s Josh Prenot in 4:23.46.
Lochte was chased throughout his preliminary heat by Andrew Seliskar, who claimed the third seed in 4:24.09. Morning swims in the medley event are mostly arbitrary, as top-tier swimmers usually know what they need to go to qualify for their target final. It would not surprise if the top two broke 4:20 tonight.
Analysis: If Seliskar wants to be in this race with Lochte and Prenot, he might have to rethink his strategy. As good as a breaststroker as Seliskar is, he still doesn’t have the stamina or strength to overtake a swimmer like Lochte on the back half of a medley. (See: Hungarian Olympian Dániel Gyurta). Lochte, who is known more for his backstroke, butterfly and freestyle, out-split Seliskar in breaststroke by more than half a second, and then held off the 17-year-old Cal recruit down the stretch. Head to head against Prenot, Lochte knows he will be at a his advantage in breaststroke, and could punish the front half to take Prenot out of the race before he can make a move. Breaststroke is Seliskar’s only advantage over Lochte, but he holds an advantage in backstroke and butterfly over Prenot. In a strategy event like the 400 IM, he might have to gamble on the front half against Lochte if he wants to take home gold.
Nation’s Capital’s Andrew Gemmell also sneaked into the ‘A’ final with a 4:25.92, good enough for sixth. Also out of NCAP’s Georgetown Prep site, Brian Tsau qualified for the ‘D’ final in 4:41.08. Machine Aquatics’s Casey Storch, a Langley freshman, scored a narrow lifetime best to qualify third for the ‘B’ final, 19th overall, in 4:34.86. He’s the youngest swimmer in the top-flighted heats — another 15-year-old qualified for the ‘C’ final.
200 freestyle
Katie Ledecky did what she does in every race above 100 meters: She went to the front and stayed there. Ledecky qualified first in 1:57.26, posting the third fastest time in the world with her first meters swim of the 2014-15 season. She won her heat by two body lengths, and holds a three-second advantage over the second and third seeds, Elizabeth Beisel (2:00.48) and Katie McLaughlin (2:00.66), heading into tonight’s final.
Megan Byrnes qualified for her second ‘B’ final of the day, with a lifetime best 2:04.91. Byrnes swam in the ‘A’ final of the 400 freestyle last night, finishing fifth, and is racing up the class of 2016 rankings this weekend with a trio of impressive swims so far in Texas. Isabella Rongione reached the ‘D’ final with a 2:05.28.
Conor Dwyer, swimming his first meet for the Trojan Swim Club since leaving North Baltimore Aquatic, topped the morning heats with the only sub-1:50 swim. He touched in 1:49.08, ahead of Dutch Olympian Dion Dreesens (1:50.15) and Texas freshman Joseph Schooling (1:50.21).
Andrew Seliskar returned to the pool to reach the ‘B’ final in 1:52.49, tying for seventh. Townley Haas, a Richmond-based swimmer, also made the ‘B’ final with a 1:51.45. James Murphy of Machine Aquatics surged into the ‘C’ final with a 1:53.34. Seliskar’s NCAP teammate Matthew Hirschberger score the top seed in the ‘D’ final with a personal best by more than a second of 1:53.94.
Olympic gold medalist Matt McLean posted a 1:53.78 to qualify seventh for the ‘C’ final — not a good swim for the Potomac Falls alum, who left NBAC after this summer to train with his former Virginia coach Mark Bernardino at South Carolina.
200 backstroke
Dominique Bouchard of Canada earned the top seed for tonight’s final in 2:11.93, followed by Taylor Ruck, Lisa Bratton, Katinka Hosszu, Elizabeth Beisel and Bouchard’s Team Canada teammate Hilary Caldwell. This could be among the most competitive ‘A’ finals of the night.
Megan Byrnes reached her third final of the day — beginning to sound repetitive, qualifying for the ‘C’ final in 2:19.59. Annie Boone, also of NCAP, finished 34th overall and sits as the second alternate pending scratches.
Zimbabwean Olympian Kirsty Coventry, 31, six months after ending a nearly two-year retirement, qualified as the top seed in the ‘B’ final in 2:14.67. The seven-time Olympic medalist and former world record holder has been training with SwimMAC Carolina.
U.S. national teamer Ryan Murphy qualified first in the men’s event in 1:59.63, followed closely by Olympians Tyler Clary (1:59.95) and Matt Grevers (2:00.63). Texas’s Jonathan Robert was fourth in 2:00.75.
Jack Conger of Texas cruised in his heat to win by more than a body length in 2:01.17, expect more from him when pushed in tonight’s final.
50 freestyle
In the splash and dash, Farida Osman of Cal earned the top seed in the women’s event in 25.24. Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, Katie Meili, Arlene Semeco, Karlee Bispo, Hannah Riordan and tied Isabella Arcila and Megan Romano round out the top eight.
Nation’s Capital’s Cassidy Bayer reached the ‘D’ final as the top seed in 26.68, right on her previous best. Joining her in the heat will be Machine Aquatics’s Suzanne Dolan (26.74).
Just more than half a second separated first from eighth in the men’s 50 freestyle morning heats. Brazil’s Bruno Fratus grabbed the top seed with a 22.40, followed by Miguel Ortiz (22.45), Kristian Gkolom (22.58) and Nathan Adrian (22.66). Anthony Ervin and Jimmy Feigen also made the ‘A’ final.
Olympian Cullen Jones was the odd man out, finishing ninth overall in 22.97. Joining him in the ‘B’ final will be NCAP’s James Jones, 17, who posted a 23.02. Andrew Seliskar touched in a lifetime best 23.56 to reach the ‘C’ final as the third seed. And Jones’s high school teammate James Murphy sneaked into the ‘D’ final in eighth (24.26).