ORLANDO — As the swimmers neared the wall for the finish of the final race of Thursday night’s session at the Orlando YMCA Aquatic and Family Center, the announcer’s voice boomed over the public address system, urging the already raucous crowd present for NCSA Junior National’s third day to reach a new frequency.
“It’s anyone’s race, folks!”
The announcer was wrong, and he had been from before the starting strobe ever flashed. Anyone did not possess a near-perfect breakout, from starting block to the lone green ringlet 15 meters from the wall breaking up the alternating blue and yellow lane lines. Anyone was chasing the swimmer in lane four. Anyone was not Andrew Seliskar, the swimmer who topped the qualifying heats by more than a second. And so, anyone could not have and did not win the 50-meter butterfly final Thursday night.
Seliskar, a California recurit, scorched a time of 23.97 seconds in butterfly’s version of the splash-and-dash, beating teammate James Jones, 17, who touched in a fast-next-to-any-other-swimmer 24.73 seconds. Seliskar won the 400 individual medley as well, finishing in 4 minutes 16.51 seconds, almost matching his lifetime best.
In the medley, he took the race out in a blistering 2:03.74, two seconds ahead of the second placed swimmer. Then Seliskar left the field choking on bubbles as he opened up an eight-second lead during the breaststroke leg.
“That was a lot faster than I thought I was going,” Seliskar said of his opening 200 meters. “That’s good for me. Now I can start working on the back half more.”
His time ranks him seventh in the world this year, less than half a second behind the top-ranked U.S. swimmers, Tyler Clary and Josh Prenot.
“I think the 400 IM can be my best,” Seliskar said. “That’s what people keep telling me at least.
“I really want to focus on it this summer. I feel confident in my 200 butterfly and I’m really excited to swim the 200 IM later this week, but I think the 400 IM is an event I have a lot more to improve in.”
Seliskar swam his fifth-straight multi-event session in Orlando, claiming a fifth and then a sixth gold medal Thursday night with the victory in the 50 butterfly and 400 individual medley.
Friday, Seliskar will swim the lead-off leg of Nation’s Capital’s 4×200-yard freestyle relay, as well as the 100 butterfly and the 200 breaststroke during the morning’s prelims session.
“You never know what Carsten [Vissering] is going to do,” Seliskar said of tomorrow’s likely center-lane matchup in breaststroke against his training partner. “Carsten can get up after it in long course.”
Vissering, winner of the 100 breaststroke Wednesday night, claimed a second individual gold by winning the 50 breaststroke (28.34). Ben Gorski of Arlington Aquatic Club was fifth (29.26). Olivia Anderson of Aquajets won the girls’ event in 31.81. York’s Jacquee Clabeaux was seventh (33.35).
All Star Aquatics’ Caroline McTaggart, a UCLA-bound senior, won the girls’ 50 butterfly in 27.12, slipping past the 100 butterfly favorite, Lauren Case, by 0.02 seconds. NCAP’s Cassidy Bayer, 15, was fourth in 27.44.
Grant House of Countryside YMCA won the boys’ 200 freestyle in 1:50.79, followed closely by NCAP’s Matt Hirschberger in 1:51.23, an Olympic Trials cut, and Machine Aquatics’ James Murphy in 1:52.01. NCAP’s Adrian Lin was seventh (1:55.46) and Arlington Aquatics’ Ryan Baker was eighth (1:57.97).
Katherine Drabot won the girls’ 400 IM in 4:47.56, edging Long Island Aquatics’ Margaret Aroesty by 0.33 seconds. The 17-year-old Ozaukee Aquatics swimmer also won the girls’ 200 freestyle in 2:00.02. McTaggart touched seventh in the final in 2:04.71.