Through four days of swimming in San Antonio, swimmers from the nation’s capital have won two titles, finished as runner-up in an event and reached a handful more cut times for next summer’s U.S. Olympic trials.
Not a bad haul for the “slow” half of a 10-day stretch at the Northside Swim Center, which will play host to a stacked, way-better-than-it-should-be senior nationals starting Thursday when Michael Phelps and Co. come to town.
But this weekend, plus Monday, is all about the juniors — or more accurately, the 18-and-under swimmers sneaking in a few extra swims before testing themselves against their collegiate and professional competitors in search of “big meet” experience ahead of an Olympic year.
Through Day 4 at USA Swimming’s junior nationals, Caroline McTaggart has stood out among Potomac Valley swimmers so far — and not just because of her 6-foot-2 frame. The All Star Aquatics product has won two events this weekend, which she is using as a warm-up for senior nationals where she again figures to feature in the “A” finals of the sprint free events.
[Michael Phelps set to headline gilded field at U.S. nationals; psych sheets released]
Friday, McTaggart scorched a time of 54.89 in winning the women’s 100-meter freestyle. That time moves the soon-to-be UCLA freshman into the top 75 in the world this year and top 15 in the country this season.
The following night, she added a second junior title with a sizzling swim-from-the-front effort in the women’s 100 butterfly, stopping the clock at 59.47. That time places her among the top 15 nationally, where she joins Hellen Moffitt, a rising North Carolina junior, and Cassidy Bayer, a rising sophomore at West Potomac, as the top-ranked swimmers in the event out of the DMV.
She swims the 50 freestyle Monday night and is seeded 12th.
On the meet’s opening night, Nation’s Capital’s Sam Pomajevich placed second in the men’s 200 butterfly with a time of 1:59.34, bettering his entry time by nearly a second. The rising high school junior already had his cut time for U.S. Olympic trials, but improved that time to move into the top-10 among 18-and-under qualifiers in the event that is topped by Pomajevich’s teammate Andrew Seliskar.
Also of note, Machine Aquatics’s James Murphy and NCAP’s Lane Stone and Kylie Jordan missed the podium but grabbed trials cuts nonetheless.
Murphy finished fourth overall in the men’s 200 free Sunday night, touching in 1:51.57 to dip under the trials standard by three-tenths. It was his second cut time, having already gone under in the 400 free in March. Stone finished 11th overall in the men’s 1,500 free, earning his first Olympic trials cut with a time of 15:48.20 on Thursday. And Saturday night saw Kylie Jordan earn her first cut in the women’s 100 butterfly, when she finished second in the “C” final in a time of 1:00.99.
Swimmers from the DMV will likely be even more prominent at senior nationals when they begin.
With Seliskar, Jack Conger, Matt Hirschberger, Andrew Gemmell, Amanda Kendall, John Shebat, among others, in attendance, the Potomac Valley will be well represented despite the absence of its most famous product, Katie Ledecky.
MACHINE’S PODIUM PARTY AT FUTURES: At the inaugural Futures Championships in Greensboro, N.C., Machine Aquatics swimmers have enjoyed an enormous level of success as well. And that was the whole point of USA Swimming adding a gap-meet between lower-level sectional meets and junior nationals: to get swimmers more experience racing top-level competition with more chances at finals swims.
Machine Aquatic leapt all over the opportunity this weekend.
Chloe Hicks claimed a Futures title in the women’s 200 backstroke, touching first in 2:16.71 — a huge personal best for the 17-year-old and .13 seconds shy of the Olympic trials cut. She finished for silver in the 100 backstroke as well in a time of 1:04.58; Suzanne Dolan was eighth in the heat in 1:07.65 — falling off after a huge 1:05.94 in prelims.
Hannah Baker finished second overall in the women’s 100 free (57.32) and Fiona Muir was fourth (58.50). Baker touched third in the 50 freestyle (26.67) and was joined by Dolan (26.75) and Stephanie Hallock (27.01) in the “A” final. Baker also took third in the 200 free with a time of 2:03.52 and fifth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:13.19.
Lea Gwennap finaled in the 100 fly, finishing sixth in 1:03.36.
Baker, Dolan, Hicks and Muir earned a relay title in the 4×100 free relay, and Hicks, Baker, Gwennap and Dolan placed second in the women’s 4×100 medley relay as well.
Machine’s men’s relay of Evan Brophy, Tommy Hallock, David Herbert and Andrew Gyenis placed second in the free relay as well.