SA Swimming National Team member Maya DiRado claimed the women’s 200-meter individual medley and 200m backstroke titles within a 20-minute span, and Olympic gold medalists Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky and Nathan Adrian each added to their win totals Saturday to conclude the Arena Pro Swim Series at Mesa.
DiRado (Santa Rosa, Calif./Stanford Swimming) continued her strong swimming of late with victories No. 2 and No. 3 of the meet, taking the women’s 200m IM in 2 minutes, 11.09 seconds and coming back quickly to win the women’s 200m back in 2:08.61. DiRado also touched first in the 100m back Friday.
“I’m in a really good place aerobically with my training,” DiRado said. “I am just really pleased with how I feel in the water. I’m pretty tired, but to go those times is very encouraging. We came off a great camp in Colorado Springs, and so I’m just trying to ride that momentum through the (Olympic) Trials.”
After winning the 200m fly Friday, Phelps clocked the world’s No. 3 time for 2016 in the men’s 200m IM with a time of 1:57.90 ahead of North Baltimore Aquatic Club teammates Chase Kalisz (Bel Air, Md.) and David Nolan (Hershey, Pa.).
Ledecky opened her night with her third victory of the meet, cruising to the 800m win in 8:13.20 – 14 seconds clear of the field and good for the second-fastest swim in the world this year to her January world record in Austin. Ledecky was back in the pool about 40 minutes later in the finals of the 100m free, where she was sixth in 54.89.
Adrian (Bremerton, Wash./California Aquatics) completed his fourth-straight sweep of the 50 and 100m freestyles at an Arena Pro Swim Series meet with a win in the 100m free in 48.00.
Other winners Saturday in Mesa included:
• Ryan Lochte (Daytona Beach, Fla./SwimMAC Carolina) in the men’s 200m back in 2:01.04
• Simone Manuel (Sugar Land, Texas/Stanford Swimming) in the women’s 100m free 53.80
• Jordan Wilimovsky (Malibu, Calif./Team Santa Monica) in the men’s 1500m free in a lifetime best 14:53.12, good for the fifth-fastest time in the world this year
The Arena Pro Swim Series at Mesa is the fourth of seven stops of the 2015-16 Arena Pro Swim Series. As part of USA Swimming’s partnership with swimwear leader Arena, the circuit will feature a record $350,000 in overall prize money. Swimmers may earn awards for top-three finishes in all individual Olympic events across the series. At each meet, $1,000 will be provided for a first-place finish, $600 for second and $200 for third. In addition to the single-event prize money, the overall male and female winners of the season-long Series will earn a $10,000 bonus.
For the third consecutive season, longtime USA Swimming partner BMW will award the grand prize of a one-year lease of a BMW vehicle to the highest-scoring eligible male and female U.S. swimmers.
Male and female overall Arena Pro Swim Series champions will be honored at the conclusion of the 2015-16 series based on the number of points accumulated throughout the seven meets. Participants will be awarded points in each individual Olympic event throughout the duration of the Series (Five points for first, three for second, one point for third place).