Competition continues through Saturday at the Wellmark YMCA

DES MOINES, Iowa – Four-time 2018 national champion Michael Andrew (Encinitas, Calif./Race Pace Club) and Olympians Kathleen Baker (Winston Salem, N.C./Team Elite) and Hali Flickinger (Spring Grove, Pa./Athens Bulldog Swim Club) all added to their victory count Friday at the TYR Pro Swim Series at Des Moines.

Andrew won the men’s 50-meter freestyle in 23.36 seconds, the fastest time in the world this year, at the MidAmerican Energy Aquatic Center at the Wellmark YMCA. He won the 100m breaststroke and 50m backstroke on Thursday.

Baker took the women’s 200m backstroke in 2:08.08, bettering her previous 2019 best time by nearly 2.5 seconds. Runner-up Flickinger came in at 2:10.24, while Olympian Olivia Smoliga (Glenview, Ill./Athens Bulldog Swim Club) finished third in 2:11.18.

Flickinger also added a win in the 400m individual medley in 4:38.84, setting a new personal best time, and finishing just ahead of fellow National Team member Bethany Galat (Mishawaka, Ind./Texas A&M University) at 4:43.64. That brought Flickinger’s event total to two wins and a top-3 finish. 

The four-day, long course meters competition concludes Saturday with daily prelims at 10 a.m. CST and evening finals at 7 p.m. CST.

Eight-time Olympic medalist Allison Schmitt (Canton, Mich./Pitchfork Aquatics), the current 200m free American record holder, picked up that title in 1:57.70, ahead of fellow Olympians Melanie Margalis (Clearwater, Fla./St. Petersburg Aquatics) and Leah Smith (Pittsburgh, Pa./Tucson Ford Dealers Aquatics) in 1:58.02 and 1:58.47 respectively.

Other USA Swimming National Team members earning victories Friday included Jacob Pebley (Corvallis, Ore./Team Elite) in the men’s 200m back in 1:57.12 and Jay Litherland (Alpharetta, Ga./Dynamo Swim Club) in the men’s 400m IM in 4:17.28.

Brazilians Breno Correia, Jhennifer A Conceicao and Felipe Lima, won the men’s 200m free, the women’s 50m breast and the men’s 50m breast in 1:47.83, 30.90 and 27.18 respectively. Egypt’s Farida Osman won the 50m fly in 25.79.

The evening closed with the 200m mixed medley relay won by the Adams Squad – Jacob Pebley, Annie Lazor, Kelsi Dahlia and Michael Andrew – in a time of 1:44.44.

The USA Swim Squads allows USA Swimming National Team members to compete for team points and a grand prize throughout the year’s events. Four teams feature six active athletes designated across six event categories (one athlete per team per category) who are eligible to score points in a maximum of two events from that category – free, back, breast, fly, IM or flex. Teams are captained by retired Olympians Maya DiRado, Elizabeth Beisel, Cammile Adams and Connor Jaeger.

Saturday’s full slate of webcast coverage can be found at usaswimming.org with prelims underway at 10 a.m. CT and finals following at 7 p.m. CT.

Across the 2019 TYR Pro Swim Series, swimmers may earn increased awards for top-three finishes. At each meet, $1,500 will be provided for a first-place finish, $1,000 for second and $500 for third. In addition, one athlete per gender with the highest-scoring prelim swim in an individual Olympic event based on FINA power points will win $1,500.

The TYR Pro Swim Series is being brought to Des Moines in partnership with Catch Des Moines and the Wellmark YMCA.

Keep up with all the latest USA Swimming news by following @usaswimming on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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