Saturday, December 3, 2016
2016 AT&T Winter National Championships - Day Three Recap
Highlights
- Olympian Tom Shields set an American, U.S. Open and meet record in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 43.84. He is first swimmer to break the 44-second mark in the event.
- Shields (100y fly, 100y back) and fellow Olympian Melanie Margalis (200y free, 100y breast) were double winners on the night.
Women’s 400y Individual Medley - Final
- Brooke Zeiger (Cumberland, R.I./University of Minnesota), 4:02.71
- Lindsey Clary (Riverside, Calif./Ohio State University), 4:06.10
- Meg Bailey (Merewether, Australia/Ohio State University), 4:08.29
- Zeiger took the lead at the 200y mark and stretched her advantage during the breaststroke leg, following a 1:08.27 split.
Men’s 400y Individual Medley - Final
- Sean Grieshop (Austin, Texas/Nitro Swimming), 3:44.692.
- Nate Carr (Charleston, W.Va./Club Mountaineer Aquatics), 3:47.793.
- Omar Pinzon (Bogota, Colombia/FAST Swim Team), 3:48.06
Race Notes
Women's 100y Butterfly - Final
Women’s 200y Freestyle - Final
- Grieshop’s win marked his first senior-level national title; he took the lead at the 300-yard mark and held on for the victory.
Women's 100y Butterfly - Final
- Aliena Schmidtke (Magdeburg, Germany/Unattached), 51.87
- Claire Donahue (Lenoir City, Tenn./Unattached), 51.95
- Sarah Koucheki (Cleveland, Ohio/University of North Carolina), 52.77
- Donahue held a slim lead at the turn before Schmidtke closed over the final 50 for the win.
Men’s 100y Butterfly - Final
- Tom Shields (Huntington Beach, Calif./California Aquatics), 43.84
- Vini Lanza (Belo Horizonte, Brazil/Indiana University), 45.56
- Daryl Turner (Greenwood Village, Colo./University of Minnesota), 46.53
- Shields’ swim marked a new American, U.S. Open and meet record.
- The previous American record of 44.18 was held by Austin Staab and set in 2009; Joseph Schooling set the U.S. Open record of 44.01 at the 2016 NCAA Championships, also held at the McAuley Aquatic Center.
- Shields came back later in the session to win the 100y backstroke title.
Shields (on his long-term goal of setting this record): “I set that goal as one of my first long-term goals ever. I was able to pop that 44 when I was 18 and I was like oh man, maybe I can make this happen and it never did. You know, these guys, back in my day NCAA was a three-day meet. I always had 7 swims on that day and we were taught and brought up on our team to care more about point totals and spreads and trying to win that team title and fortunately we were able to make that happen. I don’t know how much that took away from my individual 100 (butterfly) at NCAAs, but I think that’s pretty equivalent to where I’m at, short course meters. It was just fun and exciting to come and race this course, I haven’t done it in forever.”
Women’s 200y Freestyle - Final
- Melanie Margalis (Clearwater, Fla./Saint Petersburg Aquatics), 1:43.72
- Isabel Ivey (Gainesville, Fla./Gator Swim Club), 1:43.96
- Amanda Weir (Lawrenceville, Ga./SwimAtlanta), 1:43.98
- Margalis earned her second win of the meet after taking the 200y IM title on Thursday.
- She came back in the session to also win the 100y breaststroke.
Men’s 200y Freestyle - Final
- Maxime Rooney (Livermore, Calif./University of Florida), 1:33.85
- Jorden Merrilees (North Melbourne, Australia/University of North Carolina), 1:34.31
- Anze Tavcar (Celje, Slovenia/Indiana University), 1:34.61
Race Notes
- Rooney was second after the first 50 and took the lead for good at the 100-yard mark.
Quotes
Rooney (on transitioning to college at Florida): “Whole new side of the country. It’s awesome, I love it. School’s going really well right now. It’s coming to a close so I’ve got a couple of exams next week. And training is going really well. I think I train with some of like the most hardworking people in the world.”
Women's 100y Breaststroke - Final
- Melanie Margalis (Clearwater, Fla./Saint Petersburg Aquatics), 58.09
- Breeja Larson (Mesa, Ariz./New York Athletic Club), 58.21
- Miranda Tucker (Plymouth, Mich./Club Wolverine), 58.95
Race Notes
- Margalis’ win in the 100y breaststroke was her second of the night and third of the meet.
- Larson led by three-tenths of a second at the 50 before Margalis closed quickly for the win
Men's 100y Breaststroke - Final
- Kevin Cordes (Naperville, Ill./Unattached), 51.88
- Ian Finnerty (Bloomington, Ind./Indiana University), 52.68
- Rostyslav Fedyna (Lviv, Ukraine/Queens University), 53.21
Race Notes
- Cordes is swimming in his first meet since the 2016 Olympic Games, where he won gold as a member of the U.S. 400m medley relay squad.
- The American record-holder in the event, Cordes led wire-to-wire tonight.
Quotes
Cordes (on swimming again in the U.S. after training in Singapore in the lead-up to the Olympic Games): "It's definitely a little bit weird. It’s a good transition, you know getting back into it after this summer. It’s fun coming back and doing short course yards, for sure.”
Women's 100y Backstroke - Final
- Bridgette Alexander (Milton, Wisc./Kentucky Aquatics), 52.53
- Caroline Baldwin (Westfield, N.J./University of North Carolina), 52.70
- Ally Rockett (Sinking Spring, Pa. /Indiana University), 52.91
Race Notes
- Alexander was second at the 50-yard mark before taking the lead over her second 50.
Men's 100y Backstroke - Final
- Tom Shields (Huntington Beach, Calif./California Aquatics), 45.11
- Arkady Vyatchanin (New York Athletic Club), 45.89
- Mark Nikolaev (Seltso, Russia/Grand Canyon University), 45.92
Race Notes
- Shields came back to earn the win just over an hour after setting an American record in the 100y butterfly.
- Shields was second at the 50-yard mark and took the lead on his underwater off his third turn.
#ATTNats