SwimMAC Carolina Finishes “First in Fight” for Team Dominance at the Conclusion of Nashville Futures

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

By Kristy Kinzer, Swimming World College Intern

The lights finally shut off on an exciting weekend of tough wins and close races at the long-course 2017 Nashville Futures, as this evening’s competition closed out the meet with the women’s 1500 meter free, men’s 800 meter free, men’s and women’s 100 free, 200 back, 200 IM, and 400 medley relays.

Tennessee Aquatics team put up a strong fight, but they couldn’t stop SwimMAC from stealing first place overall at the end of the night. The battle for third with overall team scores came down to the wire between Dynamo Swim Club and Marlins of Raleigh, with the former outscoring the latter by a single point.

Florida once again showed its depth with the top four finishes of the men’s 800 freestyle. Ilia Sibirsev and Alfonso Mestre played cat-and-mouse the entire race, with Sivirsev out-touching Mestre for an 8:22.39 and 8:22.47 finish respectively. Cole Forbes of Area Tallahassee swimming claimed third with a time of 8:23.91.

It came as no surprise that Floridian Elise Bauer of Marlins Swimming won the 1500 meter freestyle, flirting with the 17 minute mark, narrowly missing it by 46 hundredths of a second. Bauer managed to score 75 individual points, far outscoring any other female competitor. Anna Auld of East Coast Aquatics moved into second place with a 17:05.78. The two maintained a large lead, with Noa Heron taking third with 17:13.72.

Leading the pack for the women’s 100 freestyle was Andrea Santander, dropping a full 1.24 seconds from this morning with a 57.22 finish. Mary Arsenault claimed second place with a 57.62, with Ella Marlow finishing third.

You had to finish under the 52-second mark to manage top three for the men’s 100 freestyle. Nolan Briggs of Byron Center, Michigan repeated a win with the top finish in both the 50 and the 100 meter freestyle races, dropping time to finish with a 51.40. Ethan Long touched the wall with a 51.63, and Matthew Lattin was not too far behind with a 51.82.

Brooke Zettel claimed a victory in the women’s 200 backstroke with a 2:18.09 after a top-three finish in the 100 backstroke last night. Elizabeth Broshears trailed behind in a second place finish with the time of 2:19.29, with Alexandra Massey of Ensworth Aquatics on the scoreboard with a third place 2:20.33 finish.

Joseph Licht, a familiar name for top three finishes this meet and top male scorer, out-touched Conor Lynch for a 2:05.28 and 205.49 finish respectively. The field spread out after third place Campbell Auerbach finished with a 2:06.10.

Completing the last individual event of the weekend was Brooke Zettel in the 200 IM, adding another victory to her sprinting repertoire with a speedy 2:19.98 finish. Emma Feehery and Sara Stotler finished neck and neck with a 2:21.23 and 2:21.58 respectively.

Dillon Hall stole the show with the men’s 200 IM, finishing first with a 2:07.85 for Georgia Coastal. Second and third went to Brett Riley of Sarasota YMCA and James McGuire of Dynamo Swim Club with a 2:08.10 and 2:08.49.

Closing out the meet with some fanfare were the 400 medley relays. SwimMAC Carolina showed its dominance in both the men’s and women’s relays. The young relay team of Claire Russell, Desirae Mangaoang, Chloe Harris, and Sophia Francis finished nearly three seconds ahead of the rest of the field with a 2:19.88 finish ahead of Kentucky’s Cardinal Aquatics and Florida’s Pine Crest relays.

On the men’s side, Joshua Fletcher, Markus Wennborg, Samuel Mahoney, and Benjamin Fenwick had a close race with Dynamo Swim Club, ultimately coming out on top with a 3:55.42 for SwimMAC Carolina and a 3:56.19 for the latter. Tennessee Aquatics finished third, nearly a second behind Dynamo Swim Club with a 3:57.10 finish.

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