2019 TYR Pro Swim Series Knoxville Day Two Finals: Ledecky, Andrew Win

Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant

The first evening of the 2019 TYR Pro Swim Series from Knoxville saw victories from Katie Ledecky, Michael Andrew and Andrew Wilson as well as Olivia Smoliga and Josh Prenot.

Michael Andrew set a new Pro Swim Series record in the 50 back this morning, taking down Junya Koga’s meet record from the Charlotte Pro Swim Series in 2015. He was close to the same time in finals.

Here is what happened this evening:

Women’s 200 Free

Katie Ledecky started the first full night of the meet strong with a win in the 200 Free. She finished in 1:55.78, well ahead of former Stanford teammate Simone Manuel, who finished in 1:58.52.

Melanie Margalis finished third in 1:58.68, followed by Hali Flickinger in 1:59.54 and Gabby DeLoof in 1:58.77.

Regan Smith finished sixth, and like the five ahead of her, achieved an Olympic trials cut for 2020.

Aly Ackman was seventh (2;01.06) and Alex Walsh finished eighth (2:01.29).

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Men’s 200 Free

It didn’t take long for the first close race of the day. In the first men’s event of the night at the 2019 TYR Pro Swim Series in Knoxville, Joao De Lucca held off Gianluca Urlando and Chase Kalisz to win the 200 Free.

De Lucca dropped two seconds from his prelim time and won in 1:49.48.

Urlando also dropped nearly a second from prelims and finished in 1:49.51, just three hundredths of a second behind De Lucca.

Kalisz was the third-place finisher in 1:50.47. to also earn an Olympic trials cut.

Jeremy Bashaw was fourth (1:51.40), followed by Jay Litherland (1:51.55), Drew Modrov (1:53.19), Jonathan Rutter (1:53.98) and Jacob McDonald (1:54.03).

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Women’s 100 Breast

Mission Viejo’s Annie Lazor had a nice time drop from prelims to win the 100 Breast at the 2019 TYR Pro Swim Series in Knoxville.

Lazor dropped a half second from prelims and won the race in 1:06.89 to qualify for the Olympic trials.

Olympian Micah Sumrall took second in 1:07.78 to also earn a trials cut.

A pair of Canadian swimmers followed as Kierra Smith finished third (1:08.21), followed by Rachel Nichol (1:08.89).

Molly Hannis qualified for trials with a fifth-place finish of 1:08.98, followed by Faith Knelson (1:09.04) and Byanca Rodriguez (1:09.34).

Emily Escobedo rounded out the top eight with a trials cut of 1:09.92.

Rachel Bernhard (1:09.69) and Danielle Herrman (1:10.52) also earned trials cuts from the B final.

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Men’s 100 Breast

Andrew Wilson held on to his top seed from prelims in the 100 Breast, but hung on to a narrow victory in a race that featured four swimmers the same age finishing within a second of each other.

Wilson, Nic Fink, Josh Prenot and Kevin Cordes are all 25 years old and finished 1-2-3-4, respectively.

Wilson finished in 1:00.57, barely edging Fink (1:00.61) and Prenot (1:00.76). Cordes wasn’t too far behind at 1:01.28 as all four qualified for the Olympic trials.

Caspar Corbeau (1:02.14) was fifth followed by Richard Funk (1:02.70), Jake Foster (1:02.84) and Miguel Chavez (1:03.95).

Connor Hoppe of Cal finished ninth to qualify for trials in 1:03.05.

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Women’s 50 Back

Olivia Smoliga continued her dominance in the backstroke events of late, winning the 50 Back at the 2019 TYR Pro Swim Series in Knoxville.

Smoliga won the event in 27.85, easily holding off Kayla Sanchez (28.13).

Kathleen Baker finished third in 28.37, followed by Ali DeLoof (28.38).

Jade Hannah (28.45), Isabelle Stadden (28.50) and Phoebe Bacon (28.55) — all 16-year-olds — followed.

Danielle Hanus rounded out the top eight in 28.80.

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Men’s 50 Back

Michael Andrew continued his strong start at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Knoxville.

After setting the Pro Series record in the 50 Back during prelims (24.68), he nearly matched it, winning the event in 24.73. Both times are lower than Junya Koga’s 24.74 in 2015.

Olympian Ryan Murphy was just behind in 24.95 to finish second.

Daniel Carr (25.18) and Bryce Mefford (26.04) followed.

Tim Zeng was fifth (26.09), followed by Jack Kirby (26.25), William Marois (26.74) and Zach Franklin (27.02).

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Women’s 100 Fly

In an event packed with Olympians from several different countries, Kelsi Dahlia was able to push past the competition and win the 100 Fly at the TYR Pro Series in Knoxville.

Kendyl Stewart finished second in 58.28, also earning an Olympic trials cut.

Canadian Olympian Penny Oleksiak finished third in 58.33, followed by Egyptian Olympian Farida Osman (58.68).

Regan Smith, 16, finished fifth to qualify for trials in 58.85, followed by Olympic gold medalist Dana Vollmer, who was sixth in 59.27.

Natalie Hinds, making her return to the pool, qualified for trials with a 59.67 swim.

Haley Black took eighth in 59.84.

Megan Kingsley (1:00.55) and Kylie Jordan (1:00.60) earned trials cuts from the B final.

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Men’s 100 Fly

After a stacked women’s 100 Fly final, the men’s 100 fly had some big names, but they didn’t all finish at the top at the TYR Pro Series in Knoxville.

Marius Kusch won the race in 52.06 to qualify for the Olympic trials.

Luis Martinez of Guatemala finished second in 52.14.

Giles Smith finished third in 52.40), followed by Olympian Tom Shields (52.55) and teen sensation Gianluca Urlando (52.96).

Cal’s Justin Lynch (53.18) and Matthew Josa (53.34) followed with trials cuts.

Michael Andrew finished eighth in 54.92 after just winning the 50 Back.

Pace Clark (53.92) made a trials cut from the B final.

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Women’s 400 IM

Katie Ledecky made it 2-for-2 on the first full night of the 2019 TYR Pro Swim Series in Knoxville.

After winning the 200 free, Ledecky won the 400 IM in an extremely close race with Hali Flickinger.

Ledecky finished in 4:39.39, holding off Flickinger (4:39.80).

Melanie Margalis took third in 4:40.31, followed by Emily Overholt (4:46.32).

Mariah Denigan, 15, was fifth in 4:47.67 to earn a trials cut. Megan Kingsley (4:50.15) and Alex Walsh (4:51.27) followed in trials cuts.

Samantha Tadder, 16, was eighth (4:52.09). Phoebe Bacon swim a 4:52.34 out of the B final.

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Men’s 400 IM

Josh Prenot closed the evening session of the TYR Pro Swim Series in Knoxville with a victory in the 400 IM.

Prenot finished in 4:18.74, dropping his prelims time by more than six seconds.

Carson Foster finished second in 4:20.27, followed by NC State’s Anton Ipsen (4:20.72).

Jay Litherland, swimming for Dynamo, took fourth in 4:22.57 to earn a trials cut.

Jake Foster took fifth (4:24.36) in a trials cut, followed by Tristan Cote (4:24.38) and Zachary Tan (4:25.31).

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