Dylan Carter, Abbey Weitzeil Post Top Times on First Morning of Speedo Grand Challenge

The first morning of the Speedo Grand Challenge from Irvine went off with plenty of fast in-season swimming. Dylan Carter put up a solid swim in the 200 free prelims along with good swims from the Cal swimmers Katie McLaughlin and Abbey Weitzeil.

The morning started with Riley Scott of USC topping the 200 IM prelims with a 2:17.64 to lead Keaton Blovad, Ayla Spitz and Zoe Thatcher. The A-Final will only feature four swimmers in each event. Blovad out-split Scott in every stroke expect breaststroke where there was a six second difference so the final will be interesting between those two.

 Event 1  Women 200 LC Meter IM
==================================================================
         2:18.69  NATL
         2:18.69  OT Trials
         2:21.39  JNR
         2:24.28  MIN
    Name            Age Team                 Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Scott, Riley O   19 UN-PC/USC-CA      2:16.67    2:17.64 qNATL  
                 30.42      1:07.74 (37.32)
        1:44.38 (36.64)     2:17.64 (33.26)
  2 Blovad, Keaton   28 CAL-PC            2:19.71    2:18.69 qNATL  
                 29.90      1:03.67 (33.77)
        1:46.31 (42.64)     2:18.69 (32.38)
  3 Spitz, Ayla R    16 NOVA-CA           2:21.21    2:20.03 qJNR   
                 30.45      1:06.64 (36.19)
        1:48.59 (41.95)     2:20.03 (31.44)
  4 Thatcher, Zoe M  20 AUB-SE            2:16.65    2:20.11 qJNR   
                 30.48      1:06.29 (35.81)
        1:48.25 (41.96)     2:20.11 (31.86)

Dylan Carter topped the 200 free heats with a 1:49.07 ahead of USC teammate Cristian Quintero (1:50.83). Justin Nguyen and Zach Apple will also swim in the A-final tonight.

Event 2  Men 200 LC Meter Freestyle
==================================================================
         1:51.89  NATL
         1:51.89  OT Trials
         1:54.69  JNR
         1:56.08  MIN
    Name            Age Team                 Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Carter, Dylan J  21 UN-04-CA/USC-CA   1:48.45    1:49.07 qNATL  
                 25.52        52.99 (27.47)
        1:21.04 (28.05)     1:49.07 (28.03)
  2 Quintero, Crist  24 TROJ-CA           1:49.59    1:50.83 qNATL  
                 26.04        53.67 (27.63)
        1:22.21 (28.54)     1:50.83 (28.62)
  3 Nguyen, Justin   17 NOVA-CA           1:53.46    1:51.66 qNATL  
                 25.83        53.80 (27.97)
        1:22.68 (28.88)     1:51.66 (28.98)
  4 Apple, Zach      20 AUB-SE            1:50.01    1:52.61 qJNR   
                 26.19        54.40 (28.21)
        1:23.71 (29.31)     1:52.61 (28.90)

The women’s 100 breast final will be a tight one as the top four were separated by a little over a second from this morning’s prelims. Texas A&M’s Jorie Caneta leads the qualifiers with a 1:09.44 ahead of Cal’s Marina Garcia (1:09.64) and USC’s Riley Scott (1:10.59). 17-year-old Ali Harrison will also swim in the A-final.

 Event 5  Women 100 LC Meter Breaststroke
==================================================================
         1:11.49  OT Trials
         1:11.59  NATL
         1:13.49  JNR
         1:17.08  MIN
    Name            Age Team                 Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Jorie Caneta     20 UN-01-GU          1:09.98    1:09.44 qOT    
                 32.94      1:09.44 (36.50)
  2 Marina Garcia U  22 CAL-PC            1:08.63    1:09.64 qOT    
                 33.15      1:09.64 (36.49)
  3 Riley Scott      19 UN-PC/USC-CA      1:09.93    1:10.59 qOT    
                 34.19      1:10.59 (36.40)
  4 Ali Harrison     17 BUEN-CA           1:11.52    1:10.65 qOT    
                 33.91      1:10.65 (36.74)

The men’s version will be equally exciting as Cal’s Connor Hoppe and New York Athletic Club’s Mike Alexandrov swam 1:03.31 and 1:03.51 respectively. Hoppe and Alexandrov will be joined by Cal’s Carson Sand and Matt Whittle. Alexandrov is the only non-Cal swimmer in the 100 breast top four and is the oldest swimmer by 11 years.

 Event 6  Men 100 LC Meter Breaststroke
==================================================================
         1:03.69  OT Trials
         1:03.89  NATL
         1:06.29  JNR
         1:08.11  MIN
    Name            Age Team                 Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Hoppe, Connor L  21 CAL-PC            1:00.89    1:03.31 qOT    
                 29.70      1:03.31 (33.61)
  2 Alexandrov, Mik  32 NYAC-MR           1:01.68    1:03.51 qOT    
                 29.84      1:03.51 (33.67)
  3 Sand, Carson J   19 CAL-PC            1:02.66    1:04.15 qJNR   
                 30.07      1:04.15 (34.08)
  4 Whittle, Matt D  21 CAL-PC            1:04.22    1:04.77 qJNR   
                 30.77      1:04.77 (34.00)

The women’s 50 free will be another tight race with Abbey Weitzeil leading the way ahead of USC’s Kendyl Stewart, Cal’s Farida Osman, Canyon’s Amanda Kendall and Cal’s Amy Bilquist. Stewart and Osman were tied for second at 25.88 and Kendall and Bilquist tied for fourth at 25.90, the final spot pending a swim-off for the final.

 Event 9  Women 50 LC Meter Freestyle
==================================================================
           26.19  NATL
           26.19  OT Trials
           26.69  JNR
           27.42  MIN
    Name            Age Team                 Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Weitzeil, Abbey  20 CAL-PC              24.28      25.45 qNATL  
  2 Stewart, Kendyl  22 TROJ-CA             26.04      25.88 qNATL  
  2 Osman, Farida H  22 CAL-PC              24.91      25.88 qNATL  
  4 Kendall, Amanda  26 CANY-CA             25.47      25.90 qNATL  
  4 Bilquist, Amy M  19 CAL-PC              25.71      25.90 qNATL  
 Swim-Off Required ----------------------------------------------

The Men’s 200 IM had a small host of talent as only 13 swimmers entered the event. Ohio State’s Daniel Gloude leads the way at 2:07.04 ahead of Texas A&M’s Brock Bonetti (2:07.31) to lead the way for a young final with 15-year-old Kevin Vargas taking the fourth spot in the final.

 Event 10  Men 200 LC Meter IM
==================================================================
         2:05.09  OT Trials
         2:05.29  NATL
         2:08.69  JNR
         2:10.40  MIN
    Name            Age Team                 Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Gloude, Daniel   20 UN-17-OH/AZOT-CA  2:07.62    2:07.04 qJNR   
                 27.08      1:00.01 (32.93)
        1:37.23 (37.22)     2:07.04 (29.81)
  2 Bonetti, Brock   21 UN-01-GU          2:05.29    2:07.31 qJNR   
                 26.70        58.99 (32.29)
        1:37.16 (38.17)     2:07.31 (30.15)
  3 Sa-Nguansap, Hu  20 AZOT-CA           2:07.52    2:08.87 qMIN   
                 27.34      1:01.18 (33.84)
        1:38.40 (37.22)     2:08.87 (30.47)
  4 Vargas, Kevin L  15 RMDA-CA           2:09.76    2:08.91 qMIN   
                 28.11      1:03.06 (34.95)
        1:38.68 (35.62)     2:08.91 (30.23)

The final four person final for tonight was the women’s 400 free where Cal’s Katie McLaughlin topped the prelims with a 4:16.36. Sandpiper’s Erica Sullivan is second with a pair of Auburn swimmers Ashley Neidigh and Zoe Thatcher rounding out the final.

 Event 13  Women 400 LC Meter Freestyle
==================================================================
         4:17.99  NATL
         4:17.99  OT Trials
         4:22.19  JNR
         4:29.70  MIN
    Name            Age Team                 Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 McLaughlin, Kat  19 CAL-PC            4:18.31    4:16.36 qNATL  
                 30.38      1:03.46 (33.08)
        1:36.25 (32.79)     2:08.89 (32.64)
        2:41.29 (32.40)     3:13.51 (32.22)
        3:45.26 (31.75)     4:16.36 (31.10)
  2 Sullivan, Erica  16 SAND-CA           4:10.87    4:17.81 qNATL  
                 29.90      1:02.15 (32.25)
        1:34.50 (32.35)     2:07.13 (32.63)
        2:39.85 (32.72)     3:12.68 (32.83)
        3:45.60 (32.92)     4:17.81 (32.21)
  3 Neidigh, Ashley  22 AUB-SE            4:13.86    4:18.25 qJNR   
                 30.02      1:02.05 (32.03)
        1:34.40 (32.35)     2:06.97 (32.57)
        2:39.70 (32.73)     3:12.57 (32.87)
        3:45.50 (32.93)     4:18.25 (32.75)
  4 Thatcher, Zoe M  20 AUB-SE            4:20.27    4:20.61 qJNR   
                 30.56      1:03.03 (32.47)
        1:35.79 (32.76)     2:08.88 (33.09)
        2:41.81 (32.93)     3:14.90 (33.09)
        3:47.82 (32.92)     4:20.61 (32.79)

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