Grant House, Andy Dobrzanski Post Strong Times Saturday Evening in Tempe
Veteran Grant House and breaststroke standout Andy Dobrzanski were among the swimmers to record victories at the Sun Devil Open in Tempe, Ariz., on Saturday, while on the women’s side, France native Marie Wattel nearly got under the 2:00 barrier in the 200 freestyle.
House led the way in the men’s 200 free with a time of 1:48.60, distancing himself from a group of five swimmers who all clocked 1:50s (Mattia Mauri, Tiago Behar, Remi Fabiani, Benjamin Butler and Quin Seider).
A few races later, Dobrzanski blasted a time of 1:00.49 for first place in the men’s 100 breaststroke. Fresh off racing the breaststroke leg on a pair of national-title-winning relays to wrap up his collegiate career, Dobrzanski went under 1:01 for the first time in prelims (1:00.67) before hitting another lifetime best in the final. In that same race, Brayden Taivassalo took second in 1:01.28 with Lucien Vergnes third at 1:01.82 after going 1:01.05 in prelims.
Wattel earned her second win of the meet in the 200 free with a time of 2:00.11. She had previously topped the 50-meter race Friday. She won the race by more than two seconds over Grace Lindberg, but the second-best time of the day belonged to Albane Cachot with her 2:00.44 in prelims.
Also doubling up was Adam Chaney, who followed his win in the 50 free Friday with a time of 25.09 in the 50 backstroke, comfortably winning over Alex Desangles (25.79) and Vergnes (25.80). In his only race of the day, Ilya Kharun ended up fifth (26.17). Desangles later won the 100 back (55.19). Reece Grady topped the 400 IM (4:26.96), and the 100 butterfly went to Filip Senc-Samardzic (54.19).
Other winners in women’s events included Emma Harvey in the 50 back (28.78), Eleaunah Phillips in the 400 IM (4:57.75), Julia Ullmann in the 100 fly(59.78), Carrie Kramer in the 100 breast (1:12.19) and Gerda Szilagyi in the 100 back (1:02.78).