U.S. Nationals: Swim-Offs Kick Off Intense Final Night (Heat Sheet)
It will be a busy final day at the 2025 U.S. National Championships as the women’s 1500 freestyle, men’s 800 freestyle, 200 IM and 50 freestyle will take the water on top of swim-offs in the men’s and women’s 200 freestyles and the women’s 50 breaststroke. The five day competition has been held at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis, Indiana.
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The final session will be kicked off with a swim-off in the men’s 200 freestyle between Jake Mitchell and Baylor Nelson. Both men stopped the clock at 1:47.38 and will be competing for a spot at the World University Games in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany.
There will also be a swim-off in the women’s 200 freestyle between Erin Gemmell and Anna Peplowski, who hit the wall at 1:55.82 on night two of competition. Both individuals will be making the trip to Singapore for the World Championships, with this swim-off determining the fourth automatic spot.
The final swim-off that will take place before finals begin will happen in the women’s 50 breaststroke between McKenzie Siroky and Emma Weber. Both individuals, who tied for second place at 30.43 on Thursday, will compete for one open spot in the event at the World Championships next month.
Two distance events will begin the already scheduled competition for the final night of competition. In the women’s 1500 Katie Ledecky is the heavy favorite to continue her distance domination. Jillian Cox has the slight advantage in the race to finish second. In the men’s 8000 freestyle Bobby Finke will look to sweep the distance events after winning the mile on day one. It will be a tight race for second as under two seconds separates the next three swimmers in Luke Ellis, David Johnston and Rex Maurer.
In the women’s 200 IM, 2022 World Champion Alex Walsh stayed ahead of Leah Hayes in the final preliminary heat of the morning to take the top seed going into the final this evening. It will be a stacked field in the final that includes Olympian Phoebe Bacon and National Champion Caroline Bricker. It took 2:12.97 to reach the championship final. In the men’s event Shaine Casas cruised to 1:57.70 to take the top-seed. It will be a 2024 Olympic Trials rematch between Casas and Carson Foster, who won the event last summer, as only fourth tenths separates them after prelims. The field also includes veterans in Grant House and Kieran Smith along with Baylor Nelson and Mitchell Schott.
Gretchen Walsh will be the top-seed in the final of the 50 freestyle, going 24.30 in the final women’s preliminary heat of the morning. Walsh will be joined by three other Olympians in the final, in Kate Douglass, Torri Huske and Simone Manuel. Douglass, who put up a blazing swim in the first circle seeded heat, sits only eight hundredths behind Walsh. Jack Alexy will be the name to beat in the men’s event tonight, stopping the clock at 21.59 this morning. He is just over a tenth of a second ahead of Jonny Kulow after the prelims and will be joined by a deep field that include Chris Guiliano and Matt King. It took 22.14 to reach the championship final.
