U.S. Open: Kennedi Dobson Doubles With 500 Free, 200 IM Wins
The first evening of individual competition at the U.S. Open in Greensboro, N.C., brought a pair of wins from Eastern Express swimmer Kennedi Dobson, who will be headed to the University of Georgia to begin her college career next fall.
Dobson was dominant in the women’s 500 freestyle, up by more than eight tenths after only 50 yards before pulling away to win by seven seconds over U.S. National Team veteran Rachel Klinker. Dobson clocked 4:36.87, ahead of Klinker’s 4:43.87, with Erin Dawson well back in third place (4:49.54).
Later on, Dobson returned to lane four in a much tougher task in the 200 IM final. Well behind at the halfway point, Dobson split 35.65 on breaststroke to move into second place, and then she came home in 27.38 to take the win by more than a second in 1:57.38. Loyola’s Lily Mead, who was even faster on breaststroke at 34.68, took second in 1:58.53, just holding off Nation’s Capital’s Sadie Buckley (1:58.65).
SMU’s Maddy Parker came out on top of a tight final of the 50 free, winning by one hundredth over Adalynn Biegler, 22.26 to 22.27, with Texas A&M’s Chloe Stepanek taking third (22.35).
On the men’s side, the win in the 500 free went to former University of Georgia swimmer and current Swim Atlanta representative Bradley Dunham. He took over the lead at the 200-yard mark and went on to touch in 4:17.76, ahead of Max Carlsen (4:19.07) and Jones Lambert (4:20.43).
In the men’s 200 IM final, Yale’s Charlie Egeland crushed the field on the breaststroke leg with a 29.16 split, and he held off a charging Tim Wu to win in 1:44.60. Wu took second in 1:45.25, and Jack Doyle was third in 1:45.51.
In the final individual event of the night, Purdue’s Brady Samuels got the win over two-time Olympian Drew Kibler, 19.33 to 19.49, with Shane Eckler third (19.68).
After topping two relays Wednesday night, the NCAP women continued to dominate in relay action as Gwyn Frick, Caroline Agee, Emma Cigna and Alyssa Sagle won the women’s 400 medley in 3:38.67, beating out Fresno State (3:40.24) and Queens (3:41.51). Loyola Maryland won the men’s in 3:12.80 with a team Joe Hayburn, Michael Godzan, Patrick Hayburn and Brennan Coyle, with the Loyola “B” team (3:14.16) and Utah (3:15.26) also among the top-three.