PHOENIX, Arizona, December 7. IT'S hard to pick one highlight from last night's finals at the USA Swimming junior nationals in Knoxville, Tennessee, since every event featured fast swims from some of the top 18-and-under swimmers in the country. Meet records were falling left and right last night, highlighted by two in about an hour in the men's 50 free. Vlad Morozov's record of 19.83 first fell in the 200 free relay, as Caleb Dressel swam a 19.82 on the leadoff leg of Bolles' winning relay. In the 50 free final, Brett Ringgold swam a 19.73 to win the event and claim the meet record.
Meaghan Raab and Kathleen Baker broke the meet record in the women's 200 IM in prelims, but it was Baker and Ella Eastin who raced for the title in finals. Baker won by five tenths over Eastin with a 1:56.53, while Raab fell back to third with a 1:58.54.
Steven Stumph and Curtis Ogren also had a tight battle in the men's 200 IM, with Stumph getting the win with a 1:46.79. Stumph and Ogen will battle tonight in the 400 IM and 100 breast. Stumph posted the top time in the 100 breast, while Ogren wasted no time in the 400 IM prelims with a two-second drop on his lifetime best with a 3:46.13.
Joseph Schooling will be the second seed in the men's 100 fly behind Bolles teammate Santo Condorelli. We'll see how close Schooling can get to the 46.50 he swam last month to set the national high school record, especially since Schooling's bigger focus is next month's short course world championships.
The other meet record to fall this morning was Dylan Carter's 1:36.04 in the men's 200 free with a 1:36.04. He was the only swimmer to break 1:37 today.
We'll have live coverage of finals at junior nationals on swimmingworld.com. Be sure to also go to swimmingworld.tv to watch post-race video interviews with some of the winners.
British Swimming made a major announcement today, moving the date of their March nationals to late June. This date change came as a result of the release of the independent panel's review, which called for a change in the date under its list of recommendations. British Swimming has been holding nationals in March for many years, using the meet as the first of two competitions to select major international rosters, including the world championships and Olympics. This new date means the June nationals will be the only opportunity for British swimmers to make it on the team. The nationals will be held one month from the start of the swimming competition at world championships, and the same week as the USA Swimming nationals.
The short course world championships starts next Wednesday in Istanbul, Turkey, and most of the countries are sending their swimmers to the Middle Eastern country today. The United States' team is gathering in New York for their trans-Atlantic flight, and others around the world are also expected to arrive in Turkey this weekend. Two swimmers, however, announced they won't be able to attend. South Africa's Cameron van der Burgh and Roland Schoeman announced that injuries will keep them away from the meet, and they will now focus on preparation for next summer's world championships.
We hope you have some time this weekend to catch our live stream of the Tom Dolan Invitational on swimmingworld.com and swimmingworld.tv. You'll get an opportunity to see Olympic champion Katie Ledecky race in distance freestyle, as well as the 200 butterfly, and witness Jack Conger's attempt to match rival Ryan Murphy in the sub-1:40 club in the 200 backstroke. If you can't catch the live webcast, we'll have recaps from finals for you on swimmingworld.com.
