By Kristy Kinzer, Swimming World College Intern
The lights came on tonight in Centennial Sportsplex for the second finals session of the long-course 2017 Futures Championship in Nashville, TN. These young athletes aspire to achieve break-through swims to qualify for Jr. Nationals and beyond. Tonight’s event line-up featured men’s and women’s 200 freestyle, 100 breast, 100 fly, 400 IM, and the fan favorite 400 freestyle relay.
Many familiar names appeared in the final heats tonight. Starting the evening off in championship fashion was the 16-yera-old Madison Luther from Saline Swim Team in Michigan. She dropped a second from the morning swim, finishing with a time of 2:04.26. Second place Madison Murtagh was not too far behind, finishing with a 2:05.08 and only a half-second spread between second through fifth place. Just sneaking into thrid was Emma Feehery, representing T2 Aquatics with a finishing time of 2:05.19.
The majority of men added time in the final heat except for the top two finishers-16-year-old Julian Hill from Gator Swim Club and Davis Payne from Tac Titans in North Carolina. Hill flirted with the 1:53.0 barrier, just finishing 9 hundredths short of breaking it. Payne finished just ahead of fellow North Carolinian Preston Forst, from UNA Swim Club, with the times of 1:54.83 and 1:55.01 respectively.
Completing the first non-freestyle event of the meet was Delaney Carey from YMCA of Central Florida, claiming the title in the 100 meter breaststroke with a 1:12.36. The only competitor close to her wake was Shayna Fetes, of St. Andrews Aquatics in Florida, finishing with a 1:12.95, showing the Sunshine State’s dominance in breaststroke. The next group of finishers battled it out, and Elizabeth Roche from Spartan Swim Club claimed third place with a 1:14.24.
Making an entrance for the men’s 100 breast was Dillon Hall from Georgia Coastal, finishing first with a 1:05.19, closely followed by James McGuire and Jacob Queen, with 1:05.56 and 1:05.63 respectively.
The women featured some young, fierce competitors in the final heat of the 100 meter butterfly, consisting of mostly 14 to 16-year-olds. But Andie Myers, 18, showed her seniority by claiming the first place title with a 1:02.25. Madison Cummings and Alexandra Meszaros battled it out for second and third with a 1:02.45 and 1:02.53 finish respectively.
Showing up to do some damage in the men’s 100 meter butterfly race was John Mitchell of Metro Atlanta Aquatics, dropping a second and a half to win the championship title with the time of 55.52. In a tight race for top three, Seth Kyriakidis and Spencer Klinsky managed to touch the wall with a 55.64 and 55.79 for second and third.
To close the evening’s final individual race, Alina Faunce of T2 Aquatics surged forward to claim first place with an impressive 4:54.73, dropping nearly five seconds from her swim earlier in the morning. The 14-year-old Brooke Zettel finished just ahead of the versatile Carissa Armijo, with a 4:56.32 and 4:56 respectively.
Contrary to the women’s race, the men’s race was relatively spread out throughout the final heat. Brett Riley of Sarasota YMCA easily won the 400 IM with a 4:29, followed by Joseph Licht of Tampa Bay Aquatics with a 4:32.69. Ethan Sanders returned to claim a third place finish with the time of 4:33.66.
The 400 freestyle relays were swim at the conclusion of prelims today, boasting close competition with the top four relays for women and the top two relays for men. Reaching the wall first was SwimMAC Carolina’s Allyson Accordino, Chloe Harris, Kensley Merritt, and Sophia Francis with the time of 3:55.38. They entered the day seeded fifth, yet busted out strong swims to claim the title. Higlander Aquatic Club finished second with a 3:55.56, followed closely by Saline Swim Team’s 3:55.72 finish.
The consistent Tennessee Aquatics relay team of Alexander Hines, Noah Salcido, Ethan Sanders, and Coleman Kredich claimed their second relay championship tonight, finishing with a time of 3:31.90. Heads turned toward the scoreboard to see the final results, as SwimMAC Carolina’s relay team finished just shy of Tennessee with the close time of 3:31.92. Both relays far out-swam the field by two and a half seconds.
Full results available on Meet Mobile: “2017 Futures championships”.
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