USA Trials

[Katie]

Just looking at the results from this morning's heats, here's a summary of the fastest through:

Women’s 100m Fly: Natalie Coughlin, California Aquatics, 58.97 (Third-fastest time in the world this year).
Men’s 400m Free: Peter Vanderkaay, University of Michigan Swim Team, 3:53.06.
Women’s 200m IM: Katie Hoff, North Baltimore Aquatic Club, 2:13.52 (Third-fastest time in the world this year).
Men’s 100m Breast: Brendan Hansen, Longhorn Aquatics, 1:01.08.
Women’s 400m Free: Carly Piper, University of Wisconsin, 4:12.59.
Men’s 400m IM: Robert Margalis, St. Petersburg AC/University of Georgia, 4:22.22.

Why didn't Phelps swim the 400 IM?? I know he did the 400 free, but isn't the 400 IM his best event??

Who knooows? :)

[Katie]

Ahh I have seen the light, courtesy of Swiminfo:

The field that will step on the blocks tonight is loaded and features the presence of Michael Phelps, the eight-time Olympic medalist. Coy about his schedule heading into the competition, it’s now obvious that Phelps was serious about his intentions to alter his program. By choosing to swim the 400 free, an event in which he once held the American record, Phelps opted to bypass the 400 I.M., where he’s the world-record holder and reigning Olympic champ.

Still, it seems a bit weird that you would just decide not to swim an event that would practically guarantee you a gold medal at the World Championships. Strange.

[selkie]

Phelps isn't swimming the 200 fly either. Could be he's just trying something different to break up boredom, could be that his back injury is still causing problems, and fly's the hardest stroke on your spine.

Coughlin had to use a short course meters seed time for the 100 fly, which got her stuck in the slower heats. (long course meters qualifying times get preference for the good heats when it comes to drawing up the heat sheets) I think she might have had to push the prelim swim a little bit harder than she might usually want to just to be safe for the next round.

Phelps also got stuck in the slow heats for the 400 free because he had to use a short course yards qualifying time, and almost screwed up his qualifying swim. 6th fastest qualifier, less than a second away from being relegated to the dread B final.

[Steve]

Women’s 100m Fly: Natalie Coughlin, California Aquatics, 58.97 (Third-fastest time in the world this year).

Putting my anorak on ;), I make that the fourth fastest time (at least) in the world this year. Libby Lenton, Jessicah Schipper (both 58.18) and Alice Mills (58.27) all swam faster at the Aussie trials. I'm sure Coughlin will redress the balance in the semis though.

[selkie]

Something of an upset in the women's 100 fly, as Coughlin finishes 3rd in 59.15 to Rachel Komisarz (58.56) and Mary Descenza (58.76). Nice to see Descenza make the Worlds team after she had a real disappointment in not making the Olympics last year.

Interesting mix of the expected and unexpected in night one.

Expected: Katie Hoff wins the 200 IM in American record time (2:11.25). Hopefully she's figured out how to handle the international pressure and lives up to a huge amount of potential in Montreal.

Brendan Hansen and Mark Gangloff go 1-2 in the 100 breast.

Michael Phelps and Peter Vanderkaay go 1-2 in the 400 free. Phelps is the former AR holder in the event. Vanderkaay has won the 400/500 the last two years at NCAAs.

In the absence of Phelps, Ryan Lochte (4:16.83) edges Robert Margalis (4:16.84) in the 400 IM. Expect Lochte to be faster this summer. He's been holding onto the same taper for about a month now since SEC championships, and has probably lost a bit of endurance in the process.

Unexpected: Carly Piper and 15 year old Kelsey Ditto go 1-2 in the 400 free. Both went 4:11s. Highly touted Kate Ziegler is somewhat disappointing at 3rd/ 4:12. Piper swam on the WR 4x200 free relay last year, but has always been about a stroke behind when it comes to making the national A team in an individual event. Ditto's name has come up as a youngster with promise who looks to be arriving a bit sooner than expected.

Whitney Myers nudges out Kaitlin Sandeno for the second spot in the 200 IM. (2:14.19 to 2:14.32) Myers finished 3rd in the 200 fly at Olympic Trials last year. Nice to see her come back from disappointment and punch her ticket to Montreal.


Generally not as fast a meet as Trials last year, but there are a lot of retirements and no shows. Amanda Beard pulled out of the meet today because she didn't feel like she was properly trained for it. (too many photo shoots, not enough practice time) Gary Hall's off doing the cicada thing/spearfishing in the Athlantic ocean and will probably reappear some time in mid 2006.

[ambresolaire]

Selkie
many thanks for keeping us updated and for giving us a bit of an insight into the new names coming through and for giving us details about the old names. Keep it coming
Thanks

[Pale Rider]

Interesting post from Selkie, good to get background info on new arrivals, keep it coming Selkie.

[Katie]

Putting my anorak on ;), I make that the fourth fastest time (at least) in the world this year. Libby Lenton, Jessicah Schipper (both 58.18) and Alice Mills (58.27) all swam faster at the Aussie trials. I'm sure Coughlin will redress the balance in the semis though.
I thought that too, Steve, (just to let you know that was copied from the USA swimming website!!) but then I thought maybe they were being weird about it and saying it was actually the 3rd fastest TIME this year, as Schipper and Lenton did the same time? Who knows.

I thought the women's 400 free result was a bit disappointing, and also noticed quite a few people going slower in the finals. Just out of interest, does anyone know why they seem to have opted for A/B/C finals as opposed to semis and finals?

[selkie]

New world record for Aaron Piersol in the 100 back- 53.17.

As for meet format, I guess it's because the meet is first the Spring National Championships, and that's how they swim national meets here with prelims, and championship/consolation/bonus finals. It just happens to be that the meet is also serving as the selection meet for Worlds and the World University Games. Compared to the Olympic Trials last year which were first, foremost, and only the selection meet for Athens, so they used the Athens format.

I'm not liking the event order. No matter what you do, you're going to have conflicts, but it now seems like an oddly bad idea to have the 200 free and 100 back on the same day.

And dang, the women's side is getting screwy. Everyone on the US swim board is now googling to figure out who Jeri Moss is besides a new member of the national A team in the 100M back.

[selkie]

Thoughts on tonight's events.

100 back: Natalie Coughlin wins as expected, though not as quick as she has been in the past- 1:01.08. A tenth slower, and she wouldn't have qualified for Worlds if she swam for the UK. (1:01.18 was 10th fastest in the world last year) We'll take her anyways. :) Second place goes to Jeri Moss in 1:02.30. Yes, we were digging through the media guides to figure out who she was too. Turns out she was 16th in both the 100 and 200 back at the Olympic Trials last year, and competes for Auburn University, where she swam well but not eye-poppingly so at NCAAs this year in the backs 6th in the 100, and 7th in the 200. Helps to be training in the same lane with Kirsty Coventry and backstroke world silver medalist Margaret Hoelzer at Auburn. Be nice if her swim here is the beginning of a breakthrough

Men's 200 free: Well the top 4 finishers were the guys who won the 4x200 in Athens. They've just shuffled the order a bit. Michael Phelps wins as expected in 1:46. Peter Vanderkaay gets the second spot in 1:48.27, followed by Klete Keller and Ryan Lochte. There days Phelps, Vanderkaay, and Keller all train together for U of Michigan/Club Wolverine (Go Blue!). Keller reportedly isn't as fit as he could be and will hopefully be quicker in Canada.

Men's 100 back: Aaron Piersol surprises everyone including himself with a world record 53.17 despite taking time off after Athens. Second place plane ticket goes to Randall Bal in 54.01. This is a deep event for the US, and whoever ends up second generally does well internationally as well. Bal was the 2001 world champ in the 50 back in a previous stint on the national A team. Peter Marshall and Matt Grevers also went 54.59.

Women's 200 free: Lindsay Benko seems to be retired, Dana Vollmer seems to be undertrained this year, and Natalie wouldn't have had enough rest time after the 100 back. Result- Katie Hoff goes 2 for 2 for the meet, winning in 1:59.56. Mary Descenza is second in 1:59.93, and the WC prelims relay spots are filled out by Whitney Myers 2:00.14 and Caroline Burckle 2:00.16. Burckle was steadily improving all year for U. of Florida. Whoever swims the relay at Worlds finals is up in the air, but it will probably include Coughlin, and may include 2-3 others who weren't in the top four here depending on who looks fit and quick in June/July.

Men's 200 fly: Okay, it just seems weird to not have Tom Malchow swimming the event since he was reliably first or second in the event since 1996. No Phelps here either. But Davis Tarwater carries on the U of Michigan butterfly tradition by winning in 1:58.71. He needs to improve to be competitive in Montreal, but he's a guy who's been on a steady improvement curve the past year, and training with Phelps seems to work well for him. Michael Raab recovers from a horrible NCAA meet to get an expected second in 1:58.79, and no one else goes under 2:00.

[Bazza]

Thanks again Selkie for all the info - but surely Nathalie would have qualified for GB if she was inside the 10th fastest time last year?

[Gina]

Thanks again Selkie for all the info - but surely Nathalie would have qualified for GB if she was inside the 10th fastest time last year?

She would have, but if she has gone just 0.1 slower then she wouldn't have

[selkie]

women's 100 breast- even with Kristy Kowal and Stacianna Stitts retiring and Amanda Beard skipping the meet, it's a depth event for the US. First 5 qualifiers from the morning session were under 1:10. When the dust cleared, Athens Olympian Tara Kirk won in a quick 1:07.11. Jessica Hardy was second in 1:07.83, and Megan Quann-Jendrick was 3rd in 1:07.95. Hardy has worn the tag of "swimmer with potential" after a 2004 when she set the US high school record in the 100 breast and went 1:08.2 at Olympic Trials last year. Good to see her continuing to progress. Hopefully Jendrick comes back to get a spot in the 200 breast. She's been swimming so well the past two years and I'd hate to see her miss the WC like she missed the Olympics last year.

men's 100 fly- Michael Phelps (51.34) and Ian Crocker (51.45). No need to recap much; just hit control-V from the last couple of US and International meets where those two have swum each other in this event

women's 50 free- U of Georgia Bulldog teammates Kara Lynn Joyce (25.17) and Amanda Weir (25.52) go 1-2. Kara had a great NCAA meet despite food poisoning right before that event. She might be ready to be a bit quicker in Montreal with a taper unmarred by illness. Weir's father has posted on the US swimming boards for a couple years now, and it's really sweet to see how proud of his daughter he is. Both of them look ready to swim fast in the 100 free.

women's 400 IM- Katie Hoff was on American record pace before the piano went on her back during the free leg. Still good enough to win in a 4:39.25. I'll take it as a good sign that she didn't fall apart too much at the end when she was probably really hurting. Rumors about Kaitlin Sandeno's fitness level were partly put to rest as she finished a strong second in 4:41.87. Third place finisher Alicia Aemisegger tabbed herself as one to watch in the future. Seeded in the meet with a 4:50, she impressed with a 4:42.32 in the finals.

Men's 50 free- No Gary Hall this year, but a whole bunch of the usual men's sprint suspects are still hanging around. Jason Lezak (22.29) and Nick Brunelli (22.33) take the top two spots.

Rumor mill is also talking about Klete Keller. Apparently he really did retire briefly after Athens (hey, if you've just beat Ian Thorpe, might as well go out on top) and promptly put on 35-40 pounds. Then Jon Urbanchek recently talked him into getting back into the pool, and even though he's swimming this meet, he's still not terribly fit and 25 pounds over fighting weight. And he still went a 1:48 200M free.

[lane4]

Rumor mill is also talking about Klete Keller.

What is the mill saying about Phelps at this meet? How seriously is he taking it (he had a short break after Athens, he's had a lot of sponsors commitments to fulfill in recent months, he had his drink driving episode to deal with, he's moved programmes this season etc)? He has dropped the 200 fly and 400 IM from his schedule this year when I thought he might have focussed on them a bit more to try and put the world record out of anyone's reach for a long time. Has he fully rested for these World Trials or will he wait for Montreal to do that given that he knows he can make the team in several events without a full taper?

[selkie]

No one's quite sure about Phelps' current fitness status, though speculation is that neither him or Ian Crocker fully tapered for the meet. Phelps' short course times when he was in heavy training eariler this year were very impressive, and he didn't fully taper for the Trials last year, so I'd go on the assumption that he's not swimming fully rested here either.

As for the long fly & IM, I wouldn't be surprised if he was being cautious and cutting back on the fly yardage because of his back injury. His older sister Whitney won a national championship as a butterflyer, then had a very promising swim career pretty much lost because of a back injury of her own.

Apparently Aaron Piersol took a break after Athens and has only been back in the water for 2 1/2 months.

[Katie]

Selkie, do you happen to know what Katie Hoff was DQd for in the 200 fly heats? I bet she would have made the A final! That girl's incredible. Other than the winner the 200 back wasn't as fast as I'd thought it might be, in fact the people who came 1st and 2nd in the B final would both have beaten Hoff to second in the A final.

[croberts]

Selkie, do you happen to know what Katie Hoff was DQd for in the 200 fly heats? I bet she would have made the A final! That girl's incredible. Other than the winner the 200 back wasn't as fast as I'd thought it might be, in fact the people who came 1st and 2nd in the B final would both have beaten Hoff to second in the A final.

It was just a declared false start DQ. She probably decided after her finals swims the night before to not swim the event. But at that point it was too late to scratch the event so she got permission from the referee to miss the event anyways

[selkie]

Delcared false start. If you look at the prelims results, there were a ton of them this year since people decided which events they did and didn't want to swim very later in the game. Not sure why they seperate the declared false starts from the scratches from a technical standpoint. Maybe there's something in the rules that let you do a declared false start later than a normal scratch from an event.

Strategically, it was a smart move for Hoff since the fly was seen as a more competitive event than the 200 backstroke, which was on the same night. Since Coughlin doesn't swim the 200 back these days, the second world team spot after Margaret Hoelzer is seen as very up for grabs. (200 fly, you're in theory chasing a tough trio of Mary Descenza, Dana Kirk, and Kaitlin Sandeno who are all capable of 2:08s when trained and rested)

And it worked out well for Hoff. Hoelzer went a nice world-leading 2:10.42 for the win (though Kirsty Coventry hasn't gone long course this year yet). Hoff qualified only 8th for the final but pulled an outside smoker in the finals and got 2nd in 2:14.83. Not a terribly quick race for the minor medals, but one that would be exciting to get to see since the difference between 2nd place and 7th place was 0.21 seconds.

200 IM- Phelps wins as expected. Lochte goes a nice 1:58.40 for the second spot. I'm feeling for Eric Shanteau, who went a 2:00.29 here, finished 3rd in the 400 IM as well, and is getting relegated to the World University Games Team despite a #3 world ranking in the 200 IM and a #4 world ranking in the 400 IM.

100 free- Phelps shows a bit more sprint speed for the win in 49.00, just edging AR holder Jason Lezak (49.07) The relay spots are filled out by usual suspects Neil Walker and Nate Dusing, and up and coming college students Ben Wildman-Tobriner and Garrett Webber-Gale.

200 fly- biggest surprise was in the prelims when Athens competitors Dana Kirk and Kaitlin Sandeno both swam terribly and only qualified for the B final. This left Mary Descenza set up for a rather easy win in 2:09.00. Second spot when to distance freestyle specialist Emily Mason in 2:10.50. This is going to be an interesting event for the US in the next couple years. 16 year old Elaine Breeden was 3rd in 2:11.60 and 14 year old North Baltimore swimmer Courtney Kalisz turned heads with a 2:12.19 in the prelims.

[croberts]

Delcared false start. If you look at the prelims results, there were a ton of them this year since people decided which events they did and didn't want to swim very later in the game. Not sure why they seperate the declared false starts from the scratches from a technical standpoint. Maybe there's something in the rules that let you do a declared false start later than a normal scratch from an event.

The scratch box closes at 6:30 PM the night before the events so that the Heat Sheets can be produced before everyone leaves the pool for the evening. Declared false starts let the athlete scratch just moments before their swim. I think its a stupid rule because its created a lot of empty lanes at this meet which sort of takes away from the competitive environment a little. Scratches should be taken up until perhaps 30 minutes before the start of prelims to give more time to consider your events and have more full heats.

[Bazza]

I see Michael Phelps now holds the 9 fastest times ever for the 200 IM LC. I love the way he scratched the 200m backstroke because he'd already qualified for 8 events in Montreal!

[Nevilles polish]

200 IM- Phelps wins as expected. Lochte goes a nice 1:58.40 for the second spot. I'm feeling for Eric Shanteau, who went a 2:00.29 here, finished 3rd in the 400 IM as well, and is getting relegated to the World University Games Team despite a #3 world ranking in the 200 IM and a #4 world ranking in the 400 IM.

It could be worse, Britain has neglected to select someone currently ranked 2nd in the world on the swim news rankings(before US trial results) for the World University Games.

[croberts]

It could be worse, Britain has neglected to select someone currently ranked 2nd in the world on the swim news rankings(before US trial results) for the World University Games.

Who does this refer to and how come this is happening?

[selkie]

Shanteau also went 1:59 at the Olympic Trials last year, but didn't get to go to Athens then either. Finished with a #6 world ranking too.

I wish there was some wiggle room with the FINA system like there is with NCAA championships. For that meet, you take your top 18 swimmers regardless of event and let them all fight it out. I'd gladly swap out the #2 women's 200 backstroker or #2 50 freestyler if the US was allowed a third swimmer into the women's 100 breast, men's 200 IM, or men's 100 back instead. Katie Hoff is going to be lucky to make the semifinals of the 200 back in Montreal with a 2:14. Shanteau's good enough to final there.

[Bazza]

What about Ryan Lochte then, just swam 1.57.50 for 200 back which puts him in the top 10 alltime for that event. We've seen he can swim a very good IM and also freestyle. If Michael Phelps wasn't around Ryan Lochte would probably be a pretty high profile swimmer no?

In the same race Aaron Peirsol swam the 3rd fastest 200 back ever - add in his WR on the 100 and not bad for someone who wasn't fit!

[selkie]

Lochte's really come into his own over the past year. I saw tape of his short course SEC meet a while back, and it was amazing. I think he'll be a bit faster in Montreal when he isn't trying to hold onto the tail end of a monthlong taper.

1500 was happily predictable with Larsen Jensen (15:04) and Chris Thompson (15:11) in the top two spots. Nice to see Thompson swimming strong again. He had a freak accident in the weight room late last spring where he ended up breaking both his arms, and the lost training time kept him from making the Athens team.

The men's 1500 is one of the few events that could actually be faster in Montreal than it was in Athens. Gonna be a great race for the fans.

Men's 200 breast- Brendan Hansen wins easy in 2:10.2 Scott Usher finishes second in a repeat of last year's OT results.

women's 200 breast- Sans Amanda Beard, Tara Kirk picked up the win in 2:26, followed by a bunch of girls at 2:27. Second was grabbed by Kristen Caverly, who swam the 200 back in Athens. Report on Caverly is that she's got a world of natural talent, but seems plagued injuries and isn't always the most cheerful person at practice. But she's got a gutsy way of almost willing herself onto national teams if anyone else gives her an inch.

200 back: Piersol and Lochte both have very nice swims.

100 free: Natalie Coughlin wins as expected. Amanda Weir is second in 55.27. U of Arizona's Lacey Nymeyer has a breakthrough swim for third in 55.49, followed by Kara Lynn Joyce, Mary Descenza, and Coughlin's old California teammate Emily Silver for the relay spots.

Not a very fast final, but I expect Coughlin, Weir (PB of 54.50) and Joyce (PB 54.3, sick enough to be hospitalized for it before NCAAs) to be faster in Montreal.

800 free- Kate Ziegler wins in 8:34. Based on some impressive short course times, people had hoped for a bit quicker, but she took care of business. Laura Conway takes the second spot. She's more of a 1500/1650 specialist.

[selkie]

<a href=http://www.usaswimming.org/USASWeb/ViewNewsArticle.aspx?TabId=0&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en&ItemId=597&mid=45> US National Team for the Montreal World Championships </a> as of April 6. Lots of new faces on the women's side. Katie Hoff has already announce she wouldn't be swimming the 200 back in Montreal, so that spot rolls down to Jeri Moss. (2nd in the 100 back, 3rd in the 200 back)

They didn't swim the stroke 50s at Trials. First option for those swims at Worlds go to the individual stroke qualifiers from the 100s. If they opt not to swim (Phelps is already saying he doesn't want to swim the 50 fly) then those spots go to whoever on the team would seem to be able to go reasonably fast in those events.

Men's 800 and women's 1500 were swum, but those were not WC qualifying events. First call on the women's 1500 slots in Montreal go to the top two finishers in the 800. Laura Conway will definitely take hers; she gets better the longer the distance goes. Kate Ziegler will probably take the other one.

The men's 800 spots can go to either swimmers from the 400 or from the 1500. I can't see Phelps swimming the 800, so it'll be pick two from Peter Vanderkaay, Larsen Jensen, and Chris Thompson.

As for the whys there, it's all about having a team geared toward swimming the events on the Olympic program. Adding in the 50 stroke winners could bump a couple Olympic event relay swimmers from the team because of the 26 person cap, and US Swimming doesn't want to do things that way.