By Sharon Robb
June 20, 2014—-For the second day in a row, Melissa Marinheiro of South Florida Aquatic Club was the top Florida Gold Coast finisher Friday at the Arena Grand Prix at Santa Clara at George Haines International Aquatic Center.
Against a deep, quality distance field, Marinheiro, 17, qualified for the “D” final in the 400-meter freestyle in 4:22.84, just .06 off her best time. She finished 35th overall in 4:24.30.
SOFLO teammates Jessica Rodriguez, 15, was 65th in the 200-meter breaststroke in 2:47.42. She went out in 1:20.47 in the first 100. She also swam 1:14.10 in the 100-meter butterfly bonus race.
Olivia Katcher, 18, went 1:09.63 in the 100-meter butterfly, 1:02.80 in the 100-meter freestyle and 4:44.58 in the 400-meter freestyle.
SOFLO’s relay of Marcella Marinheiro, Olivia Katcher, Melissa Marinheiro and Jessica Rodriguez went 4:14.62 in the 400-meter freestyle relay, the only FGC team in the event.
Other Florida Gold Coast results: Megan Moroney, St. Andrew’s Swimming, 100-meter freestyle, 57.53 and 100 butterfly, 1:03.50; Tasija Karosas, Unattached, 100-meter freestyle, 57.87; Jennifer Marquez, Azura Florida Aquatics, 100-meter freestyle, 58.34; Roberto Gomez, Unattached, 100-meter freestyle, 51.27; Marco Guarente, Azura, 200-meter breaststroke, 2:21.52; Daniel Pereira, Azura, 200-meter breaststroke 2:30.03; Quinn Cassidy, St. Andrew’s Swimming, 200-meter breaststroke 2:32.73; Marcelo Acosta, Azura, 400-meter freestyle, 3:57.39.
The sport’s marquis athletes, Olympians Missy Franklin and Michael Phelps had mixed results.
In her first meet of the summer season, Olympian Missy Franklin, 19, finished second to incoming Stanford freshman Simone Manuel in the 100-meter freestyle in 54.51. Franklin also swam the 100 butterfly prelims as a training race.
“It’s a lot of pressure now but it’s really nice next summer when all we have to focus on is the worlds,” Franklin said.
Michael Phelps, 28, tied Tom Shields for first in the 100-meter butterfly in 52.11 and had to come from behind to do it. It was the best time of his comeback so far.
Phelps was also second in the 100-meter freestyle in 48.80. Phelps is coming off high altitude training at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
In other championship finals:
Women’s 100-meter freestyle:
In an exciting race to open the meet, Simone Manuel, 17, of First Colony Swim Team out-touched a surging five-time Olympic medalist Missy Franklin, 19, of Cal Aquatics to win in 54.44. Manuel went out in 26.47. Franklin was second in 54.51 and Allison Schmitt, 24, of North Baltimore Aquatic Club was third in 55.08.
Men’s 100-meter freestyle:
Olympic gold medalist and top seed Nathan Adrian, 25, of Cal Aquatics won in 48.17. He went out in 22.96 and had nearly a half-body length coming home. Michael Phelps, 28, of North Baltimore Aquatic Club, was second in 48.80. Conor Dwyer, 25, of North Baltimore was third in 49.76. Bolles alum Santo Condorelli, 19, was seventh in 50.35. Brazilian Bruno Fratus, 24, was 14th in 50.84.
Women’s 200-meter breaststroke:
Micah Lawrence, 23, of SwimMAC outraced the field for a body length lead to win in 2:26.53. Laura Sogar, 23, of Bluefish Swim Club was second in 2:29.57 and Annie Zhu of North Baltimore was third in 2:30.02. Elizabeth Beisel, 21, of Bluefish Swim Club was seventh in 2:31.29.
Men’s 200-meter breaststroke:
In a close race, Kevin Cordes, 20, of Tucson Ford, swimming in Lane 8, won in 2:11.82. Chase Kalisz, 20, of North Baltimore was second in 2:12.43 and B.J. Johnson, 27, of Palo Alto Swim Club was third in 2:12.55. Brazil’s Felipe Lima, 29, of Azura Florida Aquatics was 13th in 2:16.89.
Women’s 400-meter freestyle:
Denmark’s Lotte Friis, 25, training at North Baltimore Aquatic Club, won her second event of the meet in 4:06.83. Canadian Brittany MacLean, 20, was second in 4:07.23. Venezuelan Olympian and national record holder Andreina Pinto, 22, of Gainesville Swim Club was third in 4:07.25. Elizabeth Beisel, 21, was fifth in 4:08.67. Former Clearwater swimmer Becca Mann, 16, of North Baltimore was sixth in 4:12.30.
Men’s 400-meter freestyle:
Connor Jaeger, 23, of Club Wolverine turned it on in the second half of the race to win in 3:47.98. Michael McBroom, 23, of TWST was second in 3:49.26 and Canadian Ryan Cochrane, 25, was third in 3:50.84. Mitch D’Arrigo, 19, of Gainesville Swim Club was ninth in 3:55.39.
Women’s 100-meter butterfly:
Top seed Felicia Lee, 22, of Stanford won in 59.62. Kelly Naze, 20, of Cal was second in 1:00.22 and Noelle Tarazona, 21, of Bruins Swim Club was third in 1:00.38.
Men’s 100-meter butterfly:
In an exciting race, top seed Michael Phelps surged in the final 15 meters to tie early leader Tom Shields, 22, of Cal Aquatics in 52.11. Shields went out in 24.55 and was just ahead of Phelps. Eugene Godsoe, 26, of Stanford Swimming was third in 53.11. Sebastian Rousseau, 23, of Gainesville Swim Club was 11th in 53.97.
Women’s 400-meter freestyle relay:
California Aquatics had no trouble winning in 3:44.48 with Camille Cheng, Elizabeth Pelton, Caroline Piehl and Missy Franklin’s 55.45 anchor split.
Men’s 400-meter freestyle relay:
Motivated by its World Cup soccer team, Mexico (Alejandro Escudero, Long Gutierrez, Julio Olvera Alejos, Luis Campos Alpizar) won in 3:28.09 nipping Santa Clara 3:28.09-3:28.56.
Before the women’s 100-meter butterfly, a special tribute was made for Olympian Amy Van Dyken-Rouen, 41, recovering from an all-terrain vehicle accident where she severed her spine that left her paralyzed from the pelvic bone down. A banner for Van Dyken is being circulated during the meet for swimmers, coaches and fans to sign.
Chloe Sutton and Natalie Coughlin scratched from their Friday events. Coughlin withdrew from the meet after spending two weeks competing in Europe.
Saturday’s events are the 400-meter individual medley, 200-meter freestyle, 200-meter backstroke, 50-meter freestyle and 800-meter freestyle relay.
The final stop on the Grand Prix six-meet circuit is a final dress rehearsal for this summer’s National Championships and Selection Trials for Pan Pacs in August and 2015 World Championships in Russia, on Aug. 6-10 in Irvine, Calif.
USA Swimming.org will live stream both the prelims and finals. Universal Sports will also televise the meet on June 21-22 starting at 8 p.m.
Sharon Robb can be reached at sha11cats@aol.com
http://www.swim4soflo.com
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