Ryan Lochte Leads Night 2 of FL Champs in Sarasota | SwimSwam

By Annika Johnson on SwimSwam

Florida Virtual Championships – Site 1 (Sarasota)

• December 11-13, 2020
• Selby Aquatic Center, Sarasota, FL
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• Psych Sheets (PDF)
• Results on Meet Mobile: “2020 Florida Virtual Championships – Site 1”
• Live Stream (Sarasota Sharks Youtube Channel)

Day 2 of the Sarasota, Florida Championships saw record-breaking performances and multiple lifetime bests, those of which that were posted by 18&Under swimmers will count toward USA Swimming’s 18&Under Winter Championships. 

Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte started off the finals session with a victory in the 100 back, touching the wall 1st at 47.65 and getting half a second closer to his lifetime best, 44.60, than he was this morning. 18-year-old Hayden Kwan of United Swim Club and Lochte were neck-and-neck at the halfway point, splitting 23.49 and 23.45, respectively. Kwan finished the race in 2nd place with a best time of 47.99, shaving .32 seconds off of his previous best from July.

Lochte then posted a 1:43.48 for 1st place in the 200IM, finishing the race over 4 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. This was nearly 5 seconds faster than his prelims time and he came within 3.5 seconds of his lifetime best from 2007. His Gator Swim Club training partner Grant Sanders snagged 2nd place at 1:47.65 while Liam Custer of the Sarasota Sharks tried to chase him down, ultimately touching the wall 3rd with a time of 1:48.20. Both Sanders and Custer added time to their lifetime bests, but Custer was the closest to his, adding  .8 to his freshly acquired best time from November.

Custer, a high school junior, followed up his LSC record-setting 500 free this morning with another solid swim, claiming 1st place with a time of 4:21.67. He added 3 seconds to his prelims time, but still touched the wall with a .83 second lead over Sanders who finished in 2nd place.

18-year-old Emma Weyant of the Sarasota Sharks defended her top seed rank in the 200IM by posting a time of 1:58.70. The U.S. National Team member chipped away .83 of the gap between her prelims time and her lifetime best, 1:58.07, which she swam at the 2018 FHSAA 4A State Meet. Weyant’s 15-year-old teammate Michaela Mattes took 2nd place at 2:02.13, 1 second off of her one-month-old personal best.

Weyant had a relatively quick turnaround in finals, with only 2 heats of the men’s 200IM between her own 200IM and 500 free. Unfazed, she crushed her lifetime best by nearly 2.5 seconds and touched the wall 1st at 4:38.39. Her previous best was from the 2019 FHSAA 4A Swim and Dive Championships. Tonight, Weyant even scared the 17-18 LSC record of 4:36.81. Mattes snagged 2nd place again with a time of 4:46.74, less than 1 second off of her best time from February, 2019. Her Sarasota Sharks teammate, 14-year-old Addison Sauickie, posted a 4:48.12 for 3rd place, adding about 1 second to her best time from November.

Other Event Winners:

• 16-year-old Natalie Mannion of the Sarasota Sharks won the 100 back, touching the wall at 54.08 nearly half a second ahead of the field. This was faster than her prelims time, but still 1 second off of the lifetime best she posted in December, 2019.

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