AT&T Winter National Championships 2015: Thursday USA Swimming Results, Reaction

The 2015 AT&T Winter Nationals are officially underway in Federal Way, Washington, with a number of top stars in action on Thursday to kick off the competition.

The 2016 Summer Olympics are rapidly approaching, with the opening ceremonies eight months away. This weekend's nationals are a great opportunity for those swimmers with dreams of competing in Rio de Janeiro.

This will also be a big stage on which to make an impression ahead of the U.S. Olympic Trials, which start in June.   

Below is a list of the top 10 finishers from Thursday's afternoon heats, with the finals scheduled for later on in the evening.

Thursday Heat Results

Place	Swimmer	Time
1	Lindsay Vrooman	4:08.68
2	Allison Schmitt	4:09.20
3	Gillian Ryan	4:09.45
4	Haley Anderson	4:10.12
5	Sarah Henry	4:10.32
6	Elizabeth Beisel	4:11.02
7	Cierra Runge	4:11.71
8	Kennedy Goss	4:13.59
9	Vien Nguyen	4:13.65
10	Sam Cheverton	4:13.70

Place	Swimmer	Time
1	Conor Dwyer	3:50.46
2	Michael McBroom	3:51.46
3	Ryan Feeley	3:51.80
4	Anton Oerskov Ipsen	3:52.25
5	Jordan Harrison	3:52.30
6	Ryan Cochrane	3:52.55
7	True Sweetser	3:52.77
8	Takeshi Matsuda	3:53.54
9	Matias Koski	3:53.71
10	Jeremy Bagshaw	3:53.74

Place	Swimmer	Time
1	Caitlin Leverenz	2:13.30
2	Maya DiRado	2:13.78
3	Celina Li	2:13.94
4	Siobhan Haughey	2:14.04
5	Sarah Henry	2:14.17
6	Kathleen Baker	2:14.24
7	Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson	2:14.33
8	Stina Gardell	2:14.50
9	Meghan Small	2:14.58
10	Elizabeth Beisel	2:14.66

Place	Swimmer	Time
1	Michael Weiss	1:58.97
2	Chase Kalisz	2:00.09
3	Eduardo Solaeche	2:00.62
4	Michael Phelps	2:00.75
5	David Nolan	2:00.94
6	Uvis Kalnins	2:01.06
7	Patrick Mulcare	2:01.58
8	Dan Wallace	2:02.18
9	Dylan Bosch	2:02.78
10	Mack Darragh	2:02.85

Place	Swimmer	Time
1	Abbey Weitzeil	25.01
2	Simone Manuel	25.08
3	Ivy Martin	25.29
4	Liz Li	25.31
5	Natalie Coughlin	25.40
6	Farida Osman	25.43
7	Amanda Weir	25.46
8	Margo Geer	25.52
9	Madeline Locus	25.73
10	Lia Neal	25.76

Place	Swimmer	Time
1	Josh Schneider	22.23
2	Brad Tandy	22.29
3	Nathan Adrian	22.29
4	Paul Powers	22.37
5	Geoff Cheah	22.39
6	Matt Grevers	22.43
7	Cullen Jones	22.49
8	Santo Condorelli	22.51
9	Kristian Gkolomeev	22.54
10	Vladimir Morozov	22.57

Thursday Afternoon Recap

Many eyes in Federal Way were on Michael Phelps, especially after the 18-time gold medalist confirmed Wednesday the 2016 Olympics would be his last, per USA Swimming:

Phelps qualified for the men's 200-meter medley final after finishing with the fourth-best time (two minutes, 0.75 seconds) during the preliminary heats. He swam well, even leading after 100 meters, but he clearly did just enough to get to the finals without expending all of his energy.

Whereas Phelps represents one generation of American swimming, his teammate Chase Kalisz is among those the U.S. hopes will carry the torch in Rio and beyond.

The 21-year-old finished a little over a second behind Michael Weiss during the 200-meter medley, posting a time of 2:00.09 seconds.

"Having Chase back from school has been good for me in workout," Phelps said of his relationship with Kalisz, per Swimming World Magazine. "I always look at him as a younger brother, and I don’t like when my younger brother beats me in workout."

After Kalisz bested Phelps in November's Arena Pro Swim Series in Minneapolis, Phelps will be itching to get the better of his workout partner Thursday night.

The women's 50-meter freestyle also featured a pair of Olympic medal-winners, Amanda Weir and Natalie Coughlin. Both advanced to the final, with Coughlin narrowly edging out Weir by 0.06 seconds in the fourth freestyle heat.

Nineteen-year-old Abbey Weitzeil, who entered Federal Way with quite a reputation already, laid down a marker in the women's 50 meters with the top time of 25.01 seconds.

Weitzeil opted against enrolling at the University of California, Berkeley, until after the 2016 Olympics. That has allowed her to divert even more of her attention toward Rio, and the strategy looks to be paying off in a big way.

Thursday Final Results

Place	Swimmer	Time
1	Allison Schmitt	4:06.88
2	Haley Anderson	4:08.38
3	Sarah Henry	4:08.86
4	Cierra Runge	4:08.93
5	Lindsay Vrooman	4:09.00
6	Elizabeth Beisel	4:10.21
7	Andreina Pinto	4:11.07
8	Hannah Moore	4:11.78
9	Emily Overholt	4:12.10
10	Sam Cheverton	4:12.81

Place	Swimmer	Time
1	Conor Dwyer	3:48.11
2	Matias Koski	3:49.37
3	Ryan Cochrane	3:50.15
4	Michael McBroom	3:50.50
5	Takeshi Matsuda	3:51.86
6	Maxime Rooney	3:51.88
7	Jordan Harrison	3:51.99
8	True Sweetser	3:52.76
9	Anton Oerskov Ipsen	3:52.85
10	P.J. Ransford	3:53.92

Place	Swimmer	Time
1	Maya DiRado	2:11.10
2	Caitlin Leverenz	2:11.79
3	Kathleen Baker	2:12.13
4	Sarah Henry	2:13.05
5	Siobhan Haughey	2:13.20
6	Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson	2:13.28
7	Stina Gardell	2:13.53
8	Ella Eastin	2:13.79
9	Elizabeth Beisel	2:14.26
10	Kelly Naze	2:15.28

Place	Swimmer	Time
1	Michael Phelps	1:57.61
2	Chase Kalisz	1:58.77
3	Eduardo Solaeche	2:00.14
4	David Nolan	2:00.15
5	Michael Weiss	2:00.19
6	Patrick Mulcare	2:00.48
7	Uvis Kalnins	2:00.56
8	Dan Wallace	2:01.25
9	Evan White	2:01.79
10	Dylan Bosch	2:01.98

Place	Swimmer	Time
1	Simone Manuel	24.83
2	Abbey Weitzeil	24.86
3	Farida Osman	25.22
4	Lia Neal	25.25
5	Ivy Martin	25.26
6	Natalie Coughlin	25.27
7	Amy Bilquist	25.33
8	Margo Geer	25.35
9	Liz Li	25.43
10	Madeline Bilquist	25.48

Place	Swimmer	Time
1	Nathan Adrian	21.76
2	Vladimir Morozov	21.86
3	Brad Tandy	21.87
4	Santo Condorelli	22.04
5	Josh Schneider	22.05
6	Paul Powers	22.27
7	Matt Grevers	22.30
8	Cullen Jones	22.33
9	Geoff Cheah	22.39
10	Kristian Gkolomeev	22.44

Thursday Evening Recap

As expected, Phelps stole the show during the final of the 200-meter individual medley.

While he may have been holding back some during qualifying, the 18-time gold medalist took home the title when it counted behind a strong butterfly portion of the race. He held off Kalisz, who is the other primary Olympic medal hopeful on the American side, by a mere 1.61 seconds.

The Red, White and Blue should be strong in the event by the time Rio rolls around if Phelps and Kalisz continue to push each other like they did Thursday. 

USA Swimming passed along Phelps’ press conference after the win:

Elsewhere, hometown favorite Nathan Adrian (from Bremerton, Washington) gave the crowd plenty to cheer about during the men’s 50-meter freestyle. Adrian is the American record holder in the event, and he cleared the rest of the field by 0.1 second.

That may seem like the blink of an eye, but second-place finisher Vladimir Morozov only beat third-place finisher Brad Tandy by 0.01 second. That was the same margin that separated fourth place from fifth place.

On the women’s side, Allison Schmitt took home the title in the 400-meter freestyle by 1.5 seconds over the rest of the field. She created separation throughout the lengthy race, and there was little doubt who the best swimmer was in the event by the finish. 

Olympian Conor Dwyer took home the men’s 400-meter freestyle crown by more than a second as well.

Maya DiRado won the women’s 200-meter individual medley to much less fanfare than Phelps. Still, she held off Olympian Caitlin Leverenz and caught the attention of her former school in the process:

Plenty of attention was focused on the women’s 50-meter freestyle because of the presence of Coughlin and Weir, who both made the final. Weitzeil was also comfortably in the final after an impressive qualifying showing, but it was Simone Manuel who captured the crown against the high-profile names.

Weitzeil turned in a quality showing in second place, but Coughlin and Weir finished well off the pace.

Note: The full results from each event are available on OmegaTiming.com.