Olympic Trials Wave I: PVS Swimmers Excel on Final Day
By Reach for the Wall Staff
The last night of Finals featured several current and former PVS swimmers vying for the chance to move forward to Wave II. The Women’s 50 Freestyle was the first event with Tatum Wall (NCAP) and Katie Mack (Florida/NCAP) in the B-Final. Katie Mack took charge of the race, touching 1st in 25.78, .02 ahead of 2nd place finisher Marina Spadoni. Tatum Wall sprinted her way to an 8th place finish in 26.12.
The A-Final featured the top seed Missy Cundiff (William & Mary/SNOW) and 3rd seed Camille Spink (NCAP). Both girls set personal bests in their prelim swims and were poised to flourish in the Final heat. Missy had the fastest reaction time at the start and did not relinquish her lead for the splash and dash event, winning in a time of 25.46, beating her prelim time by .03 seconds. Camille was just behind Missy the duration of the race, hitting the wall in a tie for 2nd place in 25.54! That time was also her best, beating her prelim swim by .09 seconds and securing a spot in Wave II for the second time, as she also won the 100 Freestyle on the first day of the meet!
In the Men’s 50 Freestyle, Corey Shepherd (Air Force/Occoquan) made it out of prelims into the B-Final with a best time of 22.94. Corey made the most of his opportunity and dropped his time again, going 22.85 and capturing 4th in the race!
The Men’s 200 Breaststroke was the only other event with a PVS swimmer competing with Jakob Frick (NCAP) possessing the top seed from prelims. Jakob was aggressive in his tactics for the race and took the first 100 out in 1:04.47 (which was actually a bit slower than his prelim swim where he went 1:04.15). Jakob held the lead through 150 meters, and lunged at the finish to come up .02 short of the victory in a best time of 2:14.40! The 2nd place finish gives him the opportunity to swim both his 200 and 100 Breaststroke races again in Wave II next week! Way to go Jakob!
Congratulations to those who are moving forward to Wave II, which begins Sunday, June 13th! We’ll be watching and doing our best to highlight all the swimmers from the DMV/PVS competing for their spot to represent the US on the Olympic Team!
If you make the trip to Omaha & want to share your experience, please contact us at: operations@reachforthewall.org, we’d be happy to lend you some space to tell your story!