Whitman Swimming: Day Three Recap

It was another exciting day in Texas! Karl starting things off this morning with fantastic 200 butterfly to qualify him 5th for the finals of the event. His prelims time of 1:48.37 lowered his own school and Conference record in the event. Claire Collins then followed Karl's performance with an outstanding swim of her own, swimming a 1:04.87 to qualify her 14th for finals.

In finals, Karl put together a superb swim to get 3rd place overall with a time of 1:47.50 and lower his school and Conference record yet again! In the prelims, Karl's first 100 split was 50.30, and his second 100, 58.07. However, in finals, Karl led off with a more conservative first 100 yards, touching at 51.68 at the halfway point. The energy he saved on the first half of the race turned into an explosive last 50 yards--the fastest final 50 yards in the top 8--that propelled Karl home with a 55.82 split on his second 100 yards, and ultimately a third place finish. Karl also became an All-American for the second time this week. His last 50 yards was foreshadowed by Galen's unbelievable come from behind finish in the 500 freestyle on Wednesday. Galen's final 50 in the 500 was also the fastest in the top 8.

Claire's final in the 100 breaststroke was also a come from behind effort! After her great morning swim, Claire was fired up for finals! And, just like Karl and Galen before her, she closed down the race with a phenomenal last 50 yards--tying the fastest split in her heat at 33.67--for a 1:04.57. Her finals effort knocked another .3 off of her prelims swim and moved her from 14th to 12th place overall. Her swim also made Claire the first Whitman woman to become an All-American Honorable Mention! That's 4 All-American awards so far!

Galen had the day off today but will swim the 1650 tomorrow at the end of the morning session. Galen is seeded 10th in the event and will be swimming in lane 5. The top 8 qualifiers will swim at the beginning of the finals session and because the event is a timed final, meaning that it is only swum once by each athlete rather than prelims-finals format, it doesn't matter whether an athlete swims in the morning or evening. Karl starts the morning off in the first event, the 100 freestyle. Finally, Claire will swim the 200 breaststroke tomorrow as well.

Prelims start at 10am central time! Keep checking the Twitter @WhitmanSwimming for results!

Now here are some fun pictures from today!