Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Pan Pacs - Day 1 finals

Ryan qualified for A finals in both the 200 free and 100 back. Ryan had the fastest time in the 200 free - 1:46.10. Peter Vanderkaay finished second with a time of 1:46.66. Ryan was the second fastest qualifyer in the 100 back with a time of 53.69. David Plummer finished first at 53.33.

According to Swimmingworld Magazine, Ryan scratched the 100 back final. Aaron Peirsol, who was the third fastest U.S. swimmer, moved up to the A final to take Ryan's place.

http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/24853.asp?q=Pan%20Pacific%20Championships:%20Day%20One%20Prelims%20-%20Coverage%20Sponsored%20by%20TYR

It must have been a difficult decision to scratch. If my reading of the selection rules is correct, the US swimmers with the fastest two times in Pan Pacs and Nationals make the team for 2011 Worlds. Ryan's time in the prelims of the 100 back at Pan Pacs was not faster than Aaron Peirsol's time at Nationals. Ryan may have made a case for swimming backstroke on the 4 x 100 medley relay at 2011 Worlds if he had a top 2 time. Now it appears that will not happen. I could be wrong about this given that Ryan swam only the prelims and not the finals. It could be that his time today would not count anyway.

In any event, Ryan had a great start to the meet. Tonight's finals can be seen live on http://www.swimnetwork.com/!

edited: Apparently it was not a difficult decision to scratch the 100 back. The article linked below quotes Gregg Troy as saying there was never an intention for Ryan to swim the finals in the 100 back and he swam it for training purposes only. I still think it has to do with the medley relay, and maybe for Ryan to see if he can add that event in the future simply to qualify for the relay. Just pure uneducated speculation on my part!

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67H5G320100818

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