The upset of former UF swimmer and favorite Caeleb Dressel in the 100-meter freestyle headlined Wednesday’s action at the 2018 Phillips 66 USA Swimming National Championships.
Dressel finished in sixth for the 100 free, posting a time of 48.50. He was well off his usual form today, finishing the preliminary heats in seventh and having to start the finals from the outside lanes. The 100 free is one of eight events he will participate in at nationals this year.
The Green Cove Springs, Florida, product is one of 30 former, current and prospective Gators to compete at nationals this year, including former Olympic gold medalist Conor Dwyer, current Gators Brennan Balogh, Maxime Rooney and incoming recruits Trey Freeman and Robert Finke.
Rooney, who just finished his sophomore season at UF this spring, finished in seventh place in the same 100-free event, completing his race just .06 seconds behind former teammate Dressel. He will compete in five more events at nationals, including the 200 free and the 200 individual medley against Dressel.
Freeman is also an interesting name to watch for Florida fans for the future. He was one of the top recruits in the 2018 class and will be participating in five events at nationals, all of them being freestyle events. However, he did not qualify for the finals in his first event, also the 100 free, on Wednesday.
Arguably the best result of any swimmer with UF ties came from incoming freshman Robert Finke. Finke, ranked the 17th-best recruit, placed second in the 1500-meter freestyle, finishing 6.45 seconds behind leader Jordan Wilimovsky. With his second-place effort, Finke will swim at the 2018 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Tokyo later this summer. He will also compete in the 400 free, 400 individual medley and 800 freestyle at nationals later this week.
Balogh qualified for the Final C heat of the 200 fly, finishing sixth in that heat. The junior will also compete in four more events this week.
The 2018 Phillips 66 USA Swimming National Championships will run through July 29 in Irvine, California.
Caeleb Dressel struggled at the Philipps 66 on Wednesday.
