Ledecky cruises in 200 meters
Dressel continues his rise with win in men’s 100 fly
SANTA CLARA >> Katie Ledecky didn’t set another record Friday night at the TYR Pro Series at Santa Clara swim meet.
The world’s greatest swimmer is human, after all.
But Ledecky, in the middle of spring quarter finals at Stanford, wasn’t complaining about her victory in the 200-meters freestyle three weeks after a worldrecord performance in Indianapolis.
She won in 1 minute 55.82 seconds, more than 2 seconds better than fellow 2016 Olympian Leah Smith, who was second. Stanford teammate Simone Manuel was fourth in 1:59.59.
“That’s exactly where I was hoping to be,” Ledecky said of her time. “I just wanted to put together a really great race. Really focus on my tempo and some technical things.”
The meet that ends Sunday at the George F. Haines International Swim Center is one of the lead-up events to the U.S. championships in July. The biggest international meet is the PanPacific championships in August.
“This is an off year for us,” said Chase Kalisz, who had a 7 ½-second victory in the 400 individual medley.
Kalisz, a silver medalist at the Rio Games and 2017 world champion, won in 4:11.62 — the world’s top time this year.
He wasn’t impressed. “It was painful,” Kalisz said. “In the 400 IM it’s either there, or not. It’s all I had right now. I come to these meets and use them as training.”
Caeleb Dressel, the swimmer with a chance to become a household name at the Tokyo Games in 2020, called his victory in the 100 butterfly “all right.”
Dressel tied Michael Phelps last year by winning seven gold medals at the World Championships. It will take another such effort to Tokyo to catapult him to celebrity status.
Dressel’s victory in 52.20 seconds is a small step toward that goal. He finished .59 of a second ahead of Cal’s Andrew Seliskar, who also was second in the 200 freestyle Friday night.
Bay Area swimmers had strong performances with Cal Olympian Josh Pernot winning the 200 breaststroke and Stanford’s Ella Easton first in the 400 IM ahead of Smith, a two-time Olympic medalist.
Two-time Olympic champion Ryan Murphy of Cal won the 200 backstroke by almost a half second in 1:56.06.
Rising backstroke star Regan Smith, 16, won the women’s 200 backstroke in 2:09.60 whereas Olympian Lilly King won the 200 breaststroke in 2:24.97.
“I thought it would be a little faster, but it’s a little chilly and windy out here,” King said. “We’re in the hardest part of our season right now, and I can still bust out a 2:24.”