[DenverCard]

Dominant performance by Stanford today.  Though both relays set records, and Katie Ledecky swims absurdly far in front of the rest of a pack that are all bunched up, the 200 IM swum by Ella Eastin was amazing.  She broke her own record by a full second.  In beating last year's winner, Kathleen Baker of C.al, Eastin was slightly slower than Baker in each of the butterfly, backstroke, and breaststroke legs, only to blast past Baker on the last 50 (freestyle).

With victory all but bestowed upon them since the season began, I was concerned that the team might be complacent -- expecting to win simply by showing up, and forgetting that they still have perform at an elite level -- but such concerns were quickly obliterated.  Countless swimmers were lights out.

Interesting aside: As noted, the competitor from Georgia, Courney Harnish, beat Megan Byrnes in the 500, with both swimming 4:45s to following their morning swims of 4:38.  So you figure  Harnish would have nothing left for the final, and that last place was a foregone conclusion.  In fact, though, she got 2nd in consolation finals, for 10th overall.  And in doing so, she swam a 4:36 -- two seconds faster than the morning swim, and 9 seconds faster than the swim-off that she won by only 0.05 seconds.  Somewhat strange, but impressive.

[DenverCard]

Dominant performance by Stanford today.  Though both relays set records, and Katie Ledecky swims absurdly far in front of the rest of a pack that are all bunched up, the 200 IM swum by Ella Eastin was amazing.  She broke her own record by a full second.  In beating last year's winner, Kathleen Baker of C.al, Eastin was slightly slower than Baker in each of the butterfly, backstroke, and breaststroke legs, only to blast past Baker on the last 50 (freestyle).

With victory all but bestowed upon them since the season began, I was concerned that the team might be complacent -- expecting to win simply by showing up, and forgetting that they still have perform at an elite level -- but such concerns were quickly obliterated.  Countless swimmers were lights out.

Interesting aside: As noted, the competitor from Georgia, Courney Harnish, beat Megan Byrnes in the 500, with both swimming 4:45s to following their morning swims of 4:38.  So you figure  Harnish would have nothing left for the final, and that last place was a foregone conclusion.  In fact, though, she got 2nd in consolation finals, for 10th overall.  And in doing so, she swam a 4:36 -- two seconds faster than the morning swim, and 9 seconds faster than the swim-off that she won by only 0.05 seconds.  Somewhat strange, but impressive.