[oldalum]

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.

Harnish actually had the fourth-fastest time going into the NCAAs (4:35.69), but for whatever reason she took it too easy in the prelims, swam only a 4:38 and ended up in a tie for 16 (by contrast Byrnes swam her best time of the year in the prelims). Then I think Harnish swam the swim-off as slowly as she could while still winning (she only had to keep her eye on Byrnes and just barely got that right), and had enough left to finish 2nd in the consolation finals at 4:36--still slower than her psych sheet time. So I think Harnish (a freshman) just had a massive miscalculation or other problem in the prelims, then tried to do what she could to gain as many points for her team as possible. I'll bet next year she won't make the same mistake!

I still think the swim-off in a distance event is cruel and unusual punishment and ought to be unconstitutional.  ;)  In fact, from my standpoint as a former (terrible) swimmer, I think that racing the 500 free itself is cruel and unusual punishment!

[oldalum]

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.

Harnish actually had the fourth-fastest time going into the NCAAs (4:35.69), but for whatever reason she took it too easy in the prelims, swam only a 4:38 and ended up in a tie for 16 (by contrast Byrnes swam her best time of the year in the prelims). Then I think Harnish swam the swim-off as slowly as she could while still winning (she only had to keep her eye on Byrnes and just barely got that right), and had enough left to finish 2nd in the consolation finals at 4:36--still slower than her psych sheet time. So I think Harnish (a freshman) just had a massive miscalculation or other problem in the prelims, then tried to do what she could to gain as many points for her team as possible. I'll bet next year she won't make the same mistake!

I still think the swim-off in a distance event is cruel and unusual punishment and ought to be unconstitutional.  ;)  In fact, from my standpoint as a former (terrible) swimmer, I think that racing the 500 free itself is cruel and unusual punishment!