Four Olympians Victorious to Close USA Swimming Winter Nationals
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GREENSBORO, N.C. – U.S. Olympian Hali Flickinger (Spring Grove, Pa./Athens Bulldog Swim Club) won the 200-meter butterfly and clinched the women’s high point award Saturday at the USA Swimming Winter National Championships at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.
Sixteen-year-old Dare Rose (Jersey City, N.J./Scarlet Aquatics) claimed the men’s high point title with 70 points, while Katie Ledecky (Bethesda, Md./Nation’s Capital Swim Club/Alto Swim Club) earned the Phillips 66 Performance Award for her 400m free victory.
Flickinger, who touched in 2 minutes, 7.22 seconds to take the 200m fly title, accumulated 86 points this weekend in Greensboro and qualified for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming in a meet-best five events.
“I’ve done long course maybe one practice in the last month, so I knew it was going to be a bit challenging because my short-course stroke is a lot different than my long-course stroke. Of course, I would have wanted to have been close to a best time, but the fact that I haven’t been swimming long course, I had to put it into perspective,” said Flickinger, who was a touch faster in winning the 200m fly at July’s 2018 Phillips 66 Nationals in 2:05.87.
She was one of four U.S. Olympians to top the podium on the final night of the event:
- Jordan Wilimovsky (Malibu, Calif/Team Santa Monica) won his third event in Greensboro, taking the men’s 1500m free in the 15:05.96 after winning the 400m free and 800m free earlier in the meet.
- Simone Manuel (Sugar Land, Texas/Alto Swim Club/First Colony Swim Team) completed a sweep of the women’s sprint freestyle events, winning the 100m free in 53.38.
- Jacob Pebley (Corvallis, Ore./Team Elite) also was victorious for the second straight night after winning the men’s 200m backstroke title in 1:56.96 after posting a lifetime best in the 200m free on Friday.
Other American winners Saturday included Nic Fink (Morristown, N.J./Athens Bulldog Swim Club) in the 200m breast in 2:10.24, Michael Chadwick (Charlotte, N.C./Team Elite) in the men’s 100m free in 48.57, Ashley Twichell (Fayetteville, N.Y./TAC Titans) in the women’s 1500m free title in 16:09.80 and Ryan Vipavetz (Silver Spring, Md./Rockville Montgomery Swim Club) in the men’s 200m in 1:59.43.
Canada’s Kylie Masse closed out a sweep of the backstroke events with a victory in the women’s 200m back in 2:09.92. Fellow Canadian Kelsey Wog won the women’s 200m breast in 2:26.10.
Following a taped Sunday broadcast on NBC Sports Network, a one-hour package from Winter Nationals will air on NBC on Dec. 16 at 3 p.m. ET.
Winning team titles at Winter Nationals were:
- Combined Club: Nation’s Capital Swim Club, 266
- Women’s Club: Nation’s Capital Swim Club, 235
- Men’s Club: Team Elite, 106
- Combined University: UNC Wilmington, 18
- Women’s University: University of North Carolina, 43
- Men’s University: Michigan State University, 40