NC State
Arena Pro Swim Series (Men Only)
Bilis, Stuart Earn Top-Five Finishes On Day Two Of Arena Pro Swim Series
1/16/2016 10:14:00 PM | Swimming
Five swimmers posted Olympic Trial Cuts on Saturday
AUSTIN, Texas- Highlighted by top-five finishes from Simonas Bilis and Hennessey Stuart, the NC State men's swimming and diving team made another strong presence on Saturday at the Arena Pro Swim Series in Austin, Texas.Â
Sponsored by USA Swimming inside the Lee & Joe Jamail Swimming Center on the University of Texas' campus, the meet gives the select swimmers competing a chance to race in a long course pool to prepare for the 2016 Olympic Games qualification process that will begin in April for several Wolfpack swimmers.
Including Bilis and Stuart's performances, five swimmers met the US Olympic Trial time standard in their respective events. All five have previously bettered the Trial standards in those events, but today further solidified their berth to attempt to qualify for the Games.
The Wolfpack had several others post national cuts in the four events contested on Saturday, which gives those swimmers berths into various national level events that are sponsored by USA Swimming.
FreestyleÂ
In the 50m freestyle, Bilis swam a US Olympic Trial time of 22.36 to advance to the final session as the top seed of the event. Additionally, Joe Bonk and Ryan Held qualified for the 'C' final with times of 23.28 and 23.35, in respective order in the morning session.Â
Bilis proceeded to repeat his prelim time in the 'A' final, as he edged out Pack alum Cullen Jones by .01 seconds to finish fifth of 121 swimmers in the event. Held managed to finish 18th in the 50m free with a time of 23.38 while Bonk finished 20th after touching the wall at 23.45.
Bonk's prelim time met the US Olympic Trial time standard, while Held's times bettered the national meet time standard.
Backstroke
NC State had three qualify for Saturday's finals session in the 200m backstroke, as Stuart posted the fourth-fastest time in the preliminary session, while Justin Ress and Jacob Siar qualified for the 'C' final.
Stuart posted a time of 2:00.18 to meet the US Olympic Trial time standard in the prelims, while Ress touched the wall in 2:04.75 and Siar stopped the clock at 2:05.84. Ress and Siar's performances marked national cuts.Â
In the finals session, Stuart swam a time of 2:00.00 to finish fifth in the event, while Ress won the 'C' final with a US Olympic Trial mark of 2:02.36 to finish 17th in the overall standings. Siar finished 23rd overall after stopping the clock at 2:06.85.
Individual Medley
Christian McCurdy and Austin Snyder qualified to race in the 'B' final of the 400m individual medley, as McCurdy posted a US Olympic Trial time of 4:24.51 and Snyder touched the wall in 4:27.81 in the prelims session. Additionally, Anton Ipsen swam a mark of 4:30.73 to advance to the 'C' final.Â
In the 400m IM finals McCurdy earned an 11th-place finish with a mark of 4:25.52, while Snyder finished 13th with a time of 4:27.69. In the 'C' final Ipsen touched the wall at 4:30.20 to finish 20th of a field of 62 in the overall standings.Â
Although Ipsen and Snyder's times on Saturday mark national cuts, they have previously bettered the Olympic Trial standard in the event.
Up Next
NC State will compete Sunday in the third and final day of the Arena Pro Swim Series in Texas. Sunday's prelims are set for a 10 a.m. ET start, while finals will begin at 7 p.m. ET.
Players Mentioned
