Olympians Lochte, Leverenz Sweep 200m IMs at Arena Pro Swim Series at Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Olympic medalists Ryan Lochte (Daytona Beach, Fla./SwimMAC Carolina) and Caitlin Leverenz (Tucson, Ariz./California Aquatics) picked up a Team USA sweep in the 200-meter individual medley on Sunday to conclude the Arena Pro Swim Series at Charlotte.

Lochte, who also won the 400m IM earlier in the meet, led wire-to-wire in the 200m IM and touched in 1 minute, 58.97 seconds for the victory ahead of Conor Dwyer (Winnetka, Ill./Trojan Swim Club), who was second in 2:00.90. Lochte came back later in the session to take sixth in the 100m free in 50.01.

“It was a solid meet, especially for where I am right now in my training; I’m still training kind of hard and I didn’t rest at all for this meet,” Lochte said. “With six more weeks [until Trials], it’s time to tune up some things and get ready for Trials.”

Leverenz opened Sunday’s finals with a victory in the women’s 200m IM, finishing in 2:12.72, more than a second clear of runner-up Karlee Bispo (Modesto, Calif./Unattached), who was second in 2:13.96.  

Standout freestyler Leah Smith (Pittsburgh, Pa./Cavalier Swimming) capped a big weekend with her third victory in Charlotte, taking the women’s 800m free in 8:27.79 after winning the 200m free and 400m free earlier in the

Also picking up a key distance win was Olympian Connor Jaeger (Fair Haven, N.J./Club Wolverine), who raced to the men’s 1500m free title in 14:59.13. Complete results from Charlotte can be found here.

Rounding out the Sunday winners in Charlotte were:

·        Lilly King (Evansville, Ind./Indiana Swim Team) in the women’s 50m breast in 30.35

·        Cody Miller (Reno, Nev./Badger Swim Club) in the men’s 50m breast in 27.53

·        Dominique Bouchard of Canada in the women’s 200m back in 2:09.14

·        Arkady Vyatchanin in the men’s 200m back in 1:59.09

·        Penny Oleksiak of Canada in the women’s 100m free in 53.41

·        Santo Condorelli of Canada in the men’s 100m free in 48.41