York teens post top-20 times at US nationals
York County's Leah Braswell and Courtney Harnish posted top-20 times in the 400-meter freestyle at the Phillips 66 USA Swimming National Championships at the IU Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI in Indianapolis Friday.
Manchester's Braswell and West York's Harnish earned spots in finals after their preliminary swims netted times in the top-20.
Competing against all older women, Braswell finished fourth in the B-final, recording a time of 4 minutes 11.93 seconds. In second place for the majority of the first 200 meters, she fell to fourth in the final 100 meters. Georgia's Stephanie Peters won the B-final in 4:11.39, and Penn State's Ally McHugh edged Braswell for third.
Harnish placed third (4:13.24) in the bonus or C-final. The bonus final takes the eight fastest youth swimmers, ages 18 and under, who didn't qualify for the fastest A-final or B-final.
Braswell recorded the 11th-fastest time (4:13.94) in preliminary heats, and Harnish, a University of Georgia commit, posted the 20th fastest time (4:14.95).
Both girls swim for the York YMCA Aquatic Club. Braswell, 17, is home schooled; Harnish, 18, is a recent West York graduate.
Katie Ledecky (4:02.59) posted the fastest time in preliminaries and won (3:58.44) the A-final to secure a spot in yet another event at the world championships next month.
It's been a busy meet for Braswell and Harnish. Harnish won the bonus final in the 200 free Wednesday, surpassing the top three swimmers in the final 50 meters to win the race. She edged her teammate Braswell to win.
The five-day meet concludes Saturday. Braswell will swim in the 1,500 freestyle Saturday. Harnish has qualified to swim in the 200 individual medley and 1,500, but she expects to only swim in one of the events Saturday.