Notre Dame's Chris Guiliano shocks in US Swimming Nationals, makes World Cup team

INDIANAPOLIS — Chris Guiliano put the swimming world on notice Tuesday night.

Guiliano, a 19-year old swimmer for Notre Dame, came into the Phillips 66 National Championships preliminary round seeded 22nd with a 49.17-second time in the 100-meter freestyle. He barely made his way into the A-final of the event, finishing seventh in the preliminaries (48.17).

But he had his fastest time when it really mattered. With a berth to the World Cup in Fukuoka, Japan, on the line, Guiliano cut over a second off his usual swim and broke 47 seconds for the first time.

He finished second in the 100-meter freestyle final at 47.98 seconds, earning his first berth to the World Cup.

“Before this meet, I didn’t break 49,” Guiliano said of his personal-best time. “Getting in the 47s, it just feels great.”

He was .05 seconds behind first-place Jack Alexy, and just .01 ahead of third-place Matt King. The top six finishers of the men’s 100-meter freestyle go to the World Cup.

“I just believed in myself,” Guiliano said. “I knew what I could do, I knew I had a great training cycle, and coming to Indy I knew I had a great shot. This has been a dream come true, but there’s more to work towards.”

Guiliano is in two more events at the national championships at IU Natatorium this week. He is seeded 37th in the 200-meter freestyle and 22nd in the 50-meter freestyle.

“I’m here, and I don’t want this to ever go away, like any time soon,” Guiliano said. “I’m ready for what comes next.”

Alex Shackell falters in 200-meter butterfly

Alex Shackell, a 16-year-old with Carmel Swim Club, didn’t have luck on her side with the 200-meter butterfly event on Tuesday.

Shackell came into the first day of the championships seeded eighth in the 200-meter butterfly. She rose up to the third seed in the A-finals with a 2:07.95 time in preliminaries.

Going into the finals, Shackell knew the pressure — only the top two finishers of the women’s 200-meter butterfly make it on the World Cup team.

She made a good impression off the blocks with a .70 reaction time. She stayed in second for the first 150 meters of the race, behind only Sun Devil Swimming’s Regan Smith.

But she fell behind in the final 50 meters, ending the race in fifth with a 2:08.18. She was just behind Carmel's Kelly Pash, who finished fourth at 2:08.13.

“Even though I didn’t make the team tonight, I still have other events,” she said. “And the Olympics is the goal. I can do 150, I just need to finish it.”

Shackell was in the B-final of the 100-meter freestyle just 20 minutes later. Despite the short turnaround, she nearly eclipsed her personal best with a time of 54.57 seconds. All of the swimmers in the B-final finished within .32 seconds of each other, and Shackell was seventh.

“It definitely felt like a lot less than 20 minutes,” Shackell said of the breaks between swims. “I was a little faster in both of my events this morning, but it’s a lot of swims and tight races … when I’m rested with nothing before it, I think I can do really good in that event.”

Shackell still has three more chances to make the World Cup team in July. She is seeded sixth in the 100-meter butterfly, 15th in the 50-meter freestyle, and 45th in the 200-meter freestyle.

Other notes

>> Katie Ledecky continued her dominance in the 800-meter freestyle, finishing in 8:07.07 — 13 seconds ahead of second-place Jillian Cox. Ledecky was on pace to break the world record during the race but fell three seconds behind the 8:04.79 mark she set in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016.

“I’ve been feeling good, and I thought I could be pretty good tonight,” Ledecky said following her race. “I didn’t think I would break the world record or anything, but definitely felt like I could at least be like I was last summer.”

With the victory, Ledecky will make the World Cup team for the record-tying sixth time, joining Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Nathan Adrian, Natalie Coughlin and Elizabeth Beisel as six-timers.

>> Aaron Shackell, the 18-year-old brother of Alex Shackell, won the B-final of the men’s 200-meter butterfly with a 1:55.92 time. Shackell, who will join the Cal men’s swimming team in the fall, was the first swimmer out of the A-Final in the prelims.

If Shackell were in the A-final, his time would have been sixth.

>> Drew Kibler out of Carmel made his way into the A-final of the 100-meter men’s freestyle Tuesday night. He finished eighth in the final with a 48.42-second time. Kibler will compete in the 200-meter freestyle, where he is seeded first, later this week, as well as the 400-meter and 50-meter freestyle.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: US Swimming Nationals: Notre Dame's Chris Guiliano makes World Cup team