Ryan Erisman, a 19-year-old Cal swimmer, completed a strong week at the U.S. Swimming Championships in Irvine, Calif., by winning his third national title, this time in the 800-meter freestyle, on the final day of the meet Saturday.
After winning the 200-meter freestyle and 400-meter individual medley, Erisman finished the meet with the second fastest 800 free in U.S. history at 7.43:53, shaving almost two seconds off his personal best.
He trailed William Mulgrew, who finished second with a time of 7:45.21, by 88 hundredths of a second at the halfway point of the race before chasing him down. He entered with the seventh-best 800 time by an American swimmer but now trails just Bobby Finke (7:38.67 in 2023).
Luka Mijatovic (7:46.57) came in third place in the race.
The meet concluded with the 50-meter women’s and men’s freestyle races, both of which were won by the current American record holders.
Gretchen Walsh comfortably won the women’s race by nearly a half-second with a time of 23.60, just five hundredths off her current world record. Anna Moesch (24.05) finished second, while Liberty Clark (24.28) rounded out the podium.
On the men’s side, Caeleb Dressel, 29, continued his comeback with a strong showing, following up his 100-meter free title with a similarly comfortable 50-meter victory to the one Walsh delivered.
He posted his best 50-meter time since 2022 and the third-fastest in the world this year at 21.35, well ahead of Quintin McCarty (21.75) and Nikita Sheremet (21.76), who edged out Brendan Whitfield (21.78) to make the podium.
Virginia swimmer Maximus Williamson defended the NCAA championship he won earlier this year in the 200-meter IM by winning the American championship with a time of 1:56.40, pulling away over each of the final three legs after he sat in third after the opening butterfly lap.
Owen McDonald, who finished second to Williamson at the NCAA championships, again came in behind him at 1:57.68. Kieran Smith (1:58.36) finished third.
Alex Walsh won her own title shortly before her sister Gretchen, running away with the women’s 200-meter IM title with a 2:08.59 title, a full 1.5 seconds ahead of Campbell Chase (2:10.09) and Teagen O’Dell (2:10.20).
Katie Ledecky, the world record holder who has swum the 24 fastest 1500-meter freestyle races in U.S. women’s history, elected to skip the U.S. Championships to prepare for the Pan Pacific Championships later this month.
That allowed Katie Grimes to win the 1500 title with a time of 15:55.69 in the first time she raced at this distance since the 2024 Paris Olympics, where she finished 10th. Kate Hurst (16:04.46) finished second and Gena Jorgenson (16:12.73) came in third.
–Field Level Media
