June 27, 2017
Zach Apple is going to the World Championships.
Already the fastest American short course-yards sprinter in Auburn history, Apple became the eighth-fastest American of all-time in the 100m long course freestyle on Tuesday morning.
Then on Tuesday night, he secured his spot on the 4x100 free relay at the 2017 FINA World Championships in Budpest and the 2017 World University Games in Taipei, both held this summer.
Apple, from Trenton, Ohio, finished fourth in the finals of the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 48.23, behind winner Nathan Adrian (47.96), Caeleb Dressel (47.97) and Townley Haas (48.20).
"It's been a great day qualifying for Worlds," Apple said. "It's been a pleasure seeing the hard work pay off. Watching the teammates go crazy at the end of it made it all worth it. It's been a fun first day and I'm looking forward to the rest of the week."
Apple entered the finals as the top seed after posting a 48.14 during prelims, which made him the eighth-fastest American in history and, at the time, the fifth-fastest in the world this year.
"Very few people knew the name Zach Apple before this morning and now he'll represent the greatest swimming nation in the world," Auburn head coach Brett Hawke said. "Zach has a tremendous work ethic and vision for what he can do and who he wants to be. His poise under pressure is fun to watch."
Coming into this season, Auburn has had at least one top-20 100-meter free swim worldwide every year since Hawke started coaching at Auburn in 2007.
In other action on Tuesday, Ashley Neidigh finished 16th in the 800 free (8:40.07), Aly Tetzloff took 35th in the 100 free (56.22) and Bailey Nero took 47th in the 200 fly (2:17.00).
The meet continues on Tuesday with the 200s of the freestyle, breaststroke and backstroke and the 50m butterfly.
Held at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis, Ind., the 2017 Phillips 66 National Championships and World Championship Trials will serve as the selection event for the USA National Teams competing at the 2017 FINA World Championships, the 2017 World University Games and the 2017 FINA World Junior Championships.
"It's been a great day qualifying for Worlds" - @apple_zach takes 4th in the 💯 free pic.twitter.com/QS03HbgDmL
-- Auburn Swim & Dive (@AuburnSwimDive) June 28, 2017