As reported by SwimSwam’s Jared Anderson. Video edited by Coleman Hodges.
A highly-competitive and entertaining 200 IM race went to the top-seeded Marcin Cieslak of Florida. Cieslak went 1:40.58, knocking off the pool record held by Olympian and Florida great Ryan Lochte at 1:40.97. Another big honor for Cieslak is that he tied Michael Phelps‘ career-best for the 4th-fastest time of all-time in the race, trailing only two Lochte swims and Bradley Ally.
Cieslak had to hold off a charging Chase Kalisz. The 2013 NCAA champ in the 400 IM was rolling late but ran out of pool in trying to catch Cieslak, going 1:41.19 for second. The fastest freestyle split actually went to Stanford’s David Nolan, who jumped back into the hunt late with a 24.2 split to take third in 1:41.38.
Michigan’s Kyle Whitaker was just a tick off his prelims swim which was, in turn, just a bit off his impressive Big Ten Championship time. Whitaker went 1:41.51 for fourth. The last man under 1:42 was Cal’s Josh Prenot, who went 1:41.97 for fifth.
Whitaker’s Wolverine teammate Dylan Bosch was 1:42.05 for sixth, and the last two finals spots were back at 1:43, with Georgia junior Nic Fink beating Cal’s Ryan Murphy 1:43.76 to 1:43.91.
Florida had the distinction of winning both heats of this race, as Eduardo Solaeache won the B final with a 1:42.67. He’s swimming well, so look for him to jump onto the breaststroke leg of the Gators’ 400 medley relay later tonight and try to help Florida hang onto its top seed.
