Texas A&M post-grad Lisa Bratton, one of a handful of Aggie post-grads who swam at the mostly-collegiate Art Adamson Invititational this week in College Station, has jumped to 7th in the all-time rankings in the 200 yard backstroke.
Racing in prelims before scratching finals, Bratton swam a 1:49.17. That improved her previous best time of 1:49.83 done at last year’s SEC Championship meet that earned her a 2nd-place finish behind then-sophomore Asia Seidt of Kentucky. Bratton won the SEC title in the event in 2016 when she was a sophomore.
The time ranks Bratton as the 7th-best performer in history, and counts as the 17th-fastest performance in history. It’s also the fastest time ever swum after the completion of an athlete’s collegiate eligibility.
The swim just-missed the old Pool Record of 1:49.11 which was set in 2009 by British-born Gemma Spofforth while representing Florida at the NCAA Championships.
Bratton, the 2018 SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year for women’s swimming & diving, is completing an Ocean Engineering degree while continuing to train with the Aggies. She was the 2015 World University Games champion in the 200 backstroke and will represent the United States again at the 2019 edition.
All-Time Top Performers, 200 Yard Backstroke:
- Kathleen Baker – 1:47.30
- Liz Pelton – 1:47.84
- Missy Franklin – 1:47.91
- Regan Smith – 1:48.30
- Gemma Spofforth – 1:48.34
- Alexia Zevnik – 1:49.09
- Lisa Bratton – 1:49.17
- Asia Seidt – 1:49.24
- Beata Nelson – 1:49.27
- Courtney Bartholomew – 1:49.35
Crazy that Regan Smith is 4th on this list and hasn’t even been to college yet
I believe she was not tapered for this meet.
She is just starting the rest stage for short course worlds, so she is slightly rested but not fully tapered.