2017 PURDUE INVITATIONAL
- Live Results
- Psych Sheets
- Meet Central
- Hosted by Purdue (West Lafayette, Indiana)
- 25 Yards
- Invite Format
Florida’s Caeleb Dressel put on a show during Thursday night finals at the Purdue Invitational. Swimming fans have long speculated what Dressel could do at his best in the 200 yard IM. It’s only November, and he’s now proven that he’s one of the best swimmers ever in the event. Dressel entered the meet with a lifetime best of 1:42.77, but demolished that with a 1:40.61 to take the win over All-American teammate Jan Switkowski. That time is 6 hundredths faster than what it took to win NCAAs last season.
Switkowski outsplit Dressel 47.63 to 47.90 on the front half, but Dressel roared back with a 29.15 breaststroke leg to take the lead by a full second. He hammered home in 23.56 to seal the deal while Switkowski followed in 1:42.58. Also in that field was reigning NCAA champion and teammate Mark Szaranek (1:44.50), who took 4th behind Indiana’s Vini Lanza (1:43.15).
Dressel’s Splits by 50:
- Fly- 22.28
- Back- 25.62
- Breast- 29.15
- Free- 23.56
- Final Time- 1:40.61
Dressel blew away the former Pool Record, which stood at a 1:43.09 done by Dylan Bosch in 2016. He came very close to breaking the SEC Record of 1:40.49 done by Florida’s Bradley Ally in 2009. His performance makes him the 9th fastest swimmer in history. With Dressel making his way onto the list, half of the all-time top 10 are current or former Gators.
All-Time Top Performers – Men’s 200 Yard IM:
| Place | Swimmer | Time |
| 1 | David Nolan | 1:39.38 |
| 2 | Will Licon | 1:40.04 |
| 3 | Ryan Lochte | 1:40.08 |
| 4 | Josh Prenot | 1:40.14 |
| 5 | Ryan Murphy | 1:40.27 |
| 6 | Bradley Ally | 1:40.49 |
| 7 | Michael Phelps | 1:40.58 (T-7) |
| 8 | Marcin Cieslak | 1:40.58 (T-7) |
| 9 | Caeleb Dressel | 1:40.61 |
| 10 | Mark Szaranek | 1:40.67 |
Dressel now leads the nation in both the 50 free and 200 IM. Before his big individual performance tonight, he threw down an 18.66 to lead off Florida’s 200 free relay. He currently owns the NCAA and American Record in the event with an 18.20 from 2016. To close the session, he took on the breast leg of Florida’s 400 medley relay, putting up a 51.35 split.
Is there anything this man can’t do?
Watching the IM is amazing. He is on track to be best yards dude ever. Makes me smile to watch. But he does seem weaker underwater on his back. He didn’t win those 2 underwater.
I noticed that Dressel did not swim at all this morning. Anyone know what’s going on?
He could be world class in the 200 IM & free long course if he focused on it.
He will without a doubt swim this again rested! How could he come so close to the record and not do it again? Someone as competitive as him doesn’t want to keep dropping his 50 record he wants to see how many different strokes he can master. David Nolan’s record is going down this year.
According to the (obviously accurate) results, Caeleb’s sister Sherridan split 13.94 on the relay.
Looks like Caeleb is the palindromic #lesserdressel
On the topic of which events he could win thus year, the 100 breast should be added–he split 51 on the medley relay…
While not Dressel, Pieroni had a good day: 19.2, 1:45, and 41.5 split.