Florida’s Dillon Hillis Breaks SEC Meet Record in 200 Breast Prelims with 1:51.53

2023 SEC SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Florida fifth year Dillon Hillis took down the SEC meet record in the 200 breaststroke with a 1:51.53 on Saturday morning.

Not only is that time five seconds faster than his season best from November, but it’s also a new lifetime best that lowers Derek Maas’ meet record of 1:51.56 from last year. Hillis’ previous best was a 1:52.12 from last year’s NCAA Championships. He also snuck under the NCAA ‘A’ cut of 1:54.54 by just .01 seconds.

Last season as a senior, Hillis competed for the Gators at SECs in the 200 medley relay as well as the 200 IM before ultimately scratching the rest of the meet. He swam a week later at the Bulldog Invite where he swam the 100 (51.32) and 200 (1:52.43) breaststrokes. That was his first time ever under the 1:55 mark.

Hillis went on to compete at NCAAs where he finished sixth in the 100 breast (51.24) and 14th in the 200 breast (1:52.12). He finishes Florida’s sixth-highest individual scorer at NCAAs with a total of 16 individual points.

MEN’S 200 BREASTSTROKE – PRELIMS

  • NCAA Record: 1:47.91, Will Licon (2017)
  • SEC Record: 1:50.80, Nic Fink (2015)
  • Meet Record: 1:51.56, Derek Mass (2022)
  • Pool Record: 1:51.09, Alex Sanchez (2022)
  • NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:51.54
  • 2022 Champion: Derek Maas, Alabama (1:51.56)

Top 8:

  1. Dillon Hillis (Florida) – 1:51.53 *Meet Record
  2. Aleksas Savickas (Florida) – 1:51.59
  3. Andres Puente (Texas A&M) – 1:53.30
  4. Lyubomir Epitropov (Tennessee) – 1:53.41
  5. Reid Mikuta (Auburn) – 1:53.54
  6. Derek Maas (Alabama) – 1:53.66
  7. Alex Sanchez (Texas A&M) – 1:53.91
  8. Ben Patton (Missouri) – 1:54.54

Florida teammate Aleksas Savickas was close behind Hillis with a 1:51.59, just three-tenths of a second off his personal best from last November. The rest of the pack was almost two seconds behind Savickas and Hillis during prelims.

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About Riley Overend

Riley is an associate editor interested in the stories taking place outside of the pool just as much as the drama between the lane lines. A 2019 graduate of Boston College, he arrived at SwimSwam in April of 2022 after three years as a sports reporter and sports editor at newspapers …

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