Video produced by Coleman Hodges.
Reported by Jared Anderson.
200 BUTTERFLY – FINALS
- NCAA – 1:39.33 – Dylan Bosch, Michigan – 2014
- Championship – 1:39.33 – Dylan Bosch, Michigan – 2014
- American – 1:39.31 – Jack Conger – 2015
- US Open – 1:39.31 – Jack Conger – 2015
- 2014 Champion – Dylan Bosch, Michigan – 1:39.33
The last individual event of the meet might very well go down as the swim of the meet. The showdown between American record-holder Jack Conger, NCAA record-holder Dylan Bosch and 100 fly champ Joseph Schooling was high entertainment, coming right down to the final yards.
Conger led at the 50, but Bosch clearly had the higher tempo and took the lead over the next 50. Just to even things out. Schooling showed up in the 3rd 50, giving the race its third different leader at the 150-mark.
The last 25 was a whole race of its own. Bosch seemed to surge, then Schooling took back the lead, but suddenly Conger was screaming past both on the outside. At the wall, it came down to fingernails, with Schooling touching out his older teammate 1:39.62 to 1:39.74. Neither could quite get under Conger’s American record or Bosch’s NCAA record, so both of those marks will stand for another season.
Bosch, meanwhile, felt the fatigue of his energetic start and fell off to a 1:40.12 for third. Still, those three were in a league of their own, and with all three returning, the race next year could see these three (and maybe incoming Cal freshman Andrew Seliskar?) turn in an even greater 200 fly battle.
NC State’s Christian McCurdy was 1:42.00 for fourth. The Wolfpack have really been swimming well, coming back strong after that devastating 200 free relay DQ on day 1. That DQ will probably cost them a top 6 overall finish, but they are just 6.5 points back of Stanford for 7th and closing fast.
Cal’s senior Adam Hinshaw finished 5th overall in 1:42.22. The Golden Bear has been an inspirational force for his squad, coming up with big swim after big swim, and this one ranks as his highest finish of the meet.
Sixth went to Georgia’s Tynan Stewart in 1:42.28, and Missouri’s Mack Darraghcontinued the strong day for the Tigers with a 1:42.92 for seventh.
The last A finalist, Texas’s 500 free champ Clark Smith, was DQ’d for a one-handed touch in the event. He came in as the fourth seed and would have been 5th overall. That’s a tough loss of points for the Longhorns, but with the enormous lead they have built up, it won’t really have much of an effect on the final result.
*think