Produced by Coleman Hodges.
Reported by Jared Anderson.
200 BREAST – FINALS
NCAA Record: 1:48.66, Kevin Cordes, 2014American Record: 1:48.66, Kevin Cordes, 2014U.S. Open Record: 1:48.66, Kevin Cordes, 2014Pool Record: 1:49.43, Will Licon, Texas (prelims)- 2015 Champion: 1:49.48, Will Licon, Texas
Top 3:
- Will Licon, Texas – 1:48.12
- Josh Prenot, California – 1:49.38
- Fabian Schwingenschlogl, Missouri – 1:51.84
In the third and final battle of versatile superstars Will Licon and Josh Prenot, it was Texas’s Licon who triumphed. The junior took the 200 breast in a new American, NCAA and U.S. Open record of 1:48.12, taking down the legendary marks set by Kevin Cordes in 2014.
Licon very nearly took the swim below 1:48, hitting a pace through 150 that would have earned him the 1:47 but falling off just slightly to a 28.4 split on the final 50. (He had been 27.2 and 27.8 on the previous two 50s).
Prenot was also historically quick, becoming just the fourth man ever under 1:50 with a 1:49.38. With those two swims, the top 10 swims in history are now all sub-1:50. 5 of them belong to Cordes, 3 to Licon and one each to Prenot and Cody Miller.
100 breast champ Fabian Schwingenschlogl of Missouri was 1:51.84, touching out Albama’s Anton McKee (1:51.87) for bronze. Behind them were a tight trio: Virginia Tech’s Brandon Fiala (1:53.45), Louisville’s Carlos Claverie (1:53.55) and Virginia’s Yannick Kaeser (1:53.64).
