Luca Urlando Scares Michael Phelps’ 15-16 200y Fly NAG Record

REDDING JR+ MEET

  • November 4-5, 2018
  • Redding, CA (Shasta College)
  • Results on Meet Mobile: ‘Junior+SCYNov18’

At a small meet in Redding, California, featuring only six clubs, Luca Urlando of DART Swimming put on a clinic with three wins and plenty of very fast swimming.

Indubitably, far and away the most impressive swim from the 16-year-old was the 200 fly, where he rolled to a 1:42.49 for a new best time by almost a second. His old best was a 1:43.37 from this March. He now surpasses Brendan Burns on the 15-16 all-time list in this event, and he’s now well within striking distance of the NAG record, held by none other than Michael Phelps at 1:42.10.

ALL-TIME TOP TIMES – 200 FLY, 15-16 BOYS

  1. Michael Phelps, 1:42.10 – 2002
  2. Luca Urlando, 1:42.49 – 2018
  3. Brendan Burns, 1:42.94 – 2017
  4. Alex Valente, 1:44.10 – 2014
  5. Camden Murphy, 1:44.33 – 2015

Phelps, Urlando, and Burns have notably been in a class above the rest, with no other 15-16 boy in history to have even broken 1:44.0. Unfortunately, there are no splits available at this time for the JR+ meet.

That Phelps NAG may well have numbered days. Urlando does not turn 17 until March 16th, 2019. This JR+ meet was not a championship meet, and it wouldn’t look to be a big meet for Urlando, who is essentially at world-class times in the 200m fly. Per the DART website, on the JR+ meet, “This is our meet to try to get cuts for Arizona or JR Nationals.  Swimmers will get a short rest to swim fast at Redding.” Urlando already has scores of JR National and National cuts, but this may mean he got a bit of rest to see where he’s at.

Even if he did get a bit of rest for this meet, he seems to hit a best time every time he races. Further, with winter championship season and spring championship season likely both happening before he ages up, Urlando may get two tapered shots at taking down the legendary Phelps mark. Don’t forget that he came pretty close in long course this summer, going 1:55.21 with Phelps’ mark resting at 1:54.58.

Urlando, who recently verbally committed to Georgia for 2020, had a phenomenal meet otherwise. He was 46.71 to win the 100 fly, 47.52 to take the 100 back, and raced prelims-only in the 200 back (1:52.98), 200 IM (1:51.00), and 400 IM (3:57.54). He was just one hundredth off of his lifetime best in the 100 fly, too, which is a 46.70 from the 2018 CIF Sac Joaquin Section Meet in May.

To put this into NCAA context, Urlando would lead all college swimmers in the 200 fly this season by over 1.3 seconds. He would also be the only NCAA swimmer under 47 this year. While he may have gotten some rest for this meet, and it’s unknown if he was wearing a tech suit, that’s very impressive for the high school junior.

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Swimnerd
5 years ago

Can I get some splits?

FBGM
5 years ago

The legend continues

SwimmerTX
5 years ago

This kid…

tea rex
5 years ago

Video? How much underwater?

Hswimmer
Reply to  Karl Ortegon
5 years ago

Ask Luca on instagram

Caeleb Dressel will win 90 golds in Tokyo
5 years ago

Luca 2020

Tammy Touchpad Error
5 years ago

Gettin Murph/ Conger/ Schooling/ Dressel vibes. Been waiting a few years for another HS swimmer like this. We bout to see some crazy next month at JRs. 1:39????

WV Swimmer
5 years ago

A quick boi

James Beam
5 years ago

Man, the future is bright for fliers in the US…between Burns and Orlando, those are some impressive swims over the last year. Would love to see a race between Burns and Orlando.

He said what?
Reply to  James Beam
5 years ago

2020 may be interesting at Trials.

Sarcastic
Reply to  James Beam
5 years ago

I’ll add Trenton Julian to that mix. He had a terrific freshman year at Cal last season and even better summer making the WUGs team.

NCSwimDad
Reply to  James Beam
5 years ago

Don’t forget Jack LeVant went a 1:44.5 last December and the same 1:55 as Urlando last summer.

cspd
Reply to  James Beam
5 years ago

Is Conger already out of the conversation?

About Karl Ortegon

Karl Ortegon

Karl Ortegon studied sociology at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, graduating in May of 2018. He began swimming on a club team in first grade and swam four years for Wesleyan.

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