Texas’ Will Licon is lighting up the pool in Iowa City this week. After finishing second in the 200 IM on Thursday and winning the 400 IM last night, he is walking into his 200 breaststroke today with a lot of confidence.
Licon went head-to-head with Kevin Cordes, the current American record holder, in prelims this morning. They were both at 52.7 through the 100, but Licon’s 400 IM endurance carried him through the back half of the race to pull ahead of Cordes and win the race. He posted the fastest time of the morning and is now the second swimmer in history to break 1:50 in the 200 breaststroke with his time of 1:49.54. Cordes finished second with his time of 1:50.02.
The 200 breaststroke final will be a great race to watch tonight. Licon has improved from prelims to finals in every race this weekend and Cordes dropped nearly .7 seconds to win the 100 breaststroke last night. Both swimmers will be racing for their second individual NCAA title of the meet.
Licon is smooth as silk! I like this guy so much! He also comes across as very down to earth guy.
My prediction was Cordes for the win with someone else under 1:50, probably Licon. So far half of that is right, we’ll see what Cordes’ response is tonight.
I said earlier in the week that I didn’t know very well Licon because I didn’t remember watching him in a big long course meet. And I wondered if he could swim fast in long course too. But yes he can. I’ve made little researches and he swam 2.11 in the 200 breast at US Nationals last summer! While he was “only” in 1.53 in yards. 1.49 now! So if he can translate all the big progression he has shown this college season, there’s no reason he can’t swim around 2.08 next summer.