Video produced by Coleman Hodges.
Reported by Jared Anderson.
1650 FREESTYLE – TIMED FINALS
- NCAA – 14:24.08 – Martin Grodzki, Georgia – 2012
- Championship – 14:24.08 – Martin Grodzki, Georgia – 2012
- American – 14:23.52 – Connor Jaeger – 2014
- US Open – 14:23.52 – Connor Jaeger – 2014
- 2014 Champion – Connor Jaeger, Michigan – 14:29.27
The final heat started with a middle-of-the-pool showdown between top seeds Jordan Wilimovsky of Northwestern and Matias Koski of Georgia. But suddenly, a new challenger appeared, and from an outside lane. Michigan freshman PJ Ransford,swimming all the way out in lane 8, took over the lead and started to ditch the two top seeds through the second 500.
At about the 1000-mark, though, Wilimovsky and Koski started to reel in Ransford. Koski in particular started gaining as much as a half-second per 50, but Ransford had built a big enough lead to stay out front through the 1500. But with 100 yards to go, Koski took over the lead, and closed in a ridiculous 24.88, taking home the national title in 14:32.38. That moves Koski into the top 15 swimmers of all-time in the event.
Ransford held on for second, and still managed to make some history with his swim – just 18 years old, Ransford broke the 31-year-old National Age Group record set by Jeff Kostoff. The old mark was 14:38.22, and Ransford destroyed it, going 14:34.36.
Wilimovsky held on for third, going 14:36.64, though that didn’t match the 14:33 he put up at Big Tens.
Utah’s Bence Kiraly was the fastest time coming out of the afternoon heats, and that 14:41.86 held up as the 4th-best swim overall, a big boost for the Utes in team scoring. Fifth went to NC State’s freshman Anton Ipsen, who like Ransford, swam from an outside lane in the final heat. Ipsen was 14:43.16.
South Carolina freshman Akaram Mahmoud was the second-fastest out of the afternoon heats, and he wound up 6th in 14:46.50. Also from the early heats was 7th-place Dylan Bunch of Denver (14:47.53), and 8th went to Tennessee’s freshman Evan Pinion in 14:47.85.
Quit