Reported by James Sutherland.
MEN’S 400 IM FINAL
- Jr World: 4:14.00, Sean Grieshop (USA), 2016
- Meet: 4:14.51, Gunnar Bentz, 2013
- Jason Louser, LIAC, 4:18.59
- Jake Foster, RAYS, 4:20.20
- Kevin Vargas, RMDA, 4:20.31
Jason Louser of Long Island held the slight lead in the men’s 400 IM final at the halfway mark, turning in 2:07.41 before unloading a 1:11.49 breaststroke split. Jake Foster of the Mason Manta Rays actually gained some ground, splitting 1:11.10, but still went into the freestyle trailing by nearly a second. Louser closed well in 59.69 to seal the win in 4:18.59, dropping his previous best of 4:20.70 (set at Nationals) to move into the top-25 all-time in the 17-18 age group.
Foster and 3rd place finisher Kevin Vargas also swam their lifetime bests at Nationals last week in 4:19.18 and 4:18.58 respectively, both falling shy of those times with Foster 2nd in 4:20.20 and Vargas 3rd in 4:20.31.
Nicholas Perera and Ivan Puskovitch ended up tying for 4th in 4:23.17, with Puskovitch making up seven tenths on the last 50 with a final split of 28.54. Both swimmers improved their personal best times set in the prelims.