Reported by Lauren Neidigh.
MEN’S 200 FREE:
- Jay Litherland– 1:49.28
- Long Gutierrez– 1:49.49
- Conor Dwyer– 1:49.53
Jay Litherland was on fire tonight, grabbing his 2nd gold for UGA in as many events. Litherland threw down a 1:49.28, capitalizing off his back half speed to run down Cal’s Long Gutierrez (1:49.49) and fellow U.S. Olympian Conor Dwyer (1:49.53), giving him golds in back-to-back events tonight.
Using a similar strategy to Litherland’s was teammate Gunnar Bentz, who just missed the podium by a hundredth. Bentz negative split the race, turning in a 54.83 at the 100 and bringing it home in 54.71 for a final time of 1:49.54, which was good for 4th place ahead of Dutch standout Dion Dreesens (1:49.78) and Olympic relay teammate Jack Conger (1:49.96) of Texas.
Cal’s Tom Shields threw down a 1:49.71 to win the B final, just missing his personal best by a few tenths. Georgia’s Chase Kalisz was also tenths shy of best, touching in 1:50.47 to take 7th in the championship final.