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.