Produced by Coleman Hodges.
Reported by Mitch Bowmile.
Defending Olympic champion and American record holder Allison Schmitt came through with her first US National Championship title since the 2012 Olympic Trials. Touching in for gold at 1:56.91, Schmitt separated herself from the rest of the field beating second place finisher Hali Flickinger by over a full second.
Schmitt led the race from start to finish, falling just short of her winning time of 1:56.23 from the Pan American Games that the swam earlier this season which ranks her 10th in the world.
Flickinger was second in 1:58.18, beating bronze medallist Katie Drabot by four-tenths of a second. That time for Flickinger is a personal best, bettering the 1:58.54 that she swam in prelims this morning. Heading into the meet Flickinger had never been under two-minutes in the 200m freestyle.
Drabot also swam a best time tonight in order to medal, touching in for bronze with a swift 1:58.58. That time is just slightly bettered the 1:58.73 that she swam at the 2014 Junior Pan Pacific Championship.
GO ALLISON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!