2017 MEN’S PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, March 1-Saturday March 4
- Federal Way, WA (Pacific Time Zone)
- Defending Champion: Stanford (results)
- Psych sheets
- Live results
- Live Video
- Pac-12 Record Book
- Championship Central
- Saturday Finals Heat Sheet
Cal backstroke star Ryan Murphy put up the 9th fastest performance of all time to break his own Championship Record on night 4 of the 2017 Men’s Pac-12 Swimming and Diving Championships in Federal Way, Washington. Murphy clocked in at 1:38.04, taking down his former mark of 1:38.34 from the 2015 conference meet.
When comparing the splits, we can see that Murphy approached the race differently this time around. He attacked the front half more, splitting a 47.62 on the 1st 100 to take it out a full second faster.
Splits Comparison By 50:
| Swimmer | 1st 50 Split | 2nd 50 Split | 3rd 50 Split | 4th 50 Split | Final Time |
| Ryan Murphy 2017 | 22.96 | 24.66 | 25.10 | 25.35 | 1:38.04 |
| Ryan Murphy 2015 | 23.55 | 25.15 | 24.73 | 24.91 | 1:38.34 |
Splits Comparison By 100:
| Swimmer | 1st 100 Split | 2nd 100 Split | Final Time |
| Ryan Murphy 2017 | 47.62 | 50.45 | 1:38.04 |
| Ryan Murphy 2015 | 48.70 | 49.64 | 1:38.34 |
Murphy’s swim lands 9th on the all time top performances list, just ahead of his 1:38.15 from 2012. He’s now the owner of 6 of the 10 fastest performances ever. The fastest of all time is his 1:35.73 from last season’s 2016 NCAA Championships in Atlanta.
All Time Top Performances: Men’s 200 Back
- Ryan Murphy– 1:35.73
- Ryan Murphy– 1:36.77
- Ryan Lochte- 1:36.81
- Ryan Murphy– 1:37.35
- Tyler Clary- 1:37.58
- Ryan Lochte- 1:37.68
- Ryan Murphy– 1:37.80
- Arkady Vyatchanin- 1:37.87
- Ryan Murphy– 1:38.04
- Ryan Murphy– 1:38.15
This is scary. Imagine how well he’ll do later this month…Undoubtedly the most dominant swimmer in the NCAA. Sure, there are other swimmers like Schooling and Dressel, but they have people on their tails. Murphy is simply untouchable.
For guys, definitely. Has he ever lost a backstroke race in college? I know that Kip Darmody outsplit him once in the 200 medley relay at NCAA Murphy’s freshman year, and Tribuntsov’s prelim 100 back was faster than Murphy’s finals 100 back in 2015 (though Murphy beat him in finals, and got that record back a few days ago). The NCAA records were 44.60 and 1:37.58, and as far as I remember no one else has topped those – that means he’s the fastest ever in college by over a second and almost two seconds respectively.
2013 Winter Nationals 200 back – Arkady and Pebley
Remember Mitch Larkin was the king of backstroke in 2016 before the Aussies had their unfortunate Olympics, so if he can simply get back to form, he might be able to beat Murphy in LCM 200 back.
I know! I was looking forward to the Larkin-Murphy brawl, but Larkin just fell off at Rio. Hopefully he is back in form for Worlds.
But then Murphy is improving drastically each season…will he be a 1:53 low or even 1:52 this summer? Well have to see. NCAA’s will be a good gauge.
Murphy is also already a World record holder …..51.85 was absolutely astonishing .
Awesome swimming , you ROCK