Caeleb Dressel To Swim 200 IM At American ISL Derby – Start Lists

2019 INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING LEAGUE – AMERICAN DERBY

• Saturday, November 16 – Sunday, November 17, 2019
• 2:00-4:00 PM Local Time (U.S. Eastern Time)
• Eppley Recreation Center – College Park, MD
• Short Course Meters (SCM) format
• American franchises: Cali Condors, LA Current, DC Trident, New York Breakers
• Preview
• Live Stream (ESPN3)
• Start Lists

Official start lists have dropped for today’s American International Swimming League (ISL) Derby, and do-everything sprinter Caeleb Dressel is entered in the 200 IM over the 50 fly.

The move makes sense from a lineup perspective. Australian Mitch Larkin is absent this week for the Cali Condors – he won the 200 IM at both Group A meets. Adding Dressel covers Larkin’s absence well, and doesn’t leave too huge a hole in the 50 fly, where John Shebat and Jan Switkowski will hold down the Condors lanes. Dressel’s IM addition is also exciting for fans, who have been clamoring for more Dressel IMs since his American record in short course yards at the SEC meet in 2018.

That IM won’t take place until tomorrow, and lineups could still be adjusted. But early start lists do show Dressel in the IM against names like Chase Kalisz, Josh Prenot (LA Current), Jay Litherland, Andreas Vazaios (DC Trident) and Mark Szaranek (Cali Condors).

The skins races are generally the deciding factor in the meet, and lineups are pretty much as expected. You can view full start lists here.

A few other notable entries for today’s events:

• Dressel has a busy schedule with 8 event entries: the 100 fly, 50 free, men’s medley relay and men’s free relay today, and the 100 free, 200 IM, mixed free relay and 50 free skins race tomorrow.
• Distance man Zane Grothe will swim the 400 IM for the DC Trident. That’s a little surprising with Abrahm DeVine on the roster. DeVine is only entered in the 100 back and two relays.
• The LA Current are using Tom Shields yet again in the 200 back. He’s joined by Jack Conger, a high school standout in the backstroke, but mostly a butterflyer in his college and professional years. That fills the hole left by absent Ryan Murphy.
• Also in that race, DC has Jay Litherland filling in.
• New York’s Michael Andrew is focused in on the sprints. He’s entered in the 50 breast, 50 free and men’s medley relay today, with the 50 back, 100 breast, 50 fly and 50 free skins races tomorrow.