Reported by James Sutherland.
MEN’S 200 BACK FINAL
- Jr World: 1:55.14, Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS), 2017
- Meet: 1:58.83, Alex Katz, 2013
- Ethan Harder, BAC, 1:59.07
- Carson Foster, RAYS, 1:59.74
- Will Grant, HEAT, 1:59.95
Will Grant of HEAT took the men’s 200 back final out hard, leading Carson Foster slightly at the 50 and 100m walls with splits of 27.60 and 57.47. Foster moved into the lead on the third 50 with a 30.47 split, but Ethan Harder of Billings actually out-split him there (30.40), and held that speed coming home in 30.47 to overtake Foster and claim the win in 1:59.07. That falls just four tenths off the 10th fastest swim all-time in the 17-18 age group (1:58.63), and two tenths off the meet record from 2013 of 1:58.83. He improves his previous best of 2:00.12, while Foster’s 1:59.74 is just over two seconds slower than he was at Senior Nationals last week.
Grant ended up 3rd in 1:59.95, but like Harder, broke 2:00 for the first time after getting a PB of 2:00.35 in the heats. Keegan Walsh of SwimAtlanta took seven tenths off his prelim best for 4th in 2:00.68.