Produced by Coleman Hodges
We were able to catch up with Gunnar Bentz and Jay Litherland following day 2 of the UGA Invitational. Jay, coming off an impressive World University Games winning the 400IM, built on his success from this past summer posting the top time in the country at 3:38.68. Bentz was not far behind posting the second-fastest time in the country behind his training partner touching the wall at 3:39.61. Josh Prenot (3:39.94) of Cal would touch third rounding out the podium and automatically qualifying all three for NCAA’s this March in Atlanta.
Jay (1:34.82) would go on to finish second behind Hugo Morris (1:34.56) of Auburn in the 200 free two events later that evening. Bentz turned in a strong 200 IM (1:43.28) on night one of the invitational finding himself again ranked within the top three of the NCAA. Although the 400 IM did not end how Prenot would have liked, he did finish the weekend with a bang winning the 200 breast (1:51.75) topping Texas’s Licon for the #1 200 breaststroke in the country and again qualifying him for NCAAs.
The head-to-head battle between Licon and Prenot will be one of the highlights of this year’s NCAA Championship meet.
Men’s 400 IM race video
Huge freestyle by both Georgia men and especially by Litherland (25.18/24.21)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yALYTEMAbc