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Harrison Lierz Hits #5 13-14 200 Meter Back Of All-Time In Austin

2017 ARENA PRO SWIM SERIES – AUSTIN

14-year-old Harrison Lierz of the Front Range Barracudas went 2:04.47 in the 200 long course meter backstroke Saturday night, becoming the 5th-fastest swimmer ever in USA Swimming’s 13-14 ranks.

Lierz first jumped up to #6 in prelims, dropping his previous best of 2:06.10 all the way down to a 2:04.88 to make the championship final at the Arena Pro Swim Series in Austin, Texas. That time qualified him 8th overall, in a heat with Olympian Jacob Pebley and besting junior world record-holder (in the 400 IM) Sean Grieshop for 8th. Lierz was the youngest swimmer to qualify for the final by 5 years.

Then in the final, Lierz improved even more, going 2:04.47 and moving up one spot to 7th overall. That also moved him up to 5th in the 13-14 age group all-time ranks, leapfrogging Benjamin Ho‘s 2:04.87 from 2013. The top 4 in the event are a pretty decorated group:

  1. Aaron Peirsol: 2:02.78 (1998)
  2. Ryan Murphy: 2:02.86 (2010)
  3. Destin Lasco: 2:03.28 (2016)
  4. Michael Andrew: 2:04.06 (2014)
  5. Harrison Lierz: 2:04.47 (2017)

Lierz has dropped significant time over the past three years. Here’s what his 200 back progression looks like after Saturday’s swim:

Age Best Time
12 2:21.43
13 2:13.33
14 2:04.47

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Lane four
7 years ago

He’s doing a Phelps at a similar age with the time drops. No pressure, but he is definitely worth keeping an eye on.

Boi
Reply to  Lane four
7 years ago

Very true, wadnt crazy fast really young but killed it at 13-15

About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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