Connor Jaeger Backhalves Way to Second National Title

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INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, June 28. ALREADY the men's 1500-meter freestyle victor, Michigan's Connor Jaeger overhauled an extremely fast field down the stretch to win his second title in the men's 400-meter freestyle at the U.S. Nationals and World Championship Trials.

Jaeger surged down the final 50 meters with a 27.76 to overtake Conor Dwyer, who had led throughout most of the race. Jaeger turned in a final time of 3:45.89 for the win. That performance jumped him to fifth in the world rankings, and gave him a second individual spot on the World Championship squad. That's Jaeger's first time under 3:46, crushing his lifetime best of 3:46.93 from the Santa Clara stop of the Arena Grand Prix earlier this year.

Dwyer, who touched in 3:46.05, drew a big “oooh!” from the crowd when official disqualified him for flinching at the start. That would have been a lifetime best for the NBAC swimmer.

Virginia's Matt McLean, the 2011 national champion in this event, had an incredible final 50 meter split of 26.94 to take advantage of Dwyer's mistake with a second-place 3:46.14. He shot to sixth in the world with his swim, setting himself up for another potential spot on the Worlds roster.

1 Jaeger, Connor 22 Univ. Of Michiga 3:50.04 3:45.89 924 20
r:+0.78 27.09 56.10 (29.01)
1:24.62 (28.52) 1:53.23 (28.61)
2:21.31 (28.08) 2:49.60 (28.29)
3:18.13 (28.53) 3:45.89 (27.76)
2 McLean, Matt 25 Univ Virginia Aq 3:51.08 3:46.14 921 17
r:+0.85 26.82 55.88 (29.06)
1:25.01 (29.13) 1:54.20 (29.19)
2:22.46 (28.26) 2:50.86 (28.40)
3:19.20 (28.34) 3:46.14 (26.94)

IX3's Charlie Houchin threw down the 10th-fastest time in the world this year with a third-place 3:47.16, while The Woodlands' Michael McBroom tok fourth in 3:49.28.

Club Wolverine's Michael Klueh (3:51.54), NCAP's Andrew Gemmell (3:52.69) and Auburn's Zane Grothe (3:57.32) also swam in the heated finale.

Houston's Jacob Ritter broke 3:53 for the first time in his career as he took home the B final win in 3:52.49. That swim lowered his previous lifetime best of 3:53.05 from the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials.

Sarasota Y's Alex Katz demolished his lifetime best in the C final with a winning time of 3:54.85. That swim blasted his 3:56.03 from this morning, that had also bettered his 3:56.52 from the GCST Summer Invitational just two weeks ago. That's a huge time drop during that time period.

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