Andrew Seliskar Crushes 200 IM, Misses Record By One Hundredth

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

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Cal’s Andrew Seliskar entered his senior year NCAA championships as arguably the best swimmer to have never won an individual NCAA title. No longer. Seliskar threw down a massive effort in the 200 IM, and in the process, he posted the second-fastest time in history.

NC State’s Andreas Vazaios held a slight lead after backstroke, but Seliskar took over with a massive breaststroke leg, and he came home in 24.05, eight tenths faster than anyone else in the field. Slightly under American, NCAA and U.S. Open record pace after 150 yards, Seliskar ended up finishing in 1:38.14, just one hundredth off Caeleb Dressel’s record of 1:38.13 set at the 2018 SEC championships. Few had expected Dressel’s record to be touched for years, but Seliskar very nearly took it down.

Seliskar also broke the meet record, a 1:39.38 set by David Nolan in 2015.

Vazaios ended up finishing second in 1:39.35, vaulting him into third all-time behind Dressel and Seliskar, just ahead of former American record-holder Nolan. Texas’ John Shebat finished third in 1:39.63, good for sixth all-time behind the aforementioned quartet and Jan Switkowski.

Indiana’s Vini Lanza finished fourth in 1:40.33, and Stanford’s Abrahm DeVine took fifth in 1:40.77. The A-final also included Georgia Tech’s Caio Pumputis (1:41.04), Indiana’s Ian Finnerty (1:42.84) and Florida’s Kieran Smith (1:44.23).

Event 4  Men 200 Yard IM
=========================================================================
         NCAA: N 1:38.13  15-Feb-18 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
         Meet: M 1:39.38  26-Mar-15 David Nolan, Stanford
     American: A 1:38.13  15-Feb-18 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
   U. S. Open: O 1:38.13  15-Feb-18 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
         Pool: P 1:39.90  28-Mar-19 Andrew Seliskar, California
    Name                 Year School            Prelims     Finals Points 
=========================================================================
                       === Championship Final ===                        
 
  1 Seliskar, Andrew       SR California        1:39.90    1:38.14M  20  
    r:+0.60  21.58        46.04 (24.46)
        1:14.09 (28.05)     1:38.14 (24.05)
  2 Vazaios, Andreas       SR NC State          1:40.62    1:39.35M  17  
    r:+0.69  22.05        45.84 (23.79)
        1:14.51 (28.67)     1:39.35 (24.84)
  3 Shebat, John           SR Texas             1:40.83    1:39.63P  16  
    r:+0.68  21.41        46.20 (24.79)
        1:15.33 (29.13)     1:39.63 (24.30)
  4 Lanza, Vini            SR Indiana           1:40.23    1:40.30   15  
    r:+0.66  21.17        46.50 (25.33)
        1:15.79 (29.29)     1:40.30 (24.51)
  5 DeVine, Abrahm         SR Stanford          1:41.44    1:40.77   14  
    r:+0.67  21.81        46.72 (24.91)
        1:16.23 (29.51)     1:40.77 (24.54)
  6 Pumputis, Caio         SO Georgia Tech      1:41.47    1:41.04   13  
    r:+0.66  21.92        47.23 (25.31)
        1:16.17 (28.94)     1:41.04 (24.87)
  7 Finnerty, Ian          SR Indiana           1:41.80    1:42.84   12  
    r:+0.66  21.84        47.89 (26.05)
        1:16.95 (29.06)     1:42.84 (25.89)
  8 Smith, Kieran          FR Florida           1:42.26    1:44.23   11  
    r:+0.70  21.67        47.24 (25.57)
        1:18.77 (31.53)     1:44.23 (25.46)

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Thomas A. Small

5 years ago

Congratulations