Bobby Finke Annihilates American Record in 1650 at SECs With 14:12 (RACE VIDEO)

Bobby Finke broke the second American record by Florida distance swimmers at the SEC Championships. Photo Courtesy: Connor Trimble

The Florida distance swimmers have been on fire at the 2020 SEC Swimming and Diving Championships in Auburn, Alabama. Not long after an American record from Kieran Smith in the 500 free on Wednesday, Bobby Finke absolutely torched the 1650 free American record with a 14:12.08.

Finke started fast and finished fast. He was out under American record pace from the very first 50 and built and built on that lead over the pace. Not only did he smash the 14:18.25 American record set in December 2017, he completely tore apart the NCAA record of 14:22.41 set by Clark Smith in March 2017.

Finke also nearly broke the American record in the 1000 on the way out, which is held by Smith at 8:33.93 set in 2015.

It is a bad week if your name is Zane Grothe. He entered the week with two American records in the 500 and 1650 and both of them got lowered by Florida Gators this week. Regardless, he was able to make jokes about it on social media.

Me watching SECs pic.twitter.com/0DatfO2Jkh

— Zane Grothe (@zane_growth_ee) February 23, 2020

This sets up Finke for a great summer as he was the US National Champion in the 800, 1500 and 400 IM last summer. He is arguably a better long course swimmer and should be in line for a spot on the US Olympic Team in either the 800 or 1500 freestyle.

Bobby Finke put on a Katie Ledecky-esque performance in the 1650 as he won by 33 seconds with Georgia’s Greg Reed coming in second with a very solid time of 14:45.03. Florida freshman Brennan Gravley came in third with a 14:47.41 which is another respectable time and should get him to NCAAs in 32 days. Gravley swam for Team USA at the 2019 World Championships in the 5K and 25K open water races.

Tennessee’s Taylor Abbott (14:50.62), Auburn’s Aryan Makhija (14:53.57), Alabama’s Nico Hernandez-Tome (14:56.39), Tennessee’s Ethan Sanders (14:57.70) and Georgia’s Walker Higgins (14:59.81) also scored in the top eight.

American Record Progression – Men’s 1650 Freestyle

14:12.08, Bobby Finke, 2020
14:18.25, Zane Grothe, 2017
14:22.41, Clark Smith, 2017
14:23.52, Connor Jaeger, 2014
14:24.35, Chad La Tourette, 2012
14:26.62, Chris Thompson, 2001
14:29.31, Tom Dolan, 1995
14:34.91, Chad Carvin, 1994
14:37.87, Jeff Kostoff, 1986
14:38.22, Jeff Kostoff, 1984

 Event 33  Men 1650 Yard Freestyle
=========================================================================
         NCAA: N 14:22.41  3/25/2017 Clark Smith, Texas
     SEC Meet: S 14:23.01  2/23/2019 Robert Finke, Florida
         Pool: P 14:32.50  3/28/1998 Ryk Neethling, Arizona
                 14:37.31  A
                 15:26.19  B
    Name           Year School               Seed     Finals       Points 
=========================================================================
  1 Finke, Bobby C   SO Florida          14:47.51   14:12.08NA       32  
    r:+0.73  23.70        49.17 (25.47)
        1:14.82 (25.65)     1:40.44 (25.62)
        2:06.18 (25.74)     2:32.04 (25.86)
        2:57.84 (25.80)     3:23.68 (25.84)
        3:49.51 (25.83)     4:15.28 (25.77)
        4:41.25 (25.97)     5:07.19 (25.94)
        5:33.06 (25.87)     5:58.91 (25.85)
        6:24.92 (26.01)     6:50.85 (25.93)
        7:16.93 (26.08)     7:42.88 (25.95)
        8:08.83 (25.95)     8:34.63 (25.80)
        9:00.70 (26.07)     9:26.87 (26.17)
        9:52.85 (25.98)    10:18.80 (25.95)
       10:44.76 (25.96)    11:10.88 (26.12)
       11:36.98 (26.10)    12:03.00 (26.02)
       12:29.03 (26.03)    12:55.07 (26.04)
       13:20.94 (25.87)    13:46.99 (26.05)    14:12.08 (25.09)
  2 Reed, Greg C     JR Georgia          14:51.77   14:45.03 B       28  
    r:+0.67  24.23        50.27 (26.04)
        1:16.78 (26.51)     1:43.56 (26.78)
        2:10.18 (26.62)     2:36.97 (26.79)
        3:04.02 (27.05)     3:30.97 (26.95)
        3:57.91 (26.94)     4:24.89 (26.98)
        4:52.04 (27.15)     5:19.08 (27.04)
        5:46.24 (27.16)     6:13.27 (27.03)
        6:40.33 (27.06)     7:07.44 (27.11)
        7:34.27 (26.83)     8:01.22 (26.95)
        8:28.22 (27.00)     8:55.16 (26.94)
        9:22.13 (26.97)     9:48.99 (26.86)
       10:16.07 (27.08)    10:43.07 (27.00)
       11:10.03 (26.96)    11:37.08 (27.05)
       12:03.95 (26.87)    12:30.99 (27.04)
       12:57.98 (26.99)    13:25.01 (27.03)
       13:52.22 (27.21)    14:19.24 (27.02)    14:45.03 (25.79)
  3 Gravley, Brenna  FR Florida          15:08.68   14:47.41 B       27  
    r:+0.64  24.31        50.89 (26.58)
        1:17.61 (26.72)     1:44.36 (26.75)
        2:11.14 (26.78)     2:38.08 (26.94)
        3:05.26 (27.18)     3:32.31 (27.05)
        3:59.26 (26.95)     4:26.23 (26.97)
        4:53.19 (26.96)     5:20.23 (27.04)
        5:47.28 (27.05)     6:14.24 (26.96)
        6:41.34 (27.10)     7:08.40 (27.06)
        7:35.41 (27.01)     8:02.47 (27.06)
        8:29.61 (27.14)     8:56.70 (27.09)
        9:23.72 (27.02)     9:50.88 (27.16)
       10:18.07 (27.19)    10:45.18 (27.11)
       11:12.34 (27.16)    11:39.50 (27.16)
       12:06.78 (27.28)    12:33.93 (27.15)
       13:01.10 (27.17)    13:28.31 (27.21)
       13:55.44 (27.13)    14:22.60 (27.16)    14:47.41 (24.81)
  4 Abbott, Taylor   SR Tennessee        15:01.36   14:50.62 B       26  
    r:+0.70  24.40        50.66 (26.26)
        1:17.33 (26.67)     1:44.16 (26.83)
        2:10.93 (26.77)     2:37.80 (26.87)
        3:04.75 (26.95)     3:31.57 (26.82)
        3:58.41 (26.84)     4:25.41 (27.00)
        4:52.54 (27.13)     5:19.54 (27.00)
        5:46.54 (27.00)     6:13.38 (26.84)
        6:40.43 (27.05)     7:07.38 (26.95)
        7:34.63 (27.25)     8:01.91 (27.28)
        8:29.15 (27.24)     8:56.48 (27.33)
        9:23.75 (27.27)     9:51.24 (27.49)
       10:18.71 (27.47)    10:45.95 (27.24)
       11:13.34 (27.39)    11:40.87 (27.53)
       12:08.33 (27.46)    12:35.55 (27.22)
       13:02.79 (27.24)    13:29.98 (27.19)
       13:57.53 (27.55)    14:24.69 (27.16)    14:50.62 (25.93)
  5 Makhija, Aryan   SO Auburn           15:15.55   14:53.57 B       25  
    r:+0.64  23.99        49.93 (25.94)
        1:16.46 (26.53)     1:43.25 (26.79)
        2:10.26 (27.01)     2:37.52 (27.26)
        3:04.72 (27.20)     3:32.09 (27.37)
        3:59.43 (27.34)     4:26.94 (27.51)
        4:54.04 (27.10)     5:21.13 (27.09)
        5:48.16 (27.03)     6:15.42 (27.26)
        6:42.58 (27.16)     7:09.87 (27.29)
        7:37.08 (27.21)     8:04.60 (27.52)
        8:32.11 (27.51)     8:59.52 (27.41)
        9:27.17 (27.65)     9:54.87 (27.70)
       10:22.62 (27.75)    10:49.68 (27.06)
       11:16.79 (27.11)    11:43.96 (27.17)
       12:11.32 (27.36)    12:38.94 (27.62)
       13:06.44 (27.50)    13:33.61 (27.17)
       14:00.79 (27.18)    14:27.77 (26.98)    14:53.57 (25.80)
  6 Hernandez-Tome,  SO Alabama          15:28.24   14:56.39 B       24  
    r:+0.65  24.82        51.61 (26.79)
        1:18.67 (27.06)     1:45.95 (27.28)
        2:13.24 (27.29)     2:40.31 (27.07)
        3:07.65 (27.34)     3:34.76 (27.11)
        4:01.91 (27.15)     4:29.17 (27.26)
        4:56.29 (27.12)     5:23.29 (27.00)
        5:50.47 (27.18)     6:17.87 (27.40)
        6:45.16 (27.29)     7:12.41 (27.25)
        7:39.55 (27.14)     8:06.72 (27.17)
        8:33.96 (27.24)     9:01.26 (27.30)
        9:28.59 (27.33)     9:55.81 (27.22)
       10:23.36 (27.55)    10:50.90 (27.54)
       11:18.38 (27.48)    11:45.94 (27.56)
       12:13.46 (27.52)    12:41.09 (27.63)
       13:08.52 (27.43)    13:35.80 (27.28)
       14:02.99 (27.19)    14:30.31 (27.32)    14:56.39 (26.08)
  7 Sanders, Ethan   SO Tennessee        15:11.47   14:57.70 B       23  
    r:+0.76  23.38        48.93 (25.55)
        1:14.94 (26.01)     1:41.16 (26.22)
        2:07.69 (26.53)     2:34.19 (26.50)
        3:00.92 (26.73)     3:27.75 (26.83)
        3:54.58 (26.83)     4:21.52 (26.94)
        4:48.35 (26.83)     5:15.70 (27.35)
        5:43.59 (27.89)     6:11.20 (27.61)
        6:38.53 (27.33)     7:06.03 (27.50)
        7:33.51 (27.48)     8:01.22 (27.71)
        8:29.21 (27.99)     8:56.93 (27.72)
        9:24.39 (27.46)     9:52.21 (27.82)
       10:20.15 (27.94)    10:48.05 (27.90)
       11:15.46 (27.41)    11:43.26 (27.80)
       12:11.21 (27.95)    12:39.67 (28.46)
       13:07.57 (27.90)    13:35.73 (28.16)
       14:03.54 (27.81)    14:31.29 (27.75)    14:57.70 (26.41)
  8 Higgins, Walker  SR Georgia          15:00.25   14:59.81 B       22  
    r:+0.68  23.68        49.97 (26.29)
        1:16.47 (26.50)     1:43.29 (26.82)
        2:09.99 (26.70)     2:36.92 (26.93)
        3:03.96 (27.04)     3:31.11 (27.15)
        3:58.26 (27.15)     4:25.56 (27.30)
        4:52.41 (26.85)     5:19.60 (27.19)
        5:47.16 (27.56)     6:14.57 (27.41)
        6:42.08 (27.51)     7:09.78 (27.70)
        7:37.37 (27.59)     8:05.26 (27.89)
        8:32.30 (27.04)     8:59.93 (27.63)
        9:27.74 (27.81)     9:55.39 (27.65)
       10:23.14 (27.75)    10:51.05 (27.91)
       11:18.80 (27.75)    11:46.81 (28.01)
       12:15.10 (28.29)    12:43.17 (28.07)
       13:11.12 (27.95)    13:38.89 (27.77)
       14:06.58 (27.69)    14:33.99 (27.41)    14:59.81 (25.82)

Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 33                  
 
  1. University of Florida             957.5   
  2. Georgia, University of            794.5
  3. Texas A&M University              730   
  4. University of Alabama             702.5
  5. Missouri                          686.5   
  6. Tennessee, University of, Knox    664
  7. Kentucky, University of           621   
  8. Auburn University                 618
  9. Louisiana State University        418  
 10. South Carolina, University of,    398

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