TYR Pro Series Knoxville – Day Four Men’s Prelims: Ryan Murphy Pops Solid Time in 200 Backstroke

TYR Pro Series Knoxville – Day Four Men’s Prelims: Ryan Murphy Pops Solid Time in 200 Backstroke

The first stop of the 2023 TYR Pro Series wrapped up prelims competition on Saturday morning at the Allan Jones Aquatic Center in Knoxville. Competition was held at the University of Tennessee in the 200 individual medley, 200 backstroke, 50 breaststroke and 100 freestyle. During the night session, the final of the 1500 freestyle will be held, with reigning Olympic champion Bobby Finke scheduled to race.

Here is a look at what went down during Saturday’s prelims.

Meet Results

200 Individual Medley

Morning action in the 200 medley was relatively subdued, with Daniel Sos of Cardinal Aquatics grabbing the No. 1 seed for the final in 2:02.76. Canadian Finlay Knox, who enjoyed a strong showing at last month’s World Short Course Championships, taking the second seed in 2:03.34, with Kieran Smith checking in at 2:03.55 for the third seed.

 Event 28  Men 200 LC Meter IM
==================================================================
        World: W 1:54.00  7/28/2011 Ryan Lochte, USA
     American: A 1:54.00  7/28/2011 Ryan Lochte, USA
    U.S. Open: O 1:54.56  7/10/2009 Ryan Lochte, Daytona Beach
     Pro Swim: P 1:56.32  2012      Michael Phelps
     Jr World: j 1:56.99  5/19/2021 Hubert Kos, HUN
   Oly Trials: T 2:03.49
    Name            Age Team                 Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Daniel Sos       24 CARD-KY           1:59.57    2:02.76T    q  
    r:+0.70  26.34        56.95 (30.61)
        1:32.13 (35.18)     2:02.76 (30.63)
  2 Finlay Knox      22 Canada            1:57.50    2:03.34T    q  
    r:+0.68  25.54        57.27 (31.73)
        1:33.73 (36.46)     2:03.34 (29.61)
  3 Kieran Smith     22 Ridgefield Aq-CT  1:57.23    2:03.55     q  
    r:+0.71  26.64        57.75 (31.11)
        1:34.07 (36.32)     2:03.55 (29.48)
  4 Jay Litherland   27 SUN-AZ            2:01.16    2:04.39     q  
    r:+0.71  26.71        57.90 (31.19)
        1:34.60 (36.70)     2:04.39 (29.79)
  5 Ilya Kharun      17 SAND-CA           2:02.41    2:06.08     q  
    r:+0.71  25.99        58.91 (32.92)
        1:36.40 (37.49)     2:06.08 (29.68)
  6 Trenton Julian   24 MVN-CA            1:57.86    2:06.29     q  
    r:+0.66  26.21        58.77 (32.56)
        1:35.08 (36.31)     2:06.29 (31.21)
  7 Justice Migneau  20 Canada            2:05.14    2:06.30     q  
    r:+0.69  26.84      1:00.39 (33.55)
        1:35.70 (35.31)     2:06.30 (30.60)
  8 Sean Grieshop       Unattached-PC     2:01.31    2:06.42     q  
    r:+0.72  26.99        58.77 (31.78)
        1:36.95 (38.18)     2:06.42 (29.47)

200 Backstroke

The 2016 Olympic champion and reigning world titlist in the event, Cal’s Ryan Murphy easily posted the fastest time of the morning in the 200 backstroke, going 1:57.62. Murphy is expected to depart the meet before finals, so his morning included the intent to deliver a strong performance. The second-fastest time of prelims was logged by Destin Lasco, as his outing of 2:00.37 was a tenth quicker than the 2:00.47 of Hunter Tapp. Kieran Smith qualified for his second final of the session with a mark of 2:00.57, and was followed by Chase Kalisz in 2:01.51.

 Event 30  Men 200 LC Meter Backstroke
==================================================================
        World: W 1:51.92  7/31/2009 Aaron Peirsol, USA
     American: A 1:51.92  7/31/2009 Aaron Peirsol, USA
    U.S. Open: O 1:53.08  7/11/2009 Aaron Peirsol, Longhorn
     Pro Swim: P 1:55.04  2017      Xu Jiayu
     Jr World: j 1:55.14  7/28/2017 Kliment Kolesnikov, RUS
   Oly Trials: T 2:01.69
    Name            Age Team                 Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Ryan Murphy      27 California Aq.-P  1:54.15    1:57.62T    q  
    r:+0.52  28.14        58.27 (30.13)
        1:28.11 (29.84)     1:57.62 (29.51)
  2 Destin Lasco     21 Unattached-PC     1:56.81    2:00.37T    q  
    r:+0.61  28.04        58.47 (30.43)
        1:29.48 (31.01)     2:00.37 (30.89)
  3 Hunter Tapp      21 NC State-NC       1:56.76    2:00.47T    q  
    r:+0.73  28.18        58.43 (30.25)
        1:29.45 (31.02)     2:00.47 (31.02)
  4 Kieran Smith     22 Ridgefield Aq-CT  1:38.99Y   2:00.57T    q  
    r:+0.69  28.86        59.36 (30.50)
        1:30.30 (30.94)     2:00.57 (30.27)
  5 Chase Kalisz     28 SUN-AZ            2:00.14    2:01.51T    q  
    r:+0.81  28.68        59.82 (31.14)
        1:31.34 (31.52)     2:01.51 (30.17)
  6 Daniel Diehl     17 CUY-MD            1:56.41    2:01.82     q  
    r:+0.57  28.11        58.78 (30.67)
        1:30.80 (32.02)     2:01.82 (31.02)
  7 Manuel Martos    22 Spain             1:58.05    2:03.56     q  
    r:+0.51  28.63        59.29 (30.66)
        1:31.19 (31.90)     2:03.56 (32.37)
  8 *Clement Secchi  22 Missouri-MV       1:43.57Y   2:03.59     q  
    r:+0.60  29.66      1:01.53 (31.87)
        1:33.34 (31.81)     2:03.59 (30.25)

50 Breaststroke

One event after Tennessee’s Mona McSharry snared the top seed in the women’s 50 breaststroke, Michael Houlie kept the Volunteers rolling in the men’s edition of the event. Houlie surged to a time of 27.76, the only sub-28 effort in the field on the way to the No. 1 position for the final. Thomas Cope earned the second seed on the strength of a 28.01 swim.

 Event 32  Men 50 LC Meter Breaststroke
==================================================================
        World: W 25.95  7/25/2017 Adam Peaty, GBR
     American: A 26.52  4/28/2022 Michael Andrew, USA
    U.S. Open: O 26.52  4/28/2022 Michael Andrew, MA Swim Academy-
     Pro Swim: P 26.97  3/8/2019  Felipe Lima
    Name            Age Team                 Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 *Michael Houlie  22 Tennessee-SE      1:01.90      27.76     q  
         r:+0.63                       
  2 Thomas Cope      25 CW-MI             1:00.25      28.01     q  
         r:+0.58                       
  3 Miguel de Lara   28 ANV Puebla        1:00.67      28.08     q  
         r:+0.68                       
  4 Youssef Elkamas  27 EGYPT             1:01.05      28.32     q  
         r:+0.66                       
  5 *Lyubomir Epitr  23 Tennessee-SE      1:01.14      28.35     q  
         r:+0.63                       
  6 Jarel Dillard    22 Tennessee-SE      1:02.38      28.46     q  
         r:+0.61                       
  7 Jake Meyer       20 Unattached-OH     1:04.39      28.52     q  
         r:+0.67                       
  8 James Dergousof  26 Canada            1:00.86      28.57     q  
         r:+0.65

100 Freestyle

Three athletes managed 49-low performances in the 100 freestyle, led by Andrej Barna and his 49.03 clocking. Barna was followed by a pair of Cal standouts, as Jack Alexy (the winner of the 50 freestyle earlier in the meet) touched in 49.14 and Bjorn Seeliger went 49.18.

 Event 34  Men 100 LC Meter Freestyle
==================================================================
        World: W 46.86  8/13/2022 David Popovich, ITA
     American: A 46.96  7/25/2019 Caeleb Dressel, USA
    U.S. Open: O 47.39  7/31/2019 Ryan Held / Caeleb Dressel, NYAC/GSC
     Pro Swim: P 48.00  2016      Nathan Adrian
     Jr World: j 46.86  8/13/2022 David Popovici, ROM
   Oly Trials: T 49.99
    Name            Age Team                 Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Andrej Barna     24 CARD-KY             47.94      49.03T    q  
    r:+0.62  23.50        49.03 (25.53)
  2 Jack Alexy       19 Unattached-PC       48.69      49.14T    q  
    r:+0.66  22.95        49.14 (26.19)
  3 Bjorn Seeliger   23 Unattached-PC       48.07      49.18T    q  
    r:+0.65  23.55        49.18 (25.63)
  4 Guilherme Santo  19 Tennessee-SE        48.71      49.56T    q  
    r:+0.50  23.42        49.56 (26.14)
  5 Justin Ress      25 MVN-CA              48.38      49.80T    q  
    r:+0.65  23.74        49.80 (26.06)
  6 Hunter Armstron  21 California Aq.-P    48.25      49.85T    q  
    r:+0.68  24.37        49.85 (25.48)
  7 Javier Acevedo   24 Canada              49.12      49.94T    q  
    r:+0.65  23.99        49.94 (25.95)
  8 Brett Pinfold    27 SHAC-GU             48.47      49.98T    q  
    r:+0.69  24.50        49.98 (25.48)

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