U.S. Nationals, Day 2 Men’s Prelims: Ilya Kharun Sets Meet Record in 50 Fly
Ilya Kharun seems to be enjoying being back among the American swimmers. He celebrated Wednesday with a meet record in the 50 butterfly.
Kharun went 22.77 to lower Caeleb Dressel’s meet record from 2022 and take the top spot in the 50 fly at U.S. National in Irvine, Calif.
Ryan Erisman started prelims with a win in the 200 free. But the 200 strokes featured plenty of surprises, with big names on the men’s side swimming surprisingly poorly.
Action from Day 2 at the Woollett Aquatic Center in Irvine:
200 freestyle
Ryan Erisman led the way in 1:45.40 Wednesday morning. Luka Mijatovic was second in 1:46.23; he’ll lead the C final with berths at Junior Pan Pacs on the line, and he’s nearly three seconds ahead of anyone competing for that.
Third overall in prelims was Brooks Curry in 1:46.53, among eight 1:46s in the field. Baylor Nelson is one in 1:46.58, with Henry McFadden, Mitchell Schott, Patrick Sammon, Jack Dahlgren and Kieran Smith’s 1:47.13 round out the A final.
That leaves Gabriel Jett and Destin Lasco among the B finalists.
200 breaststroke
Gabe Nunziata posted the fastest time in prelims, but the surprise was at the other end of the results sheet, with Josh Matheny 16th and AJ Pouch finished a distant 19th.
First Nunziata, the Tennessee swimmer who bested the field in 2:08.42 in the morning. He was nearly a full second clear of Josh Bey’s 2:09.30. Luke Barr, Noah Cakir and Finnley Conklin join them in sub-2:10 times in the A final.
But nowhere near among that group are Matheny or Pouch. Matheny finished 16th in 2:13.73, more than five seconds off the pace. Pouch was sixth in the final heat of seven and 19th overall in 2:14.16, 5.74 seconds back of Nunziata. Pouch barely earned the last spot in the B final.
This comes a year after they went 1-2 at Nationals. Pouch was fifth at Worlds last year in this event. Matheny is a Paris Olympian who was seventh at Worlds in the 100 breast.
Wilson York went 2:12.21 to lead the C finalists chasing Junior Pan Pacs spots. He’s more than a second ahead of the chasers there.
200 backstroke
The 200 back is looking for a new standard-bearer. It’s not Paris Olympian Keaton Jones, who put all his eggs in the 100 free basket Tuesday night. Nor is it Gabriel Jett, who also scratched. Nor is it Tommy Janton, the 100 back qualifier for Worlds last summer who finished a puzzling 53rd more than 10.3 seconds off the pace and from the last heat of eight next-to-last in the entire field. (He barely beat Gabe Nunziata’s 200 breast time.)
The prelims honor goes to David King, whose 1:57.87 edged David Melnychuk by .44 seconds. No one else was within a second of King, with Owen McDonald third in 1:58.96. Eleven swimmers broke two minutes. Gavin Keogh and Tommy Hagar rounded out the top five from a thin field.
In 11th is Denzo Senekal at 1:59.86, the top of the C finalists, just ahead of Jonathan Packles.
50 butterfly
Ilya Kharun set a meet record in the 50 fly on Tuesday with at time of 22.77. It downs the meet mark set by Caeleb Dressel in 2022 at 22.84 and it flirts with Kharun’s U.S. Open record from Indy in June. Could Dressel’s American record of 22.35 be in the sights sooner rather than later? The former Canadian international has a best time of 22.68.
Dressel was second in 23.00, a solid swim for the veteran. Fellow seasoned hand Santo Condorelli was third in 23.20, .03 ahead of Michael Andrew. Kamal Muhammad was fifth, ahead of Finn Brooks. Matthew Klinge and Logan Robinson round out the top eight.
