U.S. Nationals: Ryan Murphy Surges to Finish to Lead 200 Back Prelims; Shaine Casas 13th
In the final when qualification or an international medal is on the line, Ryan Murphy always comes through with his best performances. But in prelims, however, Murphy does exactly what he has to do, securing his qualifying spot without expending too much energy. In the 200 back prelims at U.S. Nationals, as he aims to secure a spot racing the event for a fifth consecutive World Championships, Murphy was in fourth place at the halfway point and third at the final turn before showing a fraction of his usual speed to ensure he got a good lane for the final.
Murphy kicked out to almost the 15-meter mark on the last turn, and he ran down Virginia’s Jack Aikins to win in the final heat narrowly at the touch. Murphy finished in 1:56.64, six hundredths ahead of Akins’ 1:56.70.
Swimming on the other side of Murphy in the final will be Cal teammate Destin Lasco, who already booked himself a spot on the Worlds team with a fourth-place finish in the 100 free Tuesday evening. Lasco has quickly developed into an elite 100 freestyler, but the 200 back is his bread-and-butter event, at least in short course, where he is the two-time NCAA champion in the yards equivalent of the event. Lasco touched in 1:56.80 to win his head, just ahead of Notre Dame’s Tommy Janton (1:56.94) and Wolfpack’s Hunter Tapp (1:57.00).
Tapp ended up tied for fifth with Neptune’s Keaton Jones (1:57.00) while Dynamo’s Ian Grum (1:57.40) and Cumberland YMCA’s Daniel Diehl (1:57.42) also getting into the A-final.
Meanwhile, Shaine Casas had an extremely disappointing swim to miss the final in 13th place. Casas was the World Championships bronze medalist last year behind Murphy and Great Britain’s Luke Greenbank, but he finished in 1:58.65, more than three seconds behind his best time of 1:55.35. Casas also had a disappointing swim in the 100 free prelims, ending up 18th in 48.94. He will have numerous chances to qualify for Worlds team over the remainder of the week, but to do so, he will need to get a lot closer to his best times.
Murphy is the heavy favorite entering the final, and the reigning world champion qualify for the U.S. team once again, he will be the strong favorite at the World Championships. The list of big names absent from the event in Fukuoka will include Casas, Greenbank, Russian Olympic champion Evgeny Rylov and Australia’s Mitch Larkin, so Murphy, Japanese veteran Ryosuke Irie and possibly 31-year-old Polish swimmer Radoslaw Kawecki will be the only swimmers in the event who have ever won medals at the Olympics or World Championships.
