Men's NCAA Champs: 200 Backstroke

200 BACKSTROKE

NCAA Record: 1:35.73 (Ryan Murphy - California, 2016)
Meet Record: 1:35.73 (Ryan Murphy - California, 2016)
American Record: 1:35.73 (Ryan Murphy - California, 2016)
U.S. Open Record: 1:35.73 (Ryan Murphy - California, 2016)

Ryan Murphy has officially solidified himself as one of the all-time backstroke greats -- taking the win in 1:36.75. Double Olympic gold medal and 100m backstroke world record in Rio? Check. NCAA four-peat in the 100 backstroke? Check. NCAA four-peat in the 200 backstroke? Check. ​John Shebat​ of Texas set the pace early and fought like hell. Shebat led at the 100 46.82 to 47.24 and maintained his lead at the 150 over Murphy 1:11.62 to 1:12.01. But in the end, Murphy's closing speed was too much for the Longhorn sophomore as he out-split Shebat 24.74 to 25.62 over the final 50 yards. Regardless, Shebat pushed Murphy to his limit in this race and took a hard-earned silver medal in 1:37.24. ​Patrick Mulcare ​of USC made a strong push as well to pull up to the leaders and finish third in 1:37.80.​
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1.) Ryan Murphy (California): 1:36.75
2.) John Shebat (Texas): 1:37.24
3.) Patrick Mulcare (USC): 1:37.80
4.) Connor Oslin (Alabama): 1:39.23
5.) Grigory Tarasevich (Louisville): 1:39.73
6.) Carter Griffin (Mizzou): 1:40.20
7.) Anton Loncar (Denver): 1:40.64
8.) Jonathan Roberts (Texas): 1:41.35