Swimming

BYU’s Brad Prolo Breaks School Record, Secures Likely NCAA Invite in 200 Fly in Austin

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By Braden Keith on SwimSwam

2023 AMERICAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS

BYU’s Brad Prolo broke a school record and booked a ticket to the NCAA Championships on Saturday, the final day of racing at the University of Texas-hosted American Short Course Championships last chance meet.

Prolo swam 1:42.41 in prelims, which broke his own school record of 1:43.26 from the mid-season Missouri Invitational. That time also jumps him from 44th in the NCAA this season to 24th. With at least two candidates ahead of him (Carson Foster and Leon Marchand) to not swim the race at NCAAs, that puts him comfortably into the top 28-32 that are typically invited to the national championship meet per event.

Prolo, 23, is in his 3rd year back from serving his LDS mission in Kyiv, Ukraine. This is his fourth season of college swimming, but will be his first NCAA invite. He is the three-time defending MPSF Champion in that event, however.

He was the only new likely qualifier on the final day of competition, though there were some other interesting swims. Pitt’s Cooper van der Laan swam a season-best of 1:53.05 in the 200 breaststroke. That misses his school record by about three tenths after breaking the record in the 100 breaststroke earlier in the meet.

That 100 time was an NCAA “A” standard, so he is already qualified for the meet, but his drop in the 200 on Saturday will improve his seeding for March – he now ranks 30th in the NCAA.

The host Texas Longhorns had a couple of tuneup swims and a couple of attempts at qualifying more athletes for NCAAs. Ethan Harder sits right on the bubble in the 200 back, ranked 29th in the country, but was unable to improve that status after a 1:41.32 on Saturday. If Marchand drops that event, Harder is in pretty good position, but will have to wait until Tuesday to feel certain of an NCAA Invite.

Daniel Krueger swam 42.21 in the 100 free as well for the Longhorns.

Texas A&M’s Trey Dickey needed a best time in the mile to earn an NCAA Invite, but swam 15:10 instead. Dylan Gravley, who didn’t make Arizona State’s roster for Pac-12s, also swam the mile in 15:14. Gravley’s focus is on open water, internationally.

And finally, Pitt’s Adam Mahler took his final Last Chance 200 fly of the season, but couldn’t improve his chances at an NCAA Invite, going 1:43.58 in prelims and 1:43.70 in finals.

That ends a saga that saw Mahler race the 200 fly nine times in just over two weeks in an attempt to improve his NCAA qualifying status. It looks like his best time of 1:42.54 from the Georgia Last Chance last week will land him 27th in the country.

Fortunately for him, nobody new from Pac 12s bumped him from that ranking, and with at least two guys (Marchand and Foster) ranked ahead of him unlikely to swim the race at NCAAs, he is in good position ahead of Wednesday’s official invite announcement.

SwimSwam: BYU’s Brad Prolo Breaks School Record, Secures Likely NCAA Invite in 200 Fly in Austin

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