SMU/Empire KC’s Andy Baklanov Rips 1:58.02 200 BK at Columbia Sectionals

2026 Speedo Summer Sectionals – Central Zone South

• July 15-18, 2026
• Mizzou Aquatics Center, Columbia, MO
• LCM (50m)
• Results on MeetMobile (“Speedo Summer Sectionals – Central Zone South”)

The Speedo Sectional meet in Columbia, MO kicked off yesterday on the Mizzou Aquatics Center. Day 1 was a full day of racing, that includes the 50 fly, 200 again, 50 free, 200 breast, ladies’s 800 free, and males’s 1500 free.

In the boys’s 200 again, Andy Baklanov, a rising sophomore at SMU who’s competing for Empire KC Swim Club, clocked a 1:59.04 en path to victory. That efficiency got here after Baklanov swam a 1:58.02 in prelims. His prelims efficiency marked an enormous profession finest and his 1st time beneath 2:00 within the occasion. Moreover, that swim makes Baklanov the #5 American within the occasion this season.

US Men’s 200 Backstroke Rankings:

1. Keaton Jones – 1:57.11
2. David King – 1:57.54
3. Daniel Diehl – 1:57.92
4. Tommy Hagar – 1:58.01
5. Andy Baklanov – 1:58.02

Whitaker Steward, one of many top-ranked swimmers within the class of 2026, took the boys’s 1500 final night time, swimming a 15:37.88. While that point is off Steward’s profession better of 15:26.92, it does mark his season finest within the occasion by 10 seconds. Steward is a rising freshman at Tennessee. He was dialed in for the race yesterday, taking it out in 58.59 on the opening 100, then splitting 31-point for 27 straight 50’s, earlier than coming residence in 29.71 on the ultimate 50.

Nebraska standout Gena Jorgenson received the ladies’s 800 free in 8:38.64, touching 1st by 10 seconds. Jorgenson set her profession better of 8:32.01 final month on the Indy Pro Series. Jorgenson additionally received the ladies’s 200 again, the place she clocked a 2:14.18 after swimming a 2:14.13 in prelims.

In the ladies’s 50 fly, one other class of 2026 standout, Zoe Smith, clocked a 27.18 to say victory. Smith, a rising freshman at NC State who at the moment trains at Arkansas Dolphins, crushed her finest time with the efficiency final night time. Her earlier finest was 27.94, which she swam simply 3 weeks in the past on the TNAQ June LC Invitational.

Another big efficiency got here within the ladies’s 50 free, the place Swim Omaha’s Leah Inman, 16, received in 25.98. The swim marks Inman’s 1st time beneath 26 seconds within the occasion. Her earlier finest was 26.36, which she swam ultimately summer time’s Columbia Sectional.

Mizzou’s Luke Nebrich, 20, was a double occasion winner yesterday. Nebrich took the boys’s 50 fly in 24.12, touching a hair off his profession better of 23.91, which he swam in a time trial at US Nationals final yr. He then went on to take the 50 free in 22.63, which was once more simply off his profession finest of twenty-two.55, which he posted in April of this yr.

Southern Illinois’ Maddax Thompson received the boys’s 200 breast in 2:15.82. That swim was an enormous profession finest for the 19-year-old, who simply posted his earlier finest of two:19.93 on the Indy Pro Series final month.

University of Arkansas’ Rachel McAlpin received the ladies’s 200 breast in 2:35.96. The efficiency marked a private finest for McAlpin, who had tied her earlier finest of two:37.21 in prelims yesterday.