Stanford junior Adam Messner won the 200m fly in a 1:55.79 to narrowly beat South Carolina sophomore Zsolt Gaspar’s 1:55.88. Messner was second in the 200 free and fifth in the 400 free; Gaspar, from Hungary, was fourth in the 100 fly.
Messner said he was extremely nervous before the race, especially after his suit zipper broke just before the start. Three of his teammates came to his rescue, getting him a new suit.
“About the only thing keeping me calm was seeing my mom in the stands,” he said. “I felt like she was absorbing some of that nervousness.”
Auburn junior Jeffrey Sommensatto was third in 1:56.47, Virginia senior Doak Finch was fourth in 1:56.50, Arizona freshman Jeff Dash was fifth in 1:57.01, Stanford junior Steven Brown – the top qualifier – was sixth in 1:57.16, Florida sophomore Duncan Sherrard was seventh in 1:57.24, and Central Connecticut State senior Marcin Kaczmarek was eighth in 1:58.09.
Nate Dusing of Texas won the consolation final in 1:57.35; Zane deWitz of Tennessee was 10th in 1:57.56; Arizona State freshman Atilla Czene, the 200 I.M. champion, was 11th in 1:57.71; Daniel Kleber of Purdue was 12th in 1:58.43; Ben Anderson of Arizona was 13th in 1:58.65; Phil Demers of Southern Cal was 14th in 1:58.69; Yoav Meiri of Minnesota was 15th in 1:58.75; and Ales Abersek of Iowa was 16th in 1:59.33.
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