Swimming World's NCAA Division I Landing Page
COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 26. THE first day of preliminary action came to a close at the NCAA Men's Division I Championships held on the campus of Texas A&M University.
200 free relay
Auburn took the top seed for tonight's finals as the foursome of Jakob Andkjaer, Kohlton Norys, Steve Scheren, and Gideon Louw finished in a time of 1:15.42.
Meanwhile, the team from Stanford, consisting of Alex Coville, Jason Dunford, David Dunford and Jake Allen took the second seed with a time of 1:15.67. Tennessee's quartet of Nolan Morrell, Jonas Persson, Mike Derocco and Barry Murphy claimed the third seed in a time of 1:16.00.
Rounding out the top eight in the finals tonight will be California (1:16.02), Arizona (1:16.22), Texas (1:16.22), Florida (1:16.76) and Minnesota (1:17.10).
The Texas foursome of Dave Walters, Jimmy Feigen, Scott Jostes and Ben Vanroekel cleared the American record of 1:16.49 set by Stanford back in 2002.
The fastest freestyle split this morning came from Jordan Smith of Arizona, who posted a time of 18.58 on the second leg of the relay.
Michigan (1:17.46), SMU (1:17.61), Kentucky (1:17.77), Princeton (1:18.28), Penn State (1:18.38), Virginia (1:18.42), Texas A&M (1:18.58) and LSU (1:18.61) made up the consolation heat.
500 free
Georgia's Troyden Prinsloo will take the top seed in tonight's 500 free finals after posting a time of 4:12.49 in this morning's prelims. Prinsloo finished sixth in last year's 500 free at the NCAAs with a time of 4:14.93.
Michael Klueh of Texas took second with a time of 4:13.66. Klueh will be looking to move up after finishing second last year in this event with a time of 4:10.00. Jean Basson from Arizona qualified third in a time of 4:13.75.
Other top eight finishers are Matt McLean from Virginia (4:13.79), Blake Worsley of Denver (4:13.82), Jackson Wilcox of Texas (4:14.08), Matt Patton of Michigan (4:14.38), and Balazs Gercsak of Florida (4:14.67).
Stanford's Bobby Bollier (4:14.75), Virginia's John Snawerdt (4:14.89), Stanford's Chad La Tourette (4:15.84), Stanford's David Mosko (4:15.88), Virginia's Darren Ankosko (4:15.98), Washington's Scott Spansail (4:16.18), Alabama's Catalin Cosma (4:16.86) and Alabama's Mark Randall (4:17.09) will compete in the consolation final.
On the team side of things, Texas will have two up in the 500 free, Stanford will have three down, and Virginia will have one up and two down.
200 IM
Ryan Lochte's NCAA record of 1:40.55 might be in trouble after a fast swim this morning from Florida's Bradley Ally, who posted a time of 1:41.80. Ally goes into tonight's finals seeded first, but is followed closely by Tyler Clary of Michigan and Ricky Berens of Texas.
Coming in second right behind Ally is Clary with a time of 1:41.92, and seeded third tonight will be Berens, who swam a time of 1:41.98 this morning.
Other finalists tonight are Shaune Fraser of Florida (1:42.45), Omar Pinzon of Florida (1:42.64), Andre Schultz of Michigan (1:42.69), Martti Aljand of California (1:42.31) and Gal Nevo of Georgia Tech (1:43.56).
In the consolation final, Stanford's Nate Cass (1:43.82), Arizona's Jack Brown (1:43.86), Georgia's Peter Benner (1:43.94), Texas' Bryan Collins (1:43.95), UC Davis' Scott Weltz (1:43.97), Auburn's Logan Madson (1:44.06), Auburn's Tyler McGill (1:44.18) and California's Sean Mahoney (1:44.29).
Florida will score major points in the 200 IM, as it finished with three up. Michigan will have two up, California had one up and one down, Texas has one up and one down, and Auburn finished with two down.
50 Free
The fastest race of the meet will be led by Alex Righi of Yale, who is seeded first tonight with a time of 18.82, which tied the American record set twice by Nathan Adrian as the Pac 10 Championships last month.. Righi, who finished second last year in this event at the NCAAs, will be looking to head off Matt Targett of Auburn. Targett claimed the second place seed in the finals with a time of 18.85.
Coming in third in this morning's prelims will be Alex Coville from Stanford who finished in a time of 18.87, while Adrian cruised into finals with a fourth-place 18.90.
Gideon Louw of Auburn (18.99), James Feigen of Texas (19.02), Jordan Smith of Arizona (19.09) and Jason Dunford of Stanford (19.09) also will vie for the national title.
Tennessee's Barry Murphy (19.14), Auburn's Jakob Andkjaer (19.19), California's Graeme Moore (19.22), Texas' Dave Walters (19.25), Tennessee's Jonas Persson (19.27), Stanford's Austin Staab (19.29), Cincinnati's Josh Schneider (19.32) and Stanford's David Dunford (19.35) will look for team points in the consolation heat.
Taking a look at the team standings, Auburn finished with two up and one down, Stanford will have two up and two down, Texas has one up and one down, and California has one up and one down.
400 medley relay
Stanford blasted its way to an NCAA record in the 400 medley relay, finishing in a time of 3:02.94. The relay team of Eugene Godsoe, John Criste, Austin Staab and Jake Allen will enter tonight's finals with the top seed after clearing the 3:03.30 set by California at the Pac 10 Championships last month.
Following on Stanford's heels will be the team of David Russell, Damir Dugonjic, Peter Davis and Bennett Clark, which claimed the second seed with a time of 3:03.68. The third seed tonight will be the team from Auburn (Pascal Wollach, Adam Klein, Jordan Anderson and Gideon Louw), which finished in a time of 3:03.92.
Other teams in tonight's finals will be Florida (3:04.81), Arizona (3:05.65), Texas (4:06.10), Tennessee (3:06.72) and Michigan (3:07.97).
Texas A&M (3:08.03), Washington (3:08.72), Virginia (3:08.88), Georgia (3:09.35), Minnesota (3:10.88), LSU (3:11.28), Ohio State (3:11.44) and Georgia Tech (3:12.23) made the consolation heat.
One-meter diving
Purdue's David Boudia topped prelims of diving with a 396.30-point tally, while Stanford's Dwight Dumais (376.25) and USC's Harrison Jones (373.60) finished second and third.
Miami's Reuben Ross (367.35), Texas' Drew Livingston (366.70), Texas A&M's Eric Sehn (364.60), Texas' Jonathan Wilcox (363.30) and Auburn's Kelly Marx (360.65) completed the championship field.
Purdue's David Colturi (358.10), Florida State's Terry Horner (350.45), Ohio State's Hugh Showe III (350.05), Texas A&M's Cam McLean (349.45), Indiana's Landon Marzullo (345.00), Tennessee's Ryan Helms (344.70), Arizona's Ben Grado (334.80) and Virginia Tech's Michael McDonald (329.80) earned the right to dive in the consolation round.
Showe III wound up winning consolations with 376.70 points, while Colturi took second with 374.35 points. 2007 NCAA titlist Horner placed third with 371.65 points.
