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FEDERAL WAY, Washington, March 24. LOUISVILLE's Carlos Almeida gave the Cardinals their first NCAA title with a victory in the men's 200-yard breaststroke at the NCAA Division I Men's Championships.
Almeida blasted a time of 1:51.88 to match Ed Moses for fourth-fastest all time. Only Neil Versfeld (1:51.40), Mike Alexandrov (1:51.73) and Brendan Hansen (1:51.74) have been faster. Meanwhile, California's Trevor Hoyt finished second in just 1:51.90, moving to sixth all time. The .02-second differential matched the closest race ever in NCAA history in the 200 breast. Arizona's Clark Burckle (1:53.19) downed Texas' Scott Spann (1:53.21) by just .02 seconds back in 2010. That's a third margin of victory record to fall or be matched this evening, in what is the closest night in terms of races in NCAA history.
Arizona's Kevin Cordes went out under American record pace, but settled for third in 1:51.97. That performance pushed him to eighth in the all-time rankings. Arizona's Carl Mickelson wound up fourth in 1:52.18 for 11th all time, while California's Martin Liivamagi took fifth in 1:52.67 for 15th all time. California's Nolan Koon (1:54.75), Princeton's Jonathan Christensen (1:55.20) and Texas' Eric Friedland (1:55.32) rounded out the top eight.
Indiana's Cody Miller raced to the consolation win with a 1:54.45, while Georgia's Nicolas Fink took second in 1:54.91. Arizona's Kevin Munsch (1:54.95), Arizona's Austen Thompson (1:54.99), Texas' Nick D'Innocenzo (1:55.38), Penn's Brendan McHugh (1:55.82), Stanford's Curtis Lovelace (1:56.13) and Wisconsin's Michael Weiss (1:56.52) placed third through eighth in the B final.
California built a nearly 60-point lead with a dominant outing in the breaststroke with 463.5 points. Texas cleared 400 with 408.5 points, while Stanford (365), Arizona (350) and Michigan (230) held third through fifth.
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