PHOENIX, Arizona, April 1. THE University of Michigan Wolverines are celebrating in Ann Arbor today after winning the men's team title at the Division I NCAA swimming and diving championships. While Michigan pretty much had the title sewn up after the second day of competition, and Cal was securely in second with Arizona third, the race for that fourth-place trophy was very tight. It came down to the final event, the 400 free relay, and Southern Cal won on the back of a 40.28 anchor leg from Vlad Morozov. With that relay win, USC snagged the fourth-place team trophy by one point over Texas, three-and-a-half points over Florida and seven points ahead of Stanford.
We have complete recaps of the meet, as well as dozens of video interviews from athletes and coaches from the IU Natatorium on swimmingworld.com and swimmingworld.tv.
Today is April Fool's Day, and the Internet has been flooded with plenty of fake news articles. One of the best we've seen is from Swimming Canada, who got into the fun with a press release today stating that Ryan Cochrane was retiring from the sport to become a champion bobsledder. We also got a funny email from open water swimmer Marcia Cleveland about her successful swim across Niagara Falls from the Canadian side to the American side, chugging eight Starbucks espressos before jumping into the chilly rapids.
But probably the biggest prank of the day came from South African media, which started a firestorm when it was reported on Sport24 that athletes who qualify for the FINA world championships would have to pay for their airfare and hotel accommodations, citing a lack of funds after losing a major sponsor. The South African world trials begins in two weeks, and we're sure to see lots of swimmers qualifying for the meet knowing the only thing they'll have to worry about is swimming fast. Thanks to everyone who has given us a good laugh on this prank-filled day.