Men’s NCAA Division I Championships: 5 Freshmen To Watch

Editorial content for the NCAA Division I Championships is sponsored by Nike Swim.

Commentary by Jeff Commings

TUCSON – Being a freshman at the Men’s NCAA Division I championships is a scary situation. I was a nervous wreck in my first NCAA meet, and though I had been in meets with equal importance (USA Swimming nationals, Olympic Trials), this was a different experience. Adrenaline was high and tension was higher. Most freshmen can’t handle the experience, but a few have. Ryan Murphy won both backstroke events last year as a freshman, and Kristian Gkolomeev was victorious in the 50 free as a freshman. Will we see another freshman at the top of the podium this year?

Five freshmen stand on the brink of major performances, and we present some background on them as they prepare for the most intense meet of their lives.

Gunnar Bentz

Georgia has arguably the best freshman class in the nation, led by junior national team member Gunnar Bentz. Look for Bentz to make the top eight in the 400 IM, but can he get into the 200 IM championship final as well? That could be a tough thing to do, but Bentz is seeded 12th with a lifetime best 1:43.48. He’ll need to be under 1:42 in prelims, which is not out of the realm of possibility. Bentz’s strength in the IM is his breaststroke, and he tends to work the back half of the race – much like Georgia teammate Chase Kalisz. Bentz will need to be more aggressive in the front of his IM races to have a chance at placing high in either event.

Caeleb Dressel

Dressel is probably the only freshman with a strong chance of winning an individual NCAA title this year. He might even win two of them! He’s seeded second in the 50 free and 100 free, events that could be decided by hundredths of a second. In both events, Gkolomeev is seeded ahead of him by a combined .47 seconds. It’s tough to say which event Dressel has the bigger shot for the title, given that he’s so good in both sprint events. Perhaps the door is open a bit wider in the 100 free, where Gkolomeev is still relatively new to the event, while Dressel has major experience in the race, including a junior world title. Dressel said in a Morning Swim Show interview that he’s felt rejuvenated at Florida after taking some time off to refocus. It’s worked so far; we’ll see how it manifests itself at NCAAs.

P.J. Ransford

Cracking into the top eight in distance freestyle as a college freshman is not easy. Experience and maturity are the hallmarks of the best distance swimmers at the collegiate championships, but it appears Ransford is ahead of his time. As the eighth-seed in the 1650 freestyle, he’ll be one of three freshmen in the fastest heat in Iowa. As long as he doesn’t overswim the first half of the race, he has the chops to keep Michigan’s strong distance swimming tradition alive with another top-eight finish. Ransford has been known to take the mile out hard, as he did last year at the NCSA junior nationals with a lifetime best 14:46.40. Last year, the eighth-place time was 14:47.74, so Ransford might only need to swim his lifetime best to place in the top eight.

Joe Schooling

As the freshman with the most impressive swimming accomplishments, Schooling comes into the NCAA championships with very high expectations after winning medals at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games (not to mention swimming at the Olympics for Singapore). Before Jack Conger broke the American record in the 200 fly two weeks ago, Schooling was the only one I believed had the talent to take down reigning champion Dylan Bosch in the 200 fly. Now, Texas has a 1-2 punch against Michigan’s Bosch, and it would not surprise me if Schooling unleashes something historic. I fully expect Schooling under the 1:40 barrier, which will create an exciting three-way battle for the 200 fly title. We know Schooling has amazing talent in the 100 fly, thanks to his national high school record of 45.52. Schooling has already posted a 44.81 this season, and I sense a swim four tenths faster than that at the end of the month. Schooling is also a threat in the 200 IM, having four strong strokes, but probably not the speed to hold the pace of the top four.

Ralf Tribuntsov

Anyone outside the University of Southern California swim team who figured that Ralf Tribuntsov would finish in the top three in the 100 back at the Pac 12 championships could call themselves the next Nostradamus. Tribuntsov, a freshman from Estonia, gives the Trojans a bit of a boost in the medley relay thanks to a 44.95 prelim swim last week. He’s now one of the fastest in history, and will be Murphy’s main challenger in the 100 back. Tribuntsov was unable to swim faster in the Pac 12 final, which he will need to do at the NCAA championships. Perhaps conserving a bit of energy in prelims would be wise, but conserve too much and you’re on the outside looking in. He’s slated to swim the 100 fly as well, and the key will be recovering well from that event in order to be competitive in the 100 back about an hour later.