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2022 NCAA Men’s Championships: Brendan Burns Springs Surprise in 200 Fly
For all those races when you wonder why a swimmer would go out fast, to put themselves through the punishment, only to get swamped at the end, let Brendan Burns be your guiding star.
The Indiana junior, flying under the radar in the final of the 200 butterfly Saturday night, flew out of the gates in the final. The longer he stayed out front, the greater the chance that he might pull a surprise on the favorites on the field.
The result was a first national title.
Burns was ahead at every wall in compiling the perfect race to usurp Luca Urlando and Nicolas Albiero for the victory. Burns took it out fast and stayed there, getting to the wall first in 1:38.71.
“It means everything. This is pretty life-changing,” Burns said. “I knew I had to have a perfect race against those guys out there, Luca, Nick, Trenton. All those guys out there are either fantastic 200 butterfliers or probably a lot better swimmers than I am. Fortunately, this is short-course and I just worked really hard on my underwater kicking. I knew I had to execute my race plan and just pray.”
Burns was the fourth seed out of prelims, but he was ahead at each wall. He survived a long glide into the 150-yard wall and was long on his finish, but still planted his hands to the wall .11 ahead of Urlando.
The 200 fly produced a magnificent final, the top four finishers separated by 0.29 seconds. Georgia’s Urlando was chasing a first title of the week, after finishing second in the 100 fly and third in the 200 IM. Albiero was hoping to repeat as NCAA champion and carried the top seed into finals by a half-second.
But Burns was better than both. Urlando surged to second in 1:38.82. Albiero was third in 1:38.88, augmenting a pair of sixth-places from Friday night in the 100 fly and 100 back. It’s the first NCAA title in the event since Gary Hall Sr. in 1973
Burns finished seventh in the event last year. He was second in the 100 back, on the wrong side of a .11-second margin to NC State’s Kacper Stokowski, and ninth in the 100 fly.
In the team race, Trenton Julian all but sewed up the title for California by finishing fourth in 1:39.00. Gabriel Jett was sixth.
Burns described the 200 fly as “my baby,” an event he obsesses over as a form of “artistic expression.” The two-time Big Ten Championships Swimmer of the Meet hadn’t quite had the NCAAs he would’ve liked yet, so meld NCAA success with the event he holds so dear felt perfect Saturday.
“Last year’s NCAAs was a bit of a disappointment,” Brendan Burns said. “Even though I made two A finals, I had higher goals, higher aspirations for myself. This year, I used that as motivation to work hard this year. I had really, really big goals this year. … When I swim a 200 fly, it just feel really natural, it feels so good. And for this being the biggest accomplishment of my career, it just means a lot.”
Event 12 Men 100 Yard Backstroke
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NCAA: N 43.35 3/25/2022 Luca Urlando, Georgia
Meet: M 43.35 3/25/2022 Luca Urlando, Georgia
American: A 43.35 3/25/2022 Luca Urlando, Georgia
U. S. Open: O 43.35 3/25/2022 Luca Urlando, Georgia
Pool: P 43.35 3/25/2022 Luca Urlando, Georgia
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
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=== Championship Final ===
1 Stokowski, Kacper JR NCSU 44.44 44.04 20
r:+0.61 21.34 44.04 (22.70)
2 Burns, Brendan JR Indiana 44.36 44.15 17
r:+0.56 21.40 44.15 (22.75)
3 Chaney, Adam SO Florida 44.39 44.35 16
r:+0.62 21.02 44.35 (23.33)
4 Lasco, Destin SO California 44.48 44.36 15
r:+0.64 21.70 44.36 (22.66)
5 Armstrong, Hunter JR Ohio St 44.72 44.42 14
r:+0.65 21.44 44.42 (22.98)
6 Albiero, Nicolas 5Y Louisville 44.54 44.60 13
r:+0.60 21.56 44.60 (23.04)
7 Farris, Dean SR Harvard 44.55 44.68 12
r:+0.57 21.26 44.68 (23.42)
8 Seeliger, Bjorn SO California 44.58 44.87 11
r:+0.71 21.23 44.87 (23.64)
=== Consolation Final ===
9 Menke, Matthew JR Alabama 44.96 44.66 9
r:+0.68 21.24 44.66 (23.42)
10 Fantoni, Gabriel 5Y Indiana 44.92 44.70 7
r:+0.68 21.37 44.70 (23.33)
11 MacAlister, Leon JR Stanford 44.89 44.93 6
r:+0.61 21.56 44.93 (23.37)
12 Carr, Daniel 5Y California 44.94 44.98 4.5
r:+0.64 21.86 44.98 (23.12)
12 Auchinachie, Cameron 5Y Texas 45.28 44.98 4.5
r:+0.73 21.41 44.98 (23.57)
14 Mefford, Bryce 5Y California 45.11 45.03 3
r:+0.60 22.00 45.03 (23.03)
15 Stoffle, Aidan JR Auburn 45.36 45.60 2
r:+0.64 21.73 45.60 (23.87)
16 Webb, Forest JR VT 45.36 45.72 1
r:+0.56 21.90 45.72 (23.82)
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