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By Michael J. Stott
Thursday’s prelims ended in a cacophony as three swimmers braced for a swimoff for the coveted eighth spot in the 50 free. All athletes; Alabama’s Kristian Gkolomeev (19.04), Brett Ringgold of Texas (19.09) and Peter Holoda (19.13) of Auburn bested their first swim times of 19.18. After that, the natatorium returned to a hush punctuated only by the jarring sound of 1 meter divers showcasing their acrobatic skills.
First sessions at championship meets leave impressions and sometime foreshadow later developments. This morning decided nothing, but did set the stage for a very interesting final three days. Texas did not run away and hide. Cal proved they are still a force, especially after placing first, second, fourth in the 200 IM. And, NC State coach Braden Holloway had reason to smile with continued strong showings from his sprinters and a morning of no relay DQ’s, unfortunate events which marred the Wolfpack fortunes the last two years.
Probably the biggest surprise was in the 500 free where top-seeded Longhorn Clark Smith finished the morning in 21st place. Coach Eddie Reese attributed Smith’s showing to a sleepless night and championship jitters.
”He didn’t get any sleep last night worrying about only things that a kid can worry about at this meet. He paid the price from the neck down and the neck up.”
Asked if that state was something that would work itself out in the course of the meet, Reese responded “it can’t be any worse than that. The guy who won it last year by three seconds (Smith) will be fine tomorrow and good in the mile.”
Reese’s assessment of his team’s first morning “was kind of average or below. We got a lot of guys who should be swimming tonight and one session doesn’t make the meet. They’ve just got to decide to turn that around.”
Cal’s Dave Durden continued his reserved optimistic read on the proceedings.
“The IM was a pretty good event for us with Prenot (Josh), Murph (Ryan Murphy) and Selli (Andrew Seliskar). They did a nice job this morning and with Pebley (Jacob) sneaking in at 15th. We’ll take that. It was a really, really nice job. We kind of open up a little bit tomorrow and the next day and get into the flow of he meet. The 200 IM was the better one of the three (no Bears coming back in the 50 free) events… we’ll take it. We’ve got some guys we have to get in the water for the first time so we are looking forward to that and looking forward to seeing our guys get up and race tonight.”
Asked if he felt his team was set up well for tonight and going forward he replied “I think so. We are not trying to get too far ahead, but we had a good morning this morning. Now it’s just a matter of taking care of ourselves between the sessions and come back tonight refreshed and recharged. And be good on our relays and good with the swims we have.”
Florida placed bodies in every championship final highlighted by Caeleb Dressel’s 18.29 splash and dash which ranks second all-time in relation to his NCAA, American and U.S. Open records of 18.23. The swim was an NCAA championship meet mark topping Cesar Cielo’s 18.47 from 2008 and sinking Matt Grevers’ 18.95 pool record from 2007.
Mitch D’Arrigo waited until the 350 mark in heat three to accelerate past Southern Cal’s Reed Malone and Michigan’s Anders Nielsen to post his top 500 free swim (4:11.48).
“That’s how he swims,” said Florida assistant Anthony Nesty. “He backhalves most all of his swims He’s been looking pretty good these last two weeks.”
Queried if there was a 4:08 in the cards Nesty smiled and said “Hopefully he goes faster. If he goes 4:08, we’ll take it. Once you get to NCAAs and you make it to top eight you are swimming against guys who all have a shot and hopefully he gets the job done tonight.”
Head coach Gregg Troy attributed part of D’Arrigo’s success to a restored confidence. “He’s a really good swimmer.”
Gators Mark Szaranek and Jan Switkowski placed seventh and eighth in the 200 IM while Florida’s 200 free and 400 medley relays will go off third and eighth this evening.
“We are pleased, we had a really good morning,” says Troy. “A meet like this no one was perfect. There is a lot of pressure. Handling the stress for the guys is the key. You make a little error and you wind up in the consolation final. There are a couple spots we’d like to be a little better. I thought the meet was good… a lot of different teams involved which is good for the sport. “
Amen to that.
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Jacob Siar