Florida junior Kieran Smith won his first NCAA title on Friday night at the 2021 NCAA Division I men’s swimming and diving championships in Greensboro with a 1:30.10 in the 200 freestyle, running down Texas junior Drew Kibler (1:30.39) in the process.
Kibler set the pace early, turning at 43.29 as he was trying to pick up Texas’ first individual win of the weekend in the pool as he swam faster than he did leading off the relay. Smith was a 43.79 on the front half and stayed poised throughout, closing the gap slowly but surely and turning even on the final 25. Smith split a 23.16, just a few tenths quicker than his teammate Bobby Finke earlier in the 400 IM as he won his first individual title of his career after coming last year as the top man in the 200 and 500 free before the meet was cancelled. Smith will be in the 100 freestyle tomorrow.
“This was really emotional. I was devastated when the meet got canceled last year because I felt like I had a couple of good shots at winning a title. I fell a little short in the 500 yesterday, so I am beyond happy to get my hand on the wall first tonight,” Kieran Smith said after the race. “I was watching Bobby’s race and I couldn’t believe my eyes. That got me going tonight.”
Kibler moved up to seventh all-time with his swim as Texas extended its lead over Cal with three total A-finalists to Cal’s one representative in Trenton Julian in third at 1:31.55. The Longhorns also placed Jake Sannem (1:32.58) in fourth and Peter Larson (1:33.67) in eighth.
Ohio State’s Paul DeLakis (1:32.97), LSU’s Brooks Curry (1:33.12) and USC’s Alexei Sancov (1:33.64) also swam in the championship final.
Florida now has six NCAA titles in the 200 freestyle as Kieran Smith joins Mike Heath (1984), Adam Sioui (2002), Shaune Fraser (2009), Conor Dwyer (2010) and Brett Fraser (2011) as winners of the event for the Gators.
All-Time Rankings Men’s 200 Free
- 1:29.15, Dean Farris, Harvard, 2019
- 1:29.48, Kieran Smith, Florida, 2021
- 1:29.50, Townley Haas, Texas, 2018
- 1:29.63, Blake Pieroni, Indiana, 2018
- 1:30.14, Andrew Seliskar, California, 2019
- 1:30.34, Zach Apple, Indiana, 2019
- 1:30.39, Drew Kibler, Texas, 2021
- 1:30.59, Shaine Casas, Texas A&M, 2021
- 1:30.95, Dylan Carter, Southern California, 2017
- 1:31.20, Simon Burnett, Arizona, 2006
Event 10 Men 200 Yard Freestyle
=========================================================================
NCAA: N 1:29.15 3/27/2019 Dean Farris, Harvard
Meet: M 1:29.15 3/27/2019 Dean Farris, Harvard
American: A 1:29.15 3/27/2019 Dean Farris, Harvard
U. S. Open: O 1:29.15 3/27/2019 Dean Farris, Harvard
Pool: P 1:29.66 3/24/2021 Kieran Smith, Florida
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
=========================================================================
=== Championship Final ===
1 Smith, Kieran JR Florida 1:31.69 1:30.10 20
r:+0.70 21.05 43.79 (22.74)
1:06.94 (23.15) 1:30.10 (23.16)
2 Kibler, Drew JR Texas 1:30.87 1:30.39 17
r:+0.61 20.60 43.29 (22.69)
1:06.56 (23.27) 1:30.39 (23.83)
3 Julian, Trenton SR California 1:31.95 1:31.55 16
r:+0.64 21.23 44.08 (22.85)
1:07.39 (23.31) 1:31.55 (24.16)
4 Sannem, Jake SR Texas 1:32.68 1:32.58 15
r:+0.77 21.37 44.71 (23.34)
1:08.71 (24.00) 1:32.58 (23.87)
5 Delakis, Paul SR Ohio St 1:32.59 1:32.97 14
r:+0.71 21.70 44.92 (23.22)
1:08.85 (23.93) 1:32.97 (24.12)
6 Curry, Brooks SO LSU 1:32.55 1:33.12 13
r:+0.60 20.96 44.58 (23.62)
1:08.84 (24.26) 1:33.12 (24.28)
7 Sancov, Alexei JR USC 1:32.55 1:33.64 12
r:+0.59 21.41 44.73 (23.32)
1:08.87 (24.14) 1:33.64 (24.77)
8 Larson, Peter SO Texas 1:32.53 1:33.67 11
r:+0.61 21.06 44.18 (23.12)
1:08.64 (24.46) 1:33.67 (25.03)
=== Consolation Final ===
9 Unlu, Baturalp FR GT 1:32.80 1:32.60 9
r:+0.65 21.51 45.25 (23.74)
1:09.12 (23.87) 1:32.60 (23.48)
10 Forst, Preston FR Stanford 1:32.91 1:32.80 7
r:+0.66 21.98 45.38 (23.40)
1:09.06 (23.68) 1:32.80 (23.74)
11 Dahlgren, Jack JR Missouri 1:32.80 1:32.98 6
r:+0.63 21.45 44.70 (23.25)
1:08.41 (23.71) 1:32.98 (24.57)
12 Magahey, Jake FR Georgia 1:32.92 1:33.07 5
r:+0.73 21.86 45.43 (23.57)
1:09.33 (23.90) 1:33.07 (23.74)
13 Callan, Patrick JR Michigan 1:32.98 1:33.19 4
r:+0.67 21.73 45.12 (23.39)
1:08.90 (23.78) 1:33.19 (24.29)
14 Carrozza, Coby FR Texas 1:32.70 1:33.30 3
r:+0.66 21.58 45.21 (23.63)
1:09.34 (24.13) 1:33.30 (23.96)
15 Miller, Luke FR NC State 1:32.87 1:33.31 2
r:+0.58 21.47 45.42 (23.95)
1:09.32 (23.90) 1:33.31 (23.99)
16 Theall, Mark SR TAMU 1:32.73 1:33.57 1
r:+0.70 21.80 45.35 (23.55)
1:09.43 (24.08) 1:33.57 (24.14)
Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 10 1. Texas 326 2. California 291 3. Florida 213 4. Georgia 162 5. Indiana 97 6. NC State 89 6. Texas A&M 89 8. Louisville 81 9. Michigan 70 10. Arizona 66 11. Virginia 63 12. Missouri 62 13. Stanford 58 14. Virginia Tech 52 15. Ohio St 42 16. Alabama 38 17. Lsu 36 18. Georgia Tech 29 19. Purdue 28 20. University of Miami 19 21. Florida St 18.5 22. Notre Dame 15 22. Southern California 15 24. Penn St 13 25. Pittsburgh 12 26. Kentucky 9 27. Wisconsin 8 28. Tennessee 7 29. UNC 4 30. Utah 2.5
.jpg "2021 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming & Diving Championships - logo"){kind=logo}