NCAA Men’s Championships: Brendan Burns Takes 100 Back Title
The top four swimmers in the 100 backstroke Friday night at the University of Minnesota were the top four from last year. For 75 yards, it looked like the outcome might be the same, too.
But Brendan Burns had other ideas, the Indiana senior surging past reigning champ Kacper Stokowski on the final leg to win in 43.61. It resets the pool record that had gone down in the morning.
“It’s just what I train for,” Burns said. “It’s Luke (Ryan) and Ray (Looze) and all the coaches back home, it’s what they push me to do, it’s what they believe in me to do and what they think I’m capable of. I’m just grateful that they had more belief in me than I did.
Stokwoski was second in 43.86. Cal’s Destin Lasco finished third, and Adam Chaney of Florida was fourth.
It’s a finals field that had a little of everything. For one, the top four from a season ago are all back – finishers, in order, in 2022 were Stokowski, Burns, Chaney and Lasco. Lasco won the 200 back last year, Burns the 200 fly, and Chaney relays each of the last two years, meaning no shortage of medal-winning pedigree. In 2021, Lasco was second, Stokowski third, Burns fifth with Chaney 10th. So there’s plenty of familiarity there, especially with very different styles, Lasco and Burns as the 200-strokers and Chaney and Stokowski as the fast men. “Those guys push me to be my best,” Burns said.
Burns won the B final of the 100 fly earlier in the night, an event in which Stokowski made the A final in the morning then took it easy at night to finish eighth in 48.27, 3.5 seconds behind the rest of the heat. Burns pushed it though yet still was disappointed to have not made the final eight; he came out of an early heat in the morning and believed he could’ve been in the A final had he been in a circle-seeded heat for pace in the first 50, consummate back-halfer that he is.
He would later add the lead-off leg on the second-place Hoosiers 400 medley relay, the kind of busy program that has become his hallmark.
“I really wish I had some secret sauce,” he said. “It’s just, once that first race is done, shut it down, go to the warm-down pool, get some water, shake out the legs and mentally refocus and try to do it again.”
Fifth went to Utah’s Andrei Ungur, the Romanian lowering his school record to 44.58. Owen McDonald and Jack Dolan of Arizona State finished sixth and seventh, respectively, to keep the Sun Devils in touch with Cal in the team race. Nathaniel Stoffle of Auburn was eighth.
Ruard van Renen of the mighty Southern Illinois Salukis won the B final in 44.67, the South African surging in the final 25 to best Cal’s Bjorn Seeliger, who went 45.00. Giovanni Izzo went 45.03 for third in the B final.
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 43.93 3/24/2023 Destin Lasco, California
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
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=== Championship Final ===
1 Burns, Brendan SR Indiana 44.28 43.61P 20
r:+0.70 21.26 43.61 (22.35)
2 Stokowski, Kacper SR NC State 44.02 43.86P 17
r:+0.71 20.97 43.86 (22.89)
3 Lasco, Destin JR California 43.93 43.94 16
r:+0.66 21.21 43.94 (22.73)
4 Chaney, Adam JR Florida 44.28 44.42 15
r:+0.73 21.05 44.42 (23.37)
5 Ungur, Andrei SR Utah 45.05 44.58 14
r:+0.70 21.57 44.58 (23.01)
6 McDonald, Owen FR ASU 44.97 44.85 13
r:+0.55 21.54 44.85 (23.31)
7 Dolan, Jack SR ASU 44.78 44.93 12
r:+0.55 21.57 44.93 (23.36)
8 Stoffle, Nate SO Auburn 44.93 45.38 11
r:+0.67 22.09 45.38 (23.29)
=== Consolation Final ===
9 Van Renen, Ruard FR SIUC 45.17 44.67 9
r:+0.67 21.58 44.67 (23.09)
10 Seeliger, Bjorn JR California 45.33 45.00 7
r:+0.83 21.29 45.00 (23.71)
11 Izzo, Giovanni 5Y NC State 45.20 45.03 6
r:+0.81 21.58 45.03 (23.45)
12 Stoffle, Aidan SR Auburn 45.22 45.09 5
r:+0.69 21.75 45.09 (23.34)
13 Dunham, Bradley SR Georgia 45.13 45.22 4
r:+0.75 21.71 45.22 (23.51)
14 Janton, Tommy FR Notre Dame 45.54 45.43 3
r:+0.72 21.66 45.43 (23.77)
15 Simons, Nick FR Tennessee 45.50 45.45 2
r:+0.66 21.92 45.45 (23.53)
16 Samuels, Brady SO Purdue 45.17 45.50 1
r:+0.77 21.73 45.50 (23.77)
Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 12
1. California 287 2. Arizona St 270
3. Texas 250 4. NC State 216.5
5. Florida 211 6. Indiana 174
7. Tennessee 105 8. Stanford 100.5
9. Auburn 80 10. Virginia Tech 72
11. Louisville 71 12. Georgia 53
12. Texas A&M 53 12. Virginia 53
15. Alabama 38 16. Lsu 37
17. Ohio St 34.5 18. Notre Dame 34
19. Missouri 32.5 20. Wisconsin 23
21. Minnesota 20 22. Michigan 18
22. UNC 18 24. Utah 14
24. Southern California 14 26. Arizona 10
27. Siuc 9 27. Miami 9
29. Princeton 4 29. Penn St 4
31. Georgia Tech 3 32. Pittsburgh 2
32. Air Force 2 32. Towson 2
35. Purdue 1
