NCAA Men’s Championships: Leon Marchand Chases Third Crown Amid Team Race Intrigue (Heat Sheets)
NCAA Men’s Championships: Leon Marchand Chases Third Crown Amid Team Race Intrigue (Heat Sheets)
Leon Marchand has become appointment viewing in an NCAA pool. Set your watches for Saturday’s 200 breaststroke at the 2023 NCAA Championships.
Marchand will chase his third title of the weekend in the 200 breaststroke against hometown favorite Max McHugh of Minnesota. Marchand has set NCAA records in winning the 400 IM and 200 IM this week.
McHugh won the event last year. He wrapped up a 3-peat of 100 breast title Friday night in 50.00 seconds. They are seeds one and three, with Florida freshman Aleksas Savickas in the middle.
It’s one of five individual events, including the mile, leading up to the concluding 400 free relay. Platform diving will also be contested.
The 200 backstroke will have plenty of firepower. Destin Lasco is the top seed, and IMers Hugo Gonzalez and Carson Foster will be in the penultimate heat with Baylor Nelson.
Eight heats of the 100 free could set up a rematch of Josh Liendo, Jordan Crooks and Youssef Ramadan. The Tennessee sophomore Crooks took the 50 free. Ramadan won the 100 butterfly Friday night and is the top seed entering the 100 free.
The 200 fly presents an open event for this year’s field. Brendan Burns won it last year, but the next four finishers are absent. Gabriel Jett of Cal, who is swimming well, enters as the top seed, but Burns and Arizona State’s Alexander Colson are also under 1:40, in a race that could significant implications for the title race.
The first four heats of the mile will happen starting at 5 p.m. ET with the final heat an hour later to start the night session. Levi Sandidge of Kentucky is the top seed by nearly six seconds in 14:31.47, but Texas’s David Johnston, Will Gallant of NC State and Georgia’s Jake Magahey will have something to say about it.
There also will be in intrigue in the team race, a rarity in recent years. At the end of Friday night, Cal, Arizona State and Texas were separated by 23 points. In the battle for fourth, just 12.5 points separate Indiana, Florida and NC State.
Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 14 1. California 315 2. Arizona St 302 3. Texas 292 4. Indiana 259 5. Florida 251 6. NC State 246.5 7. Tennessee 144 8. Stanford 112.5 9. Auburn 96 9. Virginia Tech 96 11. Louisville 71 12. Virginia 67 13. Texas A&M 65 14. Ohio St 54.5 15. Georgia 53 16. Missouri 50.5 17. Lsu 40 18. Alabama 38 19. Notre Dame 34 20. Southern California 31 21. UNC 27 21. Wisconsin 27 23. Michigan 24 24. Minnesota 20 25. Utah 14 26. Columbia 12 27. Arizona 10 28. Siuc 9 28. Miami 9 30. Princeton 4 30. Penn St 4 30. Pittsburgh 4 33. Georgia Tech 3 34. Air Force 2 34. Towson 2 36. Purdue 1