NCAA Men’s Championships: Luke Hobson Adds 200 Free Title; Grant House Pushes Arizona State into Lead
For a moment, it seemed like Grant House might pull off something special Friday night. Then the watch remembered what kind of dominant Luke Hobson has been this week. But House got a decent consolation price.
The Texas sophomore surged late and took control of the 200 free in the final 100, winning in 1:30.43. He held off a charge by Cal’s Gabriel Jett, who finished second in 1:30.74. They were separated by .08 in the morning. It’s slightly slower than the 1:29.63 that Hobson used off the front of Texas’ winning 800 free relay, but he’s at peace with that.
“It was really good,” Hobson said. “Wanted to be a little bit faster; 29 would’ve been great again, but I’ll take the win and get the points on the board for our team.”
House, who was the top seed entering the meet and finished seventh in the morning, brought some outside smoke. He was ahead at the halfway point out of lane 1, but Hobson worked the third 50 to get in front of him. He ended up third in 1:31.12, still vital points for ASU, with teammates Julian Hill sixth and Patrick Sammon seventh. That was enough to surge the Sun Devils into the lead on Day 3 of the meet, with 245 points, ahead of Cal (239) and Texas (235).
Brooks Curry likewise tried to get a jump on the field and run away. They reeled the LSU senior back in, though he was a tidy fourth in 1:31.30. Jack Dahlgren of Missouri scored in fifth. Texas rounded out the A final with Coby Carrozza in fifth.
Hobson, who maintained Texas’ tradition in the event, had the idea that Curry and House might try to take it out. And while he didn’t have an eyeball on them necessarily, his race plan dictated a strong back half anyway, befitting his distance pedigree.
“I knew that they’d be out quick, and I was out a little slower than I was on Wednesday,” he said. “I could kind of see them but I couldn’t really tell. I knew I was patient and I’d have the back half and be able to bring it home.”
Only two of the finalists this year were in the final eight a year ago – House as the runner-up and Curry in sixth. Hobson, the winner of the 500 free, had been 16th, but the sophomore has shown tremendous growth in the last year. Ditto Jett, who was 18th last year, while Hill was all the way back in 31st in an event that is on the fringes of the 500/miler’s specialty area.
Notre Dame’s Chris Guliano won the B final, exemplifying how tight the field is. His time of 1:32.31 was just .05 up on Jake Mitchell of Florida and by .16 on Arizona State’s Andrew Gray. The eight B finalists were separated by 1.06 seconds. Gray jumped from 13th in prelims and Mitchell from 14th, bolstering their teams in the race for the podium.
Event 10 Men 200 Yard Freestyle
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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 1:29.50 3/22/2018 Townley Haas, Texas
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
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=== Championship Final ===
1 Hobson, Luke SO Texas 1:30.78 1:30.43 20
r:+0.73 21.31 43.86 (22.55)
1:07.03 (23.17) 1:30.43 (23.40)
2 Jett, Gabriel SO California 1:30.86 1:30.74 17
r:+0.63 21.16 44.29 (23.13)
1:07.63 (23.34) 1:30.74 (23.11)
3 House, Grant 5Y ASU 1:32.12 1:31.12 16
r:+0.64 20.78 43.53 (22.75)
1:07.08 (23.55) 1:31.12 (24.04)
4 Curry, Brooks SR LSU 1:31.94 1:31.30 15
r:+0.63 20.59 43.78 (23.19)
1:07.32 (23.54) 1:31.30 (23.98)
5 Dahlgren, Jack 5Y Missouri 1:32.06 1:32.00 14
r:+0.61 21.06 44.50 (23.44)
1:08.27 (23.77) 1:32.00 (23.73)
6 Hill, Julian SR ASU 1:31.74 1:32.25 13
r:+0.61 21.47 44.78 (23.31)
1:08.25 (23.47) 1:32.25 (24.00)
7 Sammon, Patrick SO ASU 1:32.28 1:32.61 12
r:+0.69 21.39 44.72 (23.33)
1:08.73 (24.01) 1:32.61 (23.88)
8 Carrozza, Coby JR Texas 1:32.06 1:32.67 11
r:+0.74 21.40 44.75 (23.35)
1:08.58 (23.83) 1:32.67 (24.09)
=== Consolation Final ===
9 Guiliano, Chris SO Notre Dame 1:32.36 1:32.31 9
r:+0.62 21.11 44.48 (23.37)
1:08.36 (23.88) 1:32.31 (23.95)
10 Mitchell, Jake JR Florida 1:32.56 1:32.36 7
r:+0.66 21.54 45.04 (23.50)
1:08.62 (23.58) 1:32.36 (23.74)
11 Gray, Andrew SR ASU 1:32.51 1:32.47 6
r:+0.67 21.36 44.59 (23.23)
1:08.50 (23.91) 1:32.47 (23.97)
12 Maurer, Luke JR Stanford 1:32.40 1:32.54 5
r:+0.64 21.54 45.11 (23.57)
1:09.11 (24.00) 1:32.54 (23.43)
13 Miroslaw, Rafael SO Indiana 1:32.28 1:32.65 4
r:+0.63 21.26 44.92 (23.66)
1:08.94 (24.02) 1:32.65 (23.71)
14 Gaziev, Ruslan JR Ohio St 1:32.59 1:32.85 3
r:+0.67 21.65 45.09 (23.44)
1:08.95 (23.86) 1:32.85 (23.90)
15 Zhang, Wen SR Air Force 1:32.61 1:32.87 2
r:+0.63 21.23 44.54 (23.31)
1:08.58 (24.04) 1:32.87 (24.29)
16 Hawke, Charlie SO Alabama 1:32.42 1:33.27 1
r:+0.71 21.43 44.74 (23.31)
1:08.89 (24.15) 1:33.27 (24.38)
Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 10
1. Arizona St 245 2. California 239
3. Texas 235 4. NC State 193.5
5. Florida 175 6. Indiana 128
7. Tennessee 103 8. Stanford 95
9. Virginia Tech 72 10. Auburn 57
11. Louisville 55 12. Texas A&M 53
12. Virginia 53 14. Georgia 49
15. Lsu 37 16. Ohio St 34.5
17. Notre Dame 31 18. Alabama 27
18. Missouri 27 20. Wisconsin 23
21. Michigan 18 21. UNC 18
23. Southern California 14 24. Arizona 10
25. Miami 9 26. Penn St 4
26. Princeton 4 28. Georgia Tech 3
29. Air Force 2 30. Pittsburgh 1
