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NCAA Men’s Championships: National Title in Sight For Cal With Seven A-Finalists (Up-Downs)
For Texas to have a chance at winning another title a this week’s NCAA Men’s Championships, the Longhorns needed to have a substantial lead over Cal heading into the final day of competition. The Golden Bears were projected for a huge final day of the meet, a level that no other team, including Texas, could match. Instead, Cal actually led at the end of Friday night after the 10th-seeded Bears made the huge leap to first place in the 400 medley relay.
Even after that huge win, the Cal swimmers were not in a celebratory mood. Instead, they were adamant that they had to get the job done in Saturday’s prelims. Nothing was decided yet, and there was a long way to go. Well, Cal indeed came through with a seven up, four down performance in prelims.
Destin Lasco, Daniel Carr and Bryce Mefford are seeded first, third and fifth, respectively, in the 200 backstroke, and Mefford’s younger brother Colby Mefford is in the consolation final. Bjorn Seeliger is the top seed by four tenths in the 100 freestyle, and Reece Whitley will be in the mix in the 200 breaststroke, with three other Bears (Hugo Gonzalez, Jason Louser and Liam Bell) in the B-final. Trenton Julian will aim for a title in the 200 butterfly, and freshman Gabriel Jett swam his best time to sneak into the final by three hundredths. Cal is also the top-seeded team for the 400 freestyle relay.
The Longhorns were perfectly solid in the morning as Carson Foster (200 back), Caspar Corbeau (200 breast), Drew Kibler and Danny Krueger (both 100 free) all qualified in the top-eight, but that will not be enough depth to hang with Cal. Cal is projected to finish with 497.5 points, well ahead of Texas’ projected 452.
The Florida Gators did not have an exceptional morning (one up, two down), but they should still be in good shape for third place, particularly with the 1650 free still to come. Bobby Finke is the heavy favorite to defend his national title in that race, while Trey Freeman and Tyler Watson will need to hold their spots in the top-10.
NC State also had a difficult morning as no Wolfpack swimmers reached an A-final, so they need Will Gallant and Ross Dant to hold onto their seeded positions in the 1650 free (third and fifth, respectively), and their 400 free relay is seeded third. If that happens, the Wolfpack likely have enough to hang onto the final trophy spot.
The drama should come in the race for fifth place, with Arizona State, Indiana and Stanford all in the mix, and of those teams, Stanford had the best morning with Leon MacAlister (200 back), Andrei Minakov (100 free) and Daniel Roy (200 breast) all making A-finals. Arizona State finished two up, one down, while Indiana was one up, four down. Indiana remains projected to finish fifth, but those three teams are set to finish within 25 points of each other, so the order of the fifth, sixth and seventh-place teams could still change.
The other team to qualify three A-finalists on Saturday was Virginia, which will have Justin Grender swimming in the 200 back final and teammates Matt Brownstead and Matt King in the top heat of the 100 free. Additionally, the UVA 400 free relay projected for a fourth-place finish. The Cavaliers hold 13th place in the standings right now, but a late top-10 run is possible, as they sit within striking distance of ACC rivals Louisville and Virginia Tech.
Up-Downs From Saturday Prelims:
- Cal 7-5
- Texas 4-2
- Virginia 3-1
- Stanford 3-0
- Arizona State 2-1
- Georgia Tech 2-0
- Indiana 1-4
- Virginia Tech 1-4
- Florida 1-2
- Missouri 1-1
- Georgia 1-0
- Kentucky 1-0
- LSU 1-0
- Louisville 1-0
- Minnesota 1-0
- Penn 1-0
- Tennessee 1-0
- NC State 0-3
- Alabama 0-2
- Ohio State 0-2
- Harvard 0-1
- Michigan 0-1
- Princeton 0-1
- USC 0-1
- Texas A&M 0-1
Team Scores Through Friday:
1. California 320.5 2. Texas 313 3. Florida 272 4. NC State 214 5. Indiana 183 6. Arizona St 167 7. Stanford 159 8. Georgia 150 9. Louisville 108 9. Ohio St 108 11. Virginia Tech 89.5 12. Alabama 80 13. Virginia 77.5 14. Harvard 76 15. Lsu 65 16. Arizona 61 17. Purdue 42 17. Texas A&M 42 19. Tennessee 40.5 20. Michigan 34 21. Columbia 30 22. Minnesota 27 23. UNC 24 23. Southern California 24 25. Auburn 22 26. Missouri 7 26. Princeton 7 28. Northwestern 6.5 28. Penn 6.5 30. Notre Dame 5 31. Smu 4 31. Georgia Tech 4 31. Towson 4 31. Wisconsin 4 35. Utah 2
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