NCAA Men’s Championships: Will Gallant, Ross Dant Lead NC State 1-2 in Mile
Ross Dant hit the wall in the penultimate heat of the mile and shared a bit of wisdom with Will Gallant.
The NC State junior had just set a best time of 14:30.32 in the next-to-last heat of the 1,650 freestyle at the 2023 NCAA Championships. Gallant would swim in the final heat when the evening session began.
“I touched, and I knew – I told this to Will – that the only person who can beat me is him,” a jubilant Dant said. “I was confident in that.”
Confident, and correct. The NC State distance guys went 1-2, the start of a marauding evening for the Wolfpack.
Dant set down a wicked fast time in the next-to-last heat, a time that allowed the 13th seed to cut some 14.5 seconds off his seed time. No one but his teammate could match it in the final, Gallant clocking in at 14:28.94 to dominate that heat.
Dant’s time held up for silver, as did his footing as he raced across the deck to congratulate his teammate at the wall before most of the final heat had finished.
“That’s the most fun I’ve had swimming since I can remember,” Dant said of the wait. “Watching Will reel in David Johnston and just crush that last 500 made me so happy. … My heart was pounding the entire time, but I knew we could do something special.”
Gallant saw what Dant was doing while warming up. He knew from the splits that Dant was handling his business. And it made him ready and confident about handling his.
“I was really ready to go and I was killing it in pace,” Dant said. “I knew I was going to do well. I was pretty excited by what he was doing, and that really got me going.
Texas’s David Johnston had been ahead of Dant’s pace for the first 600 yards. But the junior faded as the chants of “Wolfpack distance” crescendoed from the crowd at Jean K. Freeman Aquatics Center. Johnston ended up fourth in 14:35.51, with Georgia’s Jake Magahey passing him. Magahey finished fourth last year and second in 2021 in this event. He clocked in at 14:33.82.
Gallant and Dant both bumped up a place from last year, which had been their hope since seeing Bobby Finke set an NCAA record last year. The points moved NC State from sixth in the team standings to four, leaping past Florida and Indiana.
“We talked about this all year long,” Dant said. “When we went 2-3 last year, I looked at him and said, we can go 1-2 next year. Knowing that that happened and the way it happened, I couldn’t imagine a better way to do it.”
That penultimate heat ended up going 2-5-7. Notre Dame’s Jack Hoagland was second in that next-to-last heat in 14:38.64, good for fifth. Ohio State’s Charlie Clark, who finished eighth each of the last two years, nudged up to seventh in 14:41.63.
Top seed Levi Sandidge finished sixth. The SEC champion who was vying to be Kentucky’s first NCAA title. Eighth place went to Arizona State freshman Zalan Sarkany, which helps keep the Sun Devils in second ahead of the Texas in the team standings.
Event 15 Men 1650 Yard Freestyle
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NCAA: N 14:12.08 2/22/2020 Bobby Finke, Florida
Meet: M 14:12.52 3/27/2021 Bobby Finke, Florida
American: A 14:12.08 2/22/2020 Bobby Finke, Florida
U. S. Open: O 14:12.08 2/22/2020 Bobby Finke, Florida
Pool: P 14:24.43 3/24/2018 Anton Ipson, NC State
Name Year School Seed Finals Points
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1 Gallant, Will JR NC State 14:34.82 14:28.94 20
r:+0.66 24.04 49.88 (25.84)
13:36.57 (26.67) 14:03.35 (26.78) 14:28.94 (25.59)
2 Dant, Ross SR NC State 14:44.87 14:30.32 17
r:+0.60 23.79 49.68 (25.89)
13:38.38 (26.50) 14:04.92 (26.54) 14:30.32 (25.40)
3 Magahey, Jake JR Georgia 14:38.45 14:33.82 16
r:+0.74 24.31 50.72 (26.41)
13:43.89 (26.36) 14:09.61 (25.72) 14:33.82 (24.21)
4 Johnston, David JR Texas 14:37.30 14:35.51 15
r:+0.69 23.50 48.99 (25.49)
13:43.33 (26.62) 14:09.79 (26.46) 14:35.51 (25.72)
5 Hoagland, Jack SR Notre Dame 14:48.82 14:38.64 14
r:+0.76 23.76 49.89 (26.13)
13:45.18 (26.84) 14:12.27 (27.09) 14:38.64 (26.37)
6 Sandidge, Levi FR Kentucky 14:31.47 14:40.05 13
r:+0.65 23.68 49.50 (25.82)
13:47.82 (26.41) 14:14.38 (26.56) 14:40.05 (25.67)
7 Clark, Charlie JR Ohio St 14:41.75 14:41.43 12
r:+0.70 24.30 50.76 (26.46)
13:48.33 (27.09) 14:15.53 (27.20) 14:41.43 (25.90)
8 Sarkany, Zalan FR ASU 14:41.65 14:42.80 11
r:+0.67 23.14 49.04 (25.90)
13:49.30 (27.34) 14:16.45 (27.15) 14:42.80 (26.35)
9 Henveaux, Lucas 5Y California 14:48.84 14:44.14 9
r:+0.67 24.65 51.47 (26.82)
13:52.14 (26.08) 14:18.16 (26.02) 14:44.14 (25.98)
10 Mestre, Alfonso SR Florida 14:52.88 14:44.50 7
r:+0.76 24.36 51.33 (26.97)
13:50.94 (27.11) 14:18.22 (27.28) 14:44.50 (26.28)
11 Lloyd, Owen JR NC State 14:50.21 14:46.16 6
r:+0.72 24.27 50.47 (26.20)
13:53.58 (26.96) 14:20.58 (27.00) 14:46.16 (25.58)
12 Watson, Tyler SR Florida 14:38.50 14:46.27 5
r:+0.75 23.84 49.27 (25.43)
13:52.93 (27.27) 14:19.99 (27.06) 14:46.27 (26.28)
13 Enyeart, Alec FR Texas 14:43.39 14:47.13 4
r:+0.76 24.31 50.68 (26.37)
13:53.54 (26.98) 14:20.80 (27.26) 14:47.13 (26.33)
14 Matheson, Daniel SO ASU 14:48.52 14:48.21 3
r:+0.66 24.32 51.08 (26.76)
13:57.03 (26.63) 14:23.51 (26.48) 14:48.21 (24.70)
15 Johansson, Victor 5Y Alabama 14:39.63 14:48.42 2
r:+0.65 24.66 50.90 (26.24)
13:55.79 (27.29) 14:22.61 (26.82) 14:48.42 (25.81)
16 Linscheer, Gio FR Florida 14:53.65 14:48.63 1
r:+0.58 25.39 52.38 (26.99)
13:57.13 (26.51) 14:23.54 (26.41) 14:48.63 (25.09)
Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 15
1. California 324 2. Arizona St 316
3. Texas 311 4. NC State 289.5
5. Florida 264 6. Indiana 259
7. Tennessee 144 8. Stanford 112.5
9. Virginia Tech 96 9. Auburn 96
11. Louisville 71 12. Georgia 69
13. Virginia 67 14. Ohio St 66.5
15. Texas A&M 65 16. Missouri 50.5
17. Notre Dame 48 18. Alabama 40
18. Lsu 40 20. Southern California 31
21. Wisconsin 27 21. UNC 27
23. Michigan 24 24. Minnesota 20
25. Utah 14 26. Kentucky 13
27. Columbia 12 28. Arizona 10
29. Miami 9 29. Siuc 9
31. Pittsburgh 4 31. Penn St 4
31. Princeton 4 34. Georgia Tech 3
35. Air Force 2 35. Towson 2
37. Purdue 1
