Swimming World's NCAA Division I Landing Page
COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 27. THE second day of preliminary action came to a close at the NCAA Division I Men's Championships. This evening should be interesting, as Secret Service agents were casing the place preparing for the arrival of President George H.W. Bush.
Bush is a strong ally of Texas A&M as the College Station-based campus is the site of his Presidential Library and Museum. Additionally, a major street in College Station is named after the man.
200 medley relay
Auburn continued to demonstrate its relay dominance as its preliminary squad of Jared White (20.88), Michael Silva (23.27), Matt Targett (19.87) and Gideon Louw (18.56) stormed to an NCAA and U.S. Open record of 1:22.58. The performance wiped out the 1:23.24 record set by Auburn last year.
California's David Russell, Damir Dugonjic, Graeme Moore and Bennett Clark tied for second with Texas' Scott Jostes, Agustin Magruder, Ricky Berens and Jimmy Feigen with matching 1:24.62s.
Stanford (1:24.74), Arizona (1:24.90), Florida (1:24.94), Michigan (1:24.95) and Tennessee (1:25.06) made up the rest of the championship heat.
Minnesota (1:25.08), SMU (1:25.47), Texas A&M (1:25.51), Louisville (1:25.73), Virginia (1:25.99), Kentucky (1:26.58), Washington (1:26.82) and Georgia (1:27.07) completed the consolation field.
Top splits from the morning were:
Backstroke: Jared White, Auburn (20.88)
Breaststroke: Damir Dugonjic, California (23.05)
Butterfly: Chris Brady, Michigan (19.84)
Freestyle: Jimmy Feigen, Texas (18.45)
This evening will be the final shot for the elusive 17-second split that Targett has flirted with as the Auburn Tiger has clocked an 18.10 and an 18.17 on the freestyle leg of either a free or medley relay.
400 IM
Michigan's Tyler Clary led the way in the distance medley event with a sterling time of 3:38.16. While he already has a 3:38.03 to his credit that makes him the third-best all time in the event, Clary's preliminary time is the fifth-fastest ever.
Florida's Bradley Ally checked in with a second-seeded time of 3:40.58, which moved him up to 10th all time in the event, while Georgia Tech's Gal Nevo placed third in 3:41.00. Nevo already posted a 3:39.33 last month at ACCs. Texas's Bryan Collins qualified fourth in 3:41.21 to become the 15th-best all time.
Florida's Clark Burckle (3:41.57), Michigan's Andre Schultz (3:42.43), Georgia's Peter Benner (3:42.48) and Arizona's Jack Brown (3:43.46) comprised the rest of the championship field.
North Carolina's Tyler Harris (3:43.98), Minnesota's Alex Wold (3:44.41), Virginia's Pat Mellors (3:44.54), California's Martin Liivamagi (3:45.10), Stanford's Josh Charnin-Aker (3:45.18), California's Aaron Casey (3:45.23), LSU's Julius Gloeckner (3:46.03) and West Virginia's Michael Walker (3:46.12) will swim in the consolation final.
Heat 1
Rest of Heats, Footage Cut Due to Official Delay
100 fly
Auburn's Tyler McGill clocked an American record during prelims of the 100 fly with a sterling time of 44.67. The effort wiped out Austin Staab's national record of 44.69 set at Pac 10s last month for Stanford.
McGill's readout is just .10 seconds shy of the NCAA and U.S. Open record of 44.57 set by Arizona's Albert Subirats in 2007, and stands as the second-fastest swim of all time.
Staab qualified right behind McGill with a 44.71 that stands as the fourth-fastest time ever.
The rest of the top 15 performers list went under heavy revision. Auburn's Logan Madson and Michigan's Chris Brady tied for third with matching 45.33s. Those times also put the two into a tie for eighth all time in the event.
Texas' Hill Taylor qualified fifth in 45.40, which tied him with Michael Phelps for 12th all time in the event, while Stanford's Jason Dunford posted a sixth-place 45.43 to move into 14th all time.
Texas A&M's Boris Loncaric (45.54) and Princeton's Doug Lennox (45.69) also made the big final.
LSU's Christoph Lubenau (45.97), UC Irvine's Randall Tom (45.98), Auburn's Jakob Andkjaer (46.05), California's Graeme Moore (46.11), Auburn's Matt Targett (46.11), Stanford's Eugene Godsoe (46.18), Arizona's A.J. Tipton (46.24) and South Carolina's Nick Walkotten (46.36) made the B final.
200 free
Texas' Ricky Berens topped qualifying with a time of 1:32.73 as he lead a Longhorn foursome into the A final. Berens' time is the 14th-fastest ever in the event.
Meanwhile, Dave Walters (1:33.06), Michael Klueh (1:33.25) and Peter Jameson (1:33.64) qualified third, fifth and eighth to guarantee Texas some huge points in finals.
Arizona's Jean Basson placed second in 1:32.84 to move into 10th all time in the event, while Florida's Shaun Fraser (1:33.10) qualified fourth. Virginia's Scot Robison (1:33.29) and Arizona's Nick Nilo (1:33.45) also will vie for the national title.
Denver's Blake Worsley (1:33.65), Michigan's Dan Madwed (1:33.66), Tennessee's Jonas Persson (1:33.78), Florida's Brett Fraser (1:33.78), Stanford's Bobby Bollier (1:34.13), Stanford's Jake Allen (1:34.18), Kentucky's Tyler Reed (1:34.39) and Arizona's Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or (1:34.41) will go for team points in the consolation heat.
100 breast
In one of the fastest 100 breast fields ever, three of the six best times ever were clocked during preliminary qualifying.
Stanford's John Criste clocked a 51.75 to move into third all time, behind only Damir Dugonjic (51.41) and Mike Alexandrov (51.56), while Auburn's Adam Klein smoked a 51.81 to become the fourth-fastest ever. The time stands as the fifth-swiftest performance of all time.
Dugonjic, who owns the NCAA and U.S. Open record with a 51.41, qualified third in 51.82 to tie an Alexandrov time from 2007 as the sixth-fastest marks of all time.
California's Sean Mahoney qualified fourth in 52.20 to become the 10th-fastest ever, while Arizona's Marcus Titus finished fifth in 52.29 to become 14th-best of all time.
Auburn's Michael Silva (52.41), Georgia's Neil Versfeld (52.42) and Stanford's Paul Kornfeld (52.43) also made the championship final.
California's Martti Aljand (52.52), Stanford's Curtis Lovelace (52.77), California's Nolan Koon (52.77), Cleveland State's Jakub Dobies (53.23), Texas' Agustin Magruder (53.28), Tennessee's Barry Murphy (53.33), Louisville's Vali Preda (53.44) and Minnesota's Colin Lee-To (53.47) earned spots in the consolation final.
100 back
Auburn's backstroke will have the chance to balance Texas' 200 free as the Tigers went three up in the event. Kohlton Norys touched in 45.13 to chart the 10th-fastest effort of all time, while Pascal Wollach finished second in 45.43. Jared White qualified fourth for Auburn in 45.51.
Texas' Hill Taylor (45.47), Stanford's Eugene Godsoe (45.63), Florida's Omar Pinzon (45.85), California's David Russell (46.04) and California's Guy Barnea (46.33) also made the championship heat.
Texas' Scott Jostes (46.38), Arizona's Jake Tapp (46.40), Florida's Rexford Tullius (46.41), SMU's Pontius Renholm (46.45), Indiana's Eric Ress (46.46), Yale's Alex Righi (46.47), Penn State's Patrick Schirk (46.51) and Michigan's Alon Mandel (46.76) grabbed the consolation heat transfer spots.
Three-meter diving
Purdue's David Boudia topped qualifying with 462.25 points, while Auburn's Kelly Marx (411.60) and Texas A&M's Eric Sehn (411.05) finished second and third.
Ohio State's Hugh Showe III (407.40), Florida State's Terry Horner (399.80), Miami's Reuben Ross (395.35), Ohio State's Sean Moore (394.60) and Texas A&M's Grant Nel (392.30) will also dive in finals this evening.
USC's Harrison Jones (387.50), Arizona State's Michele Benedetti (386.25), Alabama's Aaron Fleshner (385.05), Stanford's Dwight Dumais (378.45), Tennessee's Ryan Helms (371.20), Texas' Drew Livingston (371.15), Auburn's Daniel Mazzaferro (369.75) and Virginia Tech's Michael McDonald (364.45) earned the right to dive in the consolation finals.
Benedetti won the consolation round with a 426.80, while Jones placed second with 392.50 points. Mazzaferro wound up third with 391.15 points.
