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Michigan sophomore Tim Siciliano surged ahead on the second half to win the 400 I.M. by over three seconds, breaking the 4:08.22 American record set by Erik Vendt in the morning with his 4:06.02. The previous American record was Chad Carvin's 4:11.72 mark from the Short Course World Championships last week.
Siciliano was leading after the fly with a 57.22 split, then fell back during the backstroke as Florida's Eric Donnelly took the lead. After the first 50 of the breaststroke Siciliano had gained a tiny lead over Donnelly and Vendt, and by the freestyle he was a body length ahead.
"Back is my weakest point, so I knew if I stayed within half a body length of them there I had a good chance of pulling ahead," said Siciliano, who watched "Judge Judy" on T.V. during the break to take his mind off his nervousness. "I felt really good and just swam my brains out."
Vendt, a Southern Cal freshman, finished second in 4:09.35. Auburn's Kevin Clements came on at the end to place third in 4:10.43, and Nebraska's Michael Windisch was fourth in 4:11.74.
Donnelly was fifth in 4:11.89, Southern Cal's Mark Warkentin was sixth in 4:13.82, Stanford's Steven Brown was seventh in 4:14.34 and Texas sophomore Joe Montague was eighth in 4:16.99. Georgia's Beau Wiebel won the B final in 4:12.98.
