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Last year, Texas finally won its first 500 free title in program history. This year, the Longhorns defended that title with a win from Townley Haas at the 2016 NCAA Division I Men’s Championships.
With defending champion Clark Smith finishing a surprising 21st this morning, freshman Haas had to step up big to keep the title in Austin. Out under American record pace through the first half of the race, Haas settled for the sixth-fastest time ever as he moved to fifth all-time in the event’s history with a 4:09.00.
Florida’s Mitch D’Arrigo, meanwhile, gave Haas all he could handle with a 4:09.98 for second. That moved D’Arrigo up from 15th to ninth all time in the event’s history.
Southern California’s Reed Malone clinched third overall in 4:12.55.
All Time Top 10 500 Free Performers:
1 4:08.54 Peter Vanderkaay Wolverine Rochester 2/8/08
2 4:08.75 Tom Dolan Michigan Indianapolis 3/23/95
3 4:08.82 Clark Smith, Texas, Austin 12/3/15
4 4:08.92 Jean Basson Arizona TAMU 3/26/09
5 4:09.00 Townley Haas Texas Atlanta 3/24/16
6 4:09.32 Michael Klueh Texas TAMU 3/26/09
7 4:09.48 Sebastien Rouault Georgia F. Way. 3/27/08
8 4:09.80 Larsen Jensen USC Minneapolis 3/15/07
9 4:09.98 Mitch D’Arrigo Florida Atlanta 3/24/16
10 4:10.00 Matt McLean Virginia College Park, Md. 2/26/08
South Carolina’s Akaram Mahmoud (4:12.86), Stanford’s Liam Egan (4:13.27), Wisconsin’s Matthew Hutchins (4:13.36), NC State’s Anton Ipsen (4:14.04) and Michigan’s Anders Nielsen (4:16.92) also put up times in the finale.
=== A - Final ===
1 Haas, Townley FR Texas 4:12.68 4:09.00 20
r:+0.75 22.59 47.18 (24.59)
1:12.19 (25.01) 1:37.48 (25.29)
2:02.86 (25.38) 2:28.22 (25.36)
2:53.51 (25.29) 3:19.17 (25.66)
3:44.38 (25.21) 4:09.00 (24.62)
2 D'Arrigo, Mitch JR Florida 4:11.48 4:09.98 17
r:+0.70 23.29 48.02 (24.73)
1:13.27 (25.25) 1:38.66 (25.39)
2:03.91 (25.25) 2:29.21 (25.30)
2:54.54 (25.33) 3:19.86 (25.32)
3:44.98 (25.12) 4:09.98 (25.00)
3 Malone, Reed JR USC 4:13.59 4:12.55 16
r:+0.72 23.28 48.73 (25.45)
1:14.46 (25.73) 1:40.01 (25.55)
2:05.11 (25.10) 2:30.31 (25.20)
2:55.27 (24.96) 3:20.53 (25.26)
3:46.27 (25.74) 4:12.55 (26.28)
4 Mahmoud, Akaram SO S Carolina 4:12.59 4:12.86 15
r:+0.71 23.48 48.55 (25.07)
1:13.85 (25.30) 1:39.48 (25.63)
2:05.17 (25.69) 2:30.78 (25.61)
2:56.59 (25.81) 3:22.37 (25.78)
3:47.84 (25.47) 4:12.86 (25.02)
5 Egan, Liam SO Stanford 4:13.52 4:13.27 14
r:+0.74 23.56 48.59 (25.03)
1:14.00 (25.41) 1:39.63 (25.63)
2:05.43 (25.80) 2:31.14 (25.71)
2:57.00 (25.86) 3:22.97 (25.97)
3:48.60 (25.63) 4:13.27 (24.67)
6 Hutchins, Matthew JR Wisconsin 4:13.74 4:13.36 13
r:+0.75 23.32 48.51 (25.19)
1:13.83 (25.32) 1:39.63 (25.80)
2:05.22 (25.59) 2:30.95 (25.73)
2:56.93 (25.98) 3:22.86 (25.93)
3:48.41 (25.55) 4:13.36 (24.95)
7 Ipsen, Anton Oerskov SO NC State 4:13.97 4:14.04 12
r:+0.74 23.58 49.16 (25.58)
1:14.94 (25.78) 1:40.74 (25.80)
2:06.34 (25.60) 2:31.96 (25.62)
2:57.70 (25.74) 3:23.46 (25.76)
3:49.18 (25.72) 4:14.04 (24.86)
8 Nielsen, Anders SR Michigan 4:12.77 4:16.92 11
r:+0.70 23.01 48.42 (25.41)
1:14.08 (25.66) 1:39.79 (25.71)
2:05.61 (25.82) 2:31.50 (25.89)
2:57.50 (26.00) 3:24.13 (26.63)
3:50.93 (26.80) 4:16.92 (25.99)
=== B - Final ===
9 Werner, Pawel SR Florida 4:14.18 4:13.79 9
r:+0.70 23.60 49.71 (26.11)
1:15.91 (26.20) 1:42.11 (26.20)
2:07.84 (25.73) 2:33.35 (25.51)
2:58.84 (25.49) 3:24.36 (25.52)
3:49.33 (24.97) 4:13.79 (24.46)
10 Ransford, PJ SO Michigan 4:15.54 4:14.62 7
r:+0.73 24.30 50.08 (25.78)
1:15.93 (25.85) 1:41.95 (26.02)
2:07.30 (25.35) 2:32.86 (25.56)
2:58.18 (25.32) 3:23.95 (25.77)
3:49.93 (25.98) 4:14.62 (24.69)
11 Swanson, Chris SR Penn 4:16.29 4:15.73 6
r:+0.67 23.88 49.27 (25.39)
1:15.26 (25.99) 1:40.98 (25.72)
2:06.73 (25.75) 2:32.78 (26.05)
2:58.97 (26.19) 3:25.05 (26.08)
3:51.23 (26.18) 4:15.73 (24.50)
12 Litherland, Kevin SO Georgia 4:14.64 4:15.86 5
r:+0.67 23.56 49.58 (26.02)
1:16.10 (26.52) 1:42.48 (26.38)
2:08.44 (25.96) 2:34.37 (25.93)
2:59.83 (25.46) 3:25.72 (25.89)
3:51.21 (25.49) 4:15.86 (24.65)
13 Peribonio, Tom SO S Carolina 4:16.43 4:16.60 4
r:+0.66 23.94 50.07 (26.13)
1:16.15 (26.08) 1:42.32 (26.17)
2:08.55 (26.23) 2:34.54 (25.99)
3:00.34 (25.80) 3:26.08 (25.74)
3:51.81 (25.73) 4:16.60 (24.79)
14 Kiraly, Bence SR Utah 4:15.77 4:16.74 3
r:+0.77 23.63 49.43 (25.80)
1:15.77 (26.34) 1:42.01 (26.24)
2:08.16 (26.15) 2:34.15 (25.99)
3:00.01 (25.86) 3:26.00 (25.99)
3:51.72 (25.72) 4:16.74 (25.02)
15 Linker, Adam JR NC State 4:16.79 4:18.22 2
r:+0.71 24.33 50.40 (26.07)
1:16.40 (26.00) 1:42.75 (26.35)
2:09.00 (26.25) 2:35.60 (26.60)
3:01.68 (26.08) 3:27.55 (25.87)
3:53.28 (25.73) 4:18.22 (24.94)
16 Wieser, Chris SO Arizona 4:16.20 4:19.27 1
r:+0.61 24.00 49.94 (25.94)
1:16.02 (26.08) 1:42.02 (26.00)
2:08.27 (26.25) 2:34.49 (26.22)
3:00.73 (26.24) 3:26.73 (26.00)
3:53.26 (26.53) 4:19.27 (26.01)
Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 3 1. Texas 100 2. Florida 87 3. NC State 82 4. Michigan 66 5. California 59 6. Auburn 48 7. Stanford 36 7. Missouri 36 9. Southern Cali 34 9. Alabama 34 11. Georgia 33 12. Indiana 32 13. Louisville 28 14. Wisconsin 23 14. South Carolina 23 16. Tennessee 18 17. Ohio St 10 18. Princeton 8 19. Arizona 7 20. Penn 6 21. Univ of Utah 3 22. Harvard 2
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