2022 NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
The final collegiate championship meet of the year is finally upon us, with the Division I Men’s Championships kicking off this evening at the McAuley Aquatic Center on the campus of Georgia Tech in Atlanta. The timed finals session will start tonight at 6 PM EST.
Tonight’s session will be short but action-packed, with the timed finals of the 200 medley relay and the 800 free relay set to kick off the meet.
The Louisville Cardinals come in as the top seed in the 200 medley relay with a 1:21.84, the only team that has been under the 1:22 barrier this year, thanks in large part to a massive 19.50 fly split from Dalton Lowe at ACCs. Louisville took a huge blow yesterday, however, as their anchor, Abdelrahman Elaraby was scratched from the meet. That will leave head coach Athur Albiero with an interesting choice to make, as the Cardinals left his son, 5th year senior Nicolas, off their 200 medley relay at ACCs.
Louisville is the current pool record holder, breaking the record last month at ACCs. A slew of teams sit tightly bunched behind Louisville, with Florida, Ohio State, Texas and Alabama all seeded between 1:22.06 and 1:22.28. Notably, the Cal Bears, who project to contend for the team title, will swim in the second to last heat after coming in as the 12th seed with a 1:23.26.
The Arizona State Sun Devils come in as the top seed in the 800 free relay with their 6:07.51, which earned them the Pac 12 title. They are led by senior Grant House, who also comes in as the top seed in the individual 200 free. Florida, NC State, Stanford and Texas will all be in hot pursuit, coming in seeded with 6:08s. The Longhorns are the defending champions in this event and also hold the NCAA record in 6:05.08 from 2017.
200 medley relay
NCAA Record: Texas (2017): 1:21.54NCAA Meet Record: Texas (2017): 1:21.54- American Record: Cal (2018): 1:21.88
US Open Record: Texas (2017): 1:21.54Pool Record: Louisville (2022): 1:21.84
Top 8 finishers:
- Florida- 1:21.13
- Texas- 1:21.36
- Cal/NC State- 1:21.69
- —-
- Alabama- 1:22.04
- Arizona State- 1:22.25
- Lousville- 1:22.29
- Stanford- 1:22.41
In a thrilling final heat, Florida beat Texas at the touch to take the NCAA title in 1:21.13, the fastest time in history. The Gators were led off by Adam Chaney who split 20.19. He was followed by Dillon Hillis’ 23.20, Eric Friese’s 19.36 fly split and Will Davis’ 18.38 anchor. Friese’s fly split ties him with Joseph Schooling for the fastest 50 fly split of all time.
Texas was also under the old NCAA and US Open Record with their 1:21.36. Anthony Grimm led off in 20.65, and was followed by Caspar Corbeau (22.55), Alvin Jiang (20.08) and Cameron Auchinachie (18.08).
In total, four of the fastest five 200 medley relays in history came from this field tonight.
The first heat went to the University of Virginia, who touched in 1:22.97, with Matt Brownstead leading off in on 20.93 the backstroke leg for the Cavaliers, Noah Nichols splitting 23.23, Matt King splitting 19.94 on the fly and Augustus Lamb closing in 18.87. That is over a full second drop from their seed, and they touched just before Auburn, who also had a large drop to touch in 1:23.25.
Harvard’s Dean Farris fired an early warning shot in heat two, leading off Harvard’s relay in 20.36, the 6th fastest 50 back of all time and the 5th fastest ever NCAA split. He was followed by Jared Simpson, who split 23.38 on the breast. Junior Umit Gures then followed up with a 19.81 fly split and Raphael Marcoux closed in 18.87. their time of 1:22.42 now sits atop the rankings with two heats remaining. That swim also destroys the previous Ivy League record by over a second and a half.
Heat three provided some massive fireworks, with both Cal and NC State tying for the top time in 1:21.69, faster than any team coming into the meet. Cal led off with Bjoern Seeliger, who blasted a 20.08 for the fastest 50 back of all time. He was followed by Liam Bell (22.77), Trenton Julian (20.12) and Daniel Carr (18.78). NC State was led off by Kacper Stokowski, the 2nd fastest of all time behind Seeliger. Rafal Kusto then spit 23.22, Nyls Korstanje split 19.55 on fly and David Curtiss closed in 18.76. Those swims tie for the second fastest of all time, behind only Texas. It also sets a new Pac 12 record for Cal and a new ACC record for NC State.
800 free relay
NCAA Record: Texas (2019): 6:05.08NCAA Meet Record: Texas (2019): 6:05.08American Record: Texas (2019): 6:05.08US Open Record: Texas (2019): 6:05.08Pool Record: Texas (2016): 6:08.03
Top 8 finishers:
- Texas: 6:03.89
- Georgia: 6:05.59
- Stanford: 6:06.83
- Cal: 6:06.98
- Arizona State: 6:07.32
- NC State: 6:08.22
- Florida: 6:09.01
- Louisville: 6:10.59
The University of Texas dominated the final heat, blasting a new NCAA and American record with a 6:03.89, becoming the first team under 6:05 AND 6:04. Senior Olympian Drew Kibler led off in 1:30.54 and handed to Coby Carrozza who split 1:31.46 in the second leg. Luke Hobson then split 1:30.84 in the third leg and Carson Foster anchored in 1:31.05.
Georgia, swimming out of lane 7, held the lead through the halfway point in the race and touched second in 6:05.59, just off of Texas’ 2019 NCAA record. They were led off by freshman Matt Sates in 1:30.78, who then passed to sophomore Luca Urlando who split a 1:30.58. Zach Hils split 1:32.27 on the third leg and Jake Magahey anchored in 1:31.96.
Also of note, Stanford opted to use superstar freshman Andrei Minakov on the leadoff leg after leaving him off of this relay at Pac 12s. The gamble paid off with a third place finish of 6:-6.83, nearly two seconds faster than their seed. Minakov led off in 1:31.49, and was followed by Luke Maurer (1:32.60), Ron Polonsky (1:31.37) and Preston Forst (1:31.36). Their Pac 12 rivals Cal dropped three seconds from their seed to finish 4th out of lane eight.
Top seed Arizona State improved slightly from their seed, touching in 6:07.32 to take 5th. They were led by freshman anchor Leon Marchand, who split 1:29.96, the only other sub-1:30 split in the field after Dean Farris.
After leading off Harvard’s 800 in American Record fashion three years ago, Dean Farris opted to swim the second leg for the Crimson tonight. He was out quick in 20.13 at the 50 and 42.86 at the 100, but faded hard on the last 50 to split 1:29.85. While Harvard had the lead at the halfway point after Farris’ split, the Ohio State Buckeyes pulled ahead on the final leg to win the second heat in 6:14.54. The Buckeyes led off with Ruslan Gaziev’s 1:33.11, and he was followed by Hunter Armstrong (1:32.18), Alex Quach (1:35.17) and Shaw Satterfield (1:34.08). The Buckeye’s 6:14.54 was nearly four seconds faster than their seed coming into the meet.
Heat one went to Texas A&M in 6:19.54, just a half second off of their seed time.
