Arizona throws down the hammer - eleven up - three down - a potential 200 point day.  Next closest is Texas 7-3 and Stanford 6-3.  Based on seeds + diving repeat of yesterday looks like: Arizona 364, Texas 268, Stanford 237, California 235, Auburn 212, Michigan 210.  Then it follows Florida 160, Indiana 138, and Tennesee and Georgia 118 battling for the final spot in the top ten.

• It will be interesting to see if relay starts get any faster tonight than they were yesterday or this morning. 
• Florida surges this morning as Gators hold the top spots in the 200 Freestyle and the 400 I.M.
• In the 200 Medley Relay Auburn's Alexi Puninski posted the only sub 20 second split on the butterfly leg with a 19.95.  They obviously corrected their mistake from the previous day's fiasco when their 400 Medley failed to qualify for the top eight when they decided to leave off Cielo in  prelims. 
• The 200 Freestyle is shaping up to be the best final in history after an outstanding morning.  It took a 1:33.64 to make top eight and a 1:35.55 to make top 16.
•  Texas looks to capture the 800 free relay with their American record seed time of 6:10.55.  The difference today might be that Micheal Klueh, Dave Walters, and Matt McGinnis will all be working on their third 200 on the day.  Compare that to their Wednesday night performance in the Big 12's and they will have a tough task in order to duplicate the record breaking performance. 

400 IM
Florida’s Clark Burckle used his talents as a great breaststroker to help him in taking the top overall seed going into tonight’s finals.  His 3:42.82 is nearly a second ahead of Arizona’s Jack Brown who qualified second.  Zona also qualified freshmen Cory Chitwood into the Big final after he dropped over three seconds from his seed time.  Michigan also has two swimmers in the A-final in senior Alex Vanderkaay and sophomore Andre Schultz.  Arizona State’s CJ Nuess qualified fourth overall after putting together a great breaststroke leg and holding on to finish with a 3:44.69, he was one of four people to swim under the 3:45 barrier this morning.  Georgia’s Sebastien Rouault qualified for his second A-final this weekend after winning the 500 free last night.  Bradley Ally will add to Florida’s presence in Big finals after he took the last spot in swimming a 3:46.34.

100 Butterfly
Alexi Puninski takes the top seed out of heat three for tonight’s final.  The SEC champ in this event was out this morning in a 21.22 faster than the rest of the field of eight.  He brought it home in a 24.56 to earn the fast lane.  Stanford made some most noise in the event as they qualify the number two and four seeds.  Austin Staab qualifies second with a 45.79.  He was out in a 21.75 and brought it home in a 24.04.  Last year’s champ and NCAA record holder Albert Subirats comes back tonight poised to repeat after splitting his 100 fly in 21.67 and 24.26.  Stanford’s Jason Dunford, with a 46.07, takes the fourth spot and looks to outflank the top two qualifiers tonight.  Northwestern’s Kyle Bubolz is the lone Big Ten representation after qualifying fifth with a 46.10.  Texas matches Stanford and Auburn in the event bringing back both Ricky Berens (46.14) in sixth and Hill Taylor (46.34) for eight.  Auburn’s Tyler McGill finishes seventh with a 46.17.  Less than .01 separates number one from number two and the Wildcats are ready to pounce on another title tonight with Subirats waiting in the wings.

200 Free
It was amazing to watch in person.  The 200 has been a highlight from this morning’s prelims.  While top qualifier, Florida’s Shaune Fraser’s time of 1:33.15 was very impressive and the seventh fastest performance in the event of all time, the fact that nine swimmers swam under 1:34.00 was incredible.  How would you like to swim a 1:33 and not make it back Top-8? Cal’s Dominik Meichtry did just that finishing ninth with a 1:33.78. 

Arizona and Texas each put three swimmers in the top eight which is huge when looking at potential team standings.  Big finals consists of (in order of finish) Fraser, Stanford’s Danny Beal, Zona’s Jean Basson and Darian Townsend, the Texas trio of Dave Walters, Michael Klueh and Matt McGinnis, and Zona’s Nicolas Nilo.  Tennessee’s Jonas Persson despite earlier this season going under 1:34, missed out on the top heat finishing tenth overall.  As mentioned before the consolation final will be Cal’s Meichtry, Persson, Zona’s Joel Greenshields, Tennessee Volunteer Nolan Morrell, Kentucky’s Tyler Reed, Virginia’s Matt McLean, Michigan’s Bobby Savulich and Stanford’s Andrew Trepp.

Tonight’s finals are going to be amazing, with the event champions from the SEC, Big XII, and Pac-10 squaring off.  Texas’s Dave Walters comes in as the favorite as his Conference winning time of 1:32.51 remains the fastest time in college swimming in the event. 

100 Breaststroke
Stanford’s Paul Kornfeld used his entire 100 to earn the right to swim in lane four tonight.  The junior was out in 24.70 which put fourth behind the magic line.  But unlike the other three Kornfeld came charging back in his last 50 with a 27.70.  Cal’s Damir Dugonjic will look to challenge his Pac-10 adversary after he took the second seed with a 52.50.  Scott Spann from Michigan will also try to throw himself into the mix after the sophomore Wolverine qualified third with a 52.68.  Spann was out a little slower than the top two seeds in the first 25 and his third 25 is going to have to be faster tonight if he is going to have a chance.  But don’t count him out because his fourth 25 was a 13.93 which was faster than both of the top two qualifiers.  Marcus Titus from Arizona finishes this morning with the last time under 53 with a 52.98 that puts him in fourth.  West Virginia senior Kevin Donohue leads all of the 53’s after his 53.10 puts him fifth.  Rounding out the top eight are Martti Alijand California with a 53.18, Aleksander Hetland from SMU with a 53.20, and Bart Steninger with a 53.25.  It took a 53.25 to march out tonight and a 53.71 to make it top 16.

100 Back
Indiana University’s Ben Hesen, who is coming off winning the Big Ten’s Co-Swimmer of the Year and Co-Swimmer of the Championship awards clocked in the top time of the morning.  The senior from Jeffersonville, IN cruised to a 46.20.  The 2007 NCAA champion in this event, Arizona’s Albert Subirats, finished with the fourth overall time and will be among the favorites to win the event tonight after clocking a 44.83 at last year’s championships.  Cal’s David Russell qualified second overall with a time of 46.37, followed by Texas’s Daniel Rohleder, Subirats, Stanford’s Eugene Godsoe, Arizona’s Jake Tapp, Penn State’s Patrick Shirk, and Texas’s Hill Taylor to round out the heat. 

The Consolation final is headlined by Minnesota’s David Plummer who placed ninth this morning with a 46.99.  Marcin Unold from mid-major power Oakland University also qualified for tonight’s B-final.  Rounding out the heat is Florida’s Omar Pinzon, Zona’s Cory Chitwood (who continues to impress in his freshman season), Auburn’s Kohlton Norys, Yale’s Alex Righti, Tennessee’s Michael Wolfe and Texas A&M’s Jason Bergstrom.  Righti is also having a great meet after swimming a 19.08 and claiming runner-up honors in last nights 50 free final.