Suits Rip, Records Fall in First Morning of Men's NCAA's

A mixed bag of who came to show up and who came to play in the first morning of the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships.  The first morning witnessed one NCAA and one American record, and a host of storylines heading into tonight.   Every squad showed it had holes in its lineup – every team that is, except Texas.  The only holes the Longhorns seemed to have this morning were the ones in their Speedo LZR Racers.  Texas heads into this evening with eight up, three down (with relays counting double), but Stanford, with six and eight, suffered some near-misses when three swimmers placed 9th or 17th.  Auburn carries six up and three down, while Cal has one fewer swimming consolations tonight.  Like the soda pop, Florida goes 7-up, with all of their points clustered in the 200 IM and two relays.  Defending champion Arizona lacked the firepower of a year ago and looks forward to just seven swims tonight.  Michigan, led by Chris Brady and Tennessee, whose relays are proving more than the sum of their parts have and Virginia round out the top squads heading into the evening.

200 Medley Relay
With the likes of Jakob Andkjaer and Matt Targett on their 200 Freestyle Relay, its hard not to bet against the Auburn.  The Tigers sailed to tonight's top seed with a pool-record 1:15.42.  In the brave new world of high-tech suits a 1:15 doesn’t turn heads – but when you consider that the Tigers left on and off the blocks.  What they left on was 0.68 of a second on the blocks and what they left off was Targett.  If Any pre-taper jitters from the Stanford section were erased when Alex Coville – dropped almost a quarter-second off of his lifetime best to lead off in 18.93.  The Dunford boys followed in 18.90 and 18.80 which belies the safety of their starts.   Just 2/10 separate the next four spots with Tennessee (1:16.00), California (1:16.02), Arizona and Texas (1:16.22) all following suit.  Florida qualified seventh while Minnesota’s Dennis Dale was left with a smile following the Gopher’s edging out Michigan for eighth.

500 Freestyle
There will not be much time for the 500 to develop tonight, not with it taking a 4:14.67 to make it back.  Those who made it back for tonight had to lay it on the line just to have the chance – and even then there were no guarantees – just ask Stanford’s Bobby Bollier who at the 400-yard mark was cruising towards a top seed.  He goes into tonight as the top seed – of the consolation heat.  It was that kind of morning.  Georgia’s Troy Prinsloo does takes the top time into the night, followed closely by Michael Klueh and Jean Basson.  Of tonight’s finalists, however, only Matt McLean, seeded fourth, and Matt Patton, seeded seventh, made it look easy.  Denver will get its first All-American tonight with Blake Worsley making it back for the Pioneers’ first final.  Jackson Wilcox (Texas) and Balazs Gercsak (Florida) rounding out the field.

200 IM
Brad Ally looked every bit a NCAA championship contender with his morning 200 IM, but he wasn’t his Gators are poised to clean up points.  Ally posted the 6th fastest time in NCAA history with a 1:41.80, but there were a couple more top-ten times in there.  Tyler Clary (1:41.92) and Ricky Berens (1:41.98).  Clary showed more raw speed between the flags, but Berens was unbeatable off the walls – whether kicking or via pullouts.   Shaune Fraser and Omar Pinzon give the Gators three in the top five, with Michigan’s Andre Schultz, California’s Martti Aljand and Georgia Tech’s Gal Nevo all making it back.

50 Freestyle
As expected, the big boys showed up in force in the 50 freestyle.  Early on, Peter Jameson looked to be “that guy” who causes concern from the early heats.  He was out in 9.53, back in 10.00 and by the time the circle-seeded heats rolled around – he was sitting fourth.  Alex Righi aims to give Yale their first NCAA Champion since the days of Don Schollander.  Righi was rough on his breakout but it didn’t much matter as the Yalie equaled Nathan Adrian’s American record 18.82.   Alex Coville, he of the impressive Stanford lead-off and Auburn’s Matt Targett will surround him following with Adrian and Auburn’s Gideon Louw sitting in lanes three and six tonight.  National High School Record-Holder Jimmy Feigen was unflappable this morning.  The Texas freshman gave Targett everything he could handle and did so despite some much-needed attention to his suit beforehand.  Stanford avoided another sister-kissing moment when Jason Dunford slid into the big heat but it took a tie – he and Arizona’s Jordan Smith cruise in in 19.09.  The Dunford family was doubly-lucky with brother David slipping into consolations at 16th.

Following the Dunford double, Stanford’s fortunes continued to rise in the 400 Medley Relay.  The Cardinal quartet of Eugene Godsoe, John Criste, Austin Staab and Jake Allen broke California’s NCAA record set just a couple of weeks ago.  The Golden Bears weren’t to be outdone, however.  They head into tonight seeded second in 3:03.68 – and that was without Nathan Adrian.  Auburn was the third team under the NCAA Championship record.  The Tigers aim to play spoiler when they stand up in lane three tonight next to Stanford.  Florida and Arizona follow.  Heats were held up momentarily this morning when Texas’ Dave Walters suffered a wardrobe malfunction.  Lucky for the Longhorns, he had one left over from his summer tour of Beijing, and donning his red, white and blue suit positioned Texas in sixth for tonight.  Tennessee qualifies seventh and Michigan wiped away Dennis Dale’s earlier smile by qualifying eighth.