By Scott Scofield & Chris Harrell
200 Medley Relay –
California won this event in 2014 and set an American record in the process. This year, they come into the meet seeded fifth. They only lose one relay member from last year -- Tony Cox who swam the fly leg. Based on California’s two fastest swims in this event this year it looks as if freshman Justin Lynch will be taking over for Cox. The GB’s posted a 1:24.15 at the Georgia Invite early this season and then a 1:24.16 at Pac-12’s. Look for Cal to improve in a major way from their seed time and they should be the favorite to win this event for the second year in a row. Look for Texas to give Cal their biggest challenge Cal as they have the option to swim either Joseph Schooling or Jack Conger on their fly leg.
Prediction: Texas, California, Michigan, NC State, Southern California, Alabama, Auburn.
400 IM -
Chase Kalisz comes into the 2015 championships as the two-time defending champion, the American record holder, NCAA record holder, and U.S. Open record holder in this, his signature event. Will Kalisz repeat on his past success or will there be a legitimate challenger to Kalisz's reign? Looking to capitalize on his second place finish last year, will be Florida's Dan Wallace. Wallace, who is currently seeded eighth, posted his fastest time ever at last year’s championships. Will he be able to improve from that time and/or will he also be fast enough to challenge Kalisz? Look for Josh Prenot of California to also be in the mix. Prenot enters the meet as the second seed behind Kalisz and earned bronze in this event in 2014. Stephen Schmuhl of Indiana, Will Licon of Texas, and Dylan Bosch of Michigan -- all finalists in this event last year -- return to compete again this year. In the team battle, Texas will depend heavily again on Licon's placing along with their other qualifier John Martens (seeded 18th). Cal will have freshman Connor Green (seeded 15th), and senior Adam Hinshaw (seeded 26th).
Prediction: Kalisz, Prenot, Wallace, Licon, Schmuhl, Bosch, Omana, and Bentz.
Dark Horse: All of the freshman qualifiers. There are six freshman swimmers qualified in the top 16. Florida's Mark Szaranek (third), Georgia's Joseph Bentz (fifth), Tennessee's Robert McHugh (seventh), Stanford's Curtis Ogren (ninth), Georgia's Jay Litherland (10th), and Cal's Connor Green (15th).
100 Butterfly -
Texas put three swimmers into the ‘A’ final of the 100 butterfly last year. While that may seem impressive in itself, what's scary is that they could put even more swimmers into the A final this year. Jack Conger of Texas comes into the meet seeded first and his teammate Joseph Schooling is seeded second. Texas also returns Tripp Cooper (seeded fifth) who is the highest returning finisher from last year's meet. Also returning for Texas is William Glass (seeded 12th) who was also an ‘A’ finalist last at last year's meet. Florida's freshman sprint phenom Caeleb Dressel looks to contend for the top spot coming in as the third seed, but, the 100 butterfly could be the turning point of the meet for Texas as they look to acquire their 12th team championship.
Prediction: Conger, Schooling, Cooper, Dressel, McHugh, Stubblefield, Ellis, Glass.
Dark Horse: The Trojans. Look for Santo Condorelli and Ralf Tribuntsov to make an impact in this race.
200 Freestyle -
Southern California's Cristian Quintero enters the meet as the top seed and the top returning finisher from 2014 where he finished with the silver medal. We will see who can push Quintero, the only swimmer at 1:32 prior to the start of the meet, at the top. Previous finalists from 2014 who will look to make a move on Quintero will be Georgia's Matias Koski (fourth in 2014), Texas's Clay Youngquist (sixth in 2014), and Florida's Mitch D'Arrigo (seventh in 2014). Indiana's freshman Blake Pieroni, currently seeded third also looks to be in the mix as well as Ohio State's Joshua Fleagle who finished 17th at last year’s meet in Austin.
Prediction: Quintero, Koski, D'Arrigo, Youngquist, Fleagle, Pieroni, Nielsen, Bilis.
Dark Horse: Auburn's Hugo Morris. The Australian put up a spectacular 1:33.39 leading off Auburn's 800 free relay at SECs to set a new school record. Can the freshman repeat that performance – or go even faster -- here on the biggest stage?
100 Breaststroke -
Last year we saw Kevin Cordes break the American, NCAA, and U.S. Open record in the 100 breaststroke with a 50.04. This year, the best we've seen from Cordes is a 52.04 back in December at the Texas Invite. Georgia's Nicholas Fink, last year's runner up to Cordes goes into the championships as the top seed. Right behind Fink is Missiouri's Sam Tierney as the second seed and Michigan's Bruno Ortiz is the third seed. Swimmers to watch during this race will be California's Chuck Katis (sixth seed), and Texas's lone 100 breaststroke swimmer, Austin Temple. Texas will rely heavily on Temple earning a second swim in this race for the team race.
Prediction: Fink, Katis, Funk, Tierney, Cordes, Ortiz, Kropp, Duderstadt.
Dark Horse: Alabama's Anton McKee & Tennessee's Peter Stevens. How fast will Alabama's McKee swim after breaking his collarbone while surfing in the off-season? Tennessee's Stevens, who hails from Slovenia, posted an impressive 51.88 at the SEC championships. He just might have the fastest early speed in the field, but can he hold on to it for the whole race?
100 Backstroke -
California's Ryan Murphy was the 2014 champion in this event and was only .03 away from breaking Ryan Lochte's NCAA record. Look for Murphy to take that record down this year. He will have to battle the champion from 2013, Stanford's David Nolan. Surprisingly, neither one is the top seed. That honor goes to a freshman from Southern California, Ralf Tribunstov. In the team battle, how will the Texas backstrokers stack up against the California backstrokers? Texas' Jack Conger is seeded ninth, Kip Darmody is seeded 17th, Aaron Gustafson is 21st, and William Glass is 45th. For Cal, not counting the aforementioned Murphy, they have Jacob Pebley at 16th, Jesse Ryckman at 41st, and Tyler Messerschmidt at 49th.
Prediction: Murphy, Tribunstov, Nolan, Darmody, Ryan, Conger, Spinazzola, Pebley.
Dark Horse: Iowa's Grant Betulius. Swimming in his home pool, look for Betulius to put up a good morning swim and potentially qualify for the A final.
Three-Meter Diving – Indiana’s Michael Hixon returns to defend the title he won fairly easily diving as a freshman for the Longhorns a year ago. Don’t expect it to be quite so easy a go-around this time. Miami of Florida’s Samuel Dorman was the top zone scorer in the country on the three-meter, mauling the rest of Zone B by more than 100 points. Two-time former champion Kristian Ipsen of Stanford is also back looking to regain his crown that Hixon snatched from him last year in Austin. Also gunning for Hixon will be a trio of former Longhorn teammates. Will Chandler was a clear victor in Hixon’s old zone (Zone D), putting up the kind of score that makes him as much a threat to win as anyone. Purdue’s Steele Johnson enters as the Zone C champ, having beaten defending champ Hixon as well as Boilermaker teammate Jamie Bissett for the top seed in that always difficult zone. Harvard’s Michael Mosca is the fifth and final zone champ, having won Zone A for Harvard. Returning big boy finalists include 2014 bronze medalist Mauricio Robles-Rodriguez of Tennessee and Virginia’s J.B. Kolod.
Prediction: Will Chandler, Texas. This could easily be Hixon-Ipsen Round II, but I’m going with Hixon’s former teammate to pull the upset over both. The Longhorns will be in the thick of the team race by this point of the meet and they could realistically put three men in the big boy final. The Longhorn gang mentality might just be enough to pull the Zone B champ to the top spot on the podium and Longhorns to the top of the team standings.
Diver to Watch: Mauricio Robles-Rodriguez, Tennessee. Robles-Rodriguez might be the returning bronze medalist but he was only fifth in the Zone B meet on this board. He’ll need to pick it up to make a return trip to the ‘A’ final but as history has shown, he’s clearly capable.
800 Free Relay –
For the third year in a row Michigan comes into the meet as the top seed. However last year they fell to fourth when it was all said and done. This is always a tough relay to swim on the second day of the meet compared to when teams normally post their top times at conference. There are three teams seeded faster than 6:13 with Michigan leading the way. Southern California is seeded second, and Florida is third. Last year, at the championships, Southern California was the winner with a 6:13.09 while Florida was the runner up. Look for all three of these teams to again challenge each other for the top spot this year.
Prediction: Florida, Southern California, Michigan, Texas, California, NC State, Stanford, Wisconsin.