200 Free Relay
After a long delay to allow for a video review and several schools wondering if they would still be swimming at night the suspense was ended. North Carolina State (1:15.79) posted the top time in the morning from Heat 1, but after video review was disqualified on their second leg (-0.03), much to the shock of the crowd.
But the drama was not done, 20 minutes later between heats of the 500 it was announced that the ruling had been appealed and the disqualification was over turned. North Carolina State’s sacred secret diamond must have brought some good luck in the appeal process as they will now be the top seed headed into tonight.
USC is in 2nd (1:15.85), Texas 3rd (1:15.91)
The close call of the morning was California coming out of their heat (1:16.57) squeezing in for 7th place overall with Seth Stubblefield (SR) anchoring with 18.72.
Tonight’s final should shape up to be a close battle with a finish that you won’t want to blink as the team standings will be given their foundation.
500 Free
This event had Hook ‘em Horns written all over it. Clark Smith (Texas) looked completely in control as he glided to a 4:11.17. He was followed by his team mate Sam Lewis 4:12.44. Rounding out the Texas trio was Jonathan Robers 4:13.10.
It will be interesting to see who really held back this morning as to how this race will shape up. Today’s morning heats had a lot of negative splitting going on and it’s looking like there will be much more of the same. The real question will be who will make the first move.
200 IM
Texas swimmer Will Licon will be tonights top seed in the 200 IM going into the finals. Will's time of 1:40.68 should give David Nolan something to think about. Nolan's time of 1:41.37 puts the American record holder in 2nd place going into finals.
Cals Ryan Murphy (1:41.76) and Josh Prenot (1:42.28) give the bears a much needed presence after Texas dominated in the 500.
Florida's Eduardo Solaeche, Michigan's Dyland Bosh, Stanford's Tom Kremer, and Georgia's Gunnar Bentz round out the rest of the finalists.
Top seed, 1:40.68, 8th seed, 1:42.44.
Notable: Chase Kalisz, last years 2nd place finnisher (and 400 IM American record-holder) missed making the finals and sits in 13th. Hopefully this is no indicator of what we may see from him the rest of this weekend as expectations are high for the experienced IM'er.
50 Free
The “splash and dash” was headlined this morning by freshman sensation Caeleb Dressel who clocked 18.86 which was his lead off split earlier in the 200 FR relay.
Michigan put two swimmers in the Top 8 Bruno Ortiz (19.09) and Paul Powers (19.28).
Tonight all eyes will be on Dressel, a freshman to see if he can claim the first national title of his college career with the bright lights of finals upon him. Youth vs. Experience will be the storyline.
400 Medley Relay
California leads all teams as the top seed going into finals with a time of 3:04.69. The only team under 3:05, Cal was lead by their breaststroke leg of Chuck Katis who split a 50.55, the second fastest split in the field behind Arizona's Kevin Cordes's 50.41. The second seed going into finals will be Michigan who also had a fast breaststroke split from Richard Funk at 51.01. Third will be Texas who were lead by strong second half of their relay swims from Tripp Cooper fly, 45.04, and Jack Conger free, 41.83. NC State sneaks into the A final tonight with their time of 3:06.41 just ahead of Missouri's 3:06.66.
Noteables: Cal did not swim Ryan Murphy on this relay. Connor Oslin from Alabama had the fastest backstroke lead-off with a 45.23. Texas' Tripp Cooper had the fastest fly split in the field with a 45.04. Simonas Bilis from NC State had the fastest freestyle split with a 41.34.
Team Battle
Texas will lead the field with 6 A finalist swims tonight. They will also have 1 B final swim for a total of 7 swims tonight. There are three teams tied with 5 A finalist swims and those are California, Florida, and Michigan. Both Cal and Florida are tied for the most swims in finals tonight with 8. All 5 of Michigan's swims are in the A final.
In addition to the A and B final swims posted above, Texas will also add an A final diver and a B final diver.