CHAMPS! Cal Men Make a Double-Double in 2012

Rolling into the final day of action at the 2012 Men’s NCAA Swimming Championships, the Cal Golden Bears had a huge, and nearly-insurmountable lead. Texas wasn’t totally out of the meet, but they needed a whole lot of things to go their way to pull off the title. In the end, most things went the wrong way for Texas, and Cal pulled off a shocking NCAA title.

There was also an NCAA Record broken on this night, but it was a huge surprise which event it came in.

Men’s 1650 Free

This 1650 was a tale of two different racers. Stanford’s Chad la Tourette and Georgia’s Martin Grodzki separated themselves from the field very early in this race, swimming two very different swims. Grodzki, the short course specialist, was way better on the turns, while La Tourette, who excels in long course swimming, was better above. This was about as awesome of a mile race as you could want to see, but ultimately (as is so often true) the underwaters won out in the yards pool. By about the 1400, Grodzki had put a full body-length lead, and despite a hard final push from La Tourette would win in a new NCAA and U.S. Open Record of 14:24.08. La Tourette was 2nd in 14:24.35, which is an American Record. They both broke the old mark set by Michigan’s Chris Thompson in 2001 at 14:26.62.

This capped off a distance double for Grodzki, who also won the 500. That has become surprisingly rare as swimmers have had to become more-and-more specialized to compete in the mile – he’s the first swimmer to win a double since 2008 when another Bulldog, Sebastian Rouault, did.

Those winning marks were 8 seconds better than the Michael McBroom’s winning time from last year, and 10 better than either was in 2011. McBroom looked good early in this race, but was ultimately overcome and finished 8th in 14:43.83, which was 11 seconds slower than he was last season.

Michigan sophomore Connor Jaeger took 3rd in a lifetime best of 14:35.14, which is an impressive time for a sophomore who has only swum this race three times in his life. Much like we saw with UNC’s Stephanie Peacock in the women’s race, sometimes ignorance can be as much of an advantage as experience in this mile. Zane Grothe shattered his own Auburn record in 14:37.59.

Georgia’s Andrew Gemmell was the fastest swimmer out of the morning heats with a 14:41.86.

Between McBroom sliding down the rankings, and Jackson Wilcox failing to score in the afternoon heats (15:05 – 19th), Texas’ title hopes were dashed in this race. Cal’s Adam Hinshaw placed 11th in 14:49.24, for more big, and unexpected, points from a Cal freshman.

Georgia's Martin Grodzki exhausted after winning the men's 1650 free, taking a distance sweep. (Photo Courtesy: ©Tim Binning/TheSwimPictures.com)

Men’s 200 Backstroke

This men’s 200 backstroke turned into the heavyweight slugfest that we were hoping for after this morning’s prelims between Arizona senior Cory Chitwood and Stanford freshman David Nolan. Both are used to trying to gain a lead on their underwaters, but the two are both so good that neither could gain an advantage. The pair was never separated by more than three tenths the whole race (they were dead-even after a 25, and .01 apart after a 50), but it was the bigger, more experienced Chitwood who timed his finish perfectly (and it’s all a guessing game in races this close).

Chitwood took the win in 1:39.66, with Nolan touching 2nd in 1:39.74. That makes Chitwood the first swimmer since Texas’ Rick Carey in the early 80’s to repeat in this event  (in the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s before that, three and even four-peating was not that uncommon).

Despite the Arizona win, Stanford still pulled into 3rd thanks to taking 2nd-3rd-4th. Matt Thompson was 3rd in 1:41.81, and Matthew Swanston was 4th in 1:41.99.

Cal’s Mathias Gydesen was 5th in 1:42.21, with USC’s Alex Lendrum in 6th in 1:42.29, each a touch slower than they were in prelims.

Eastern Michigan’s Jacob Hanson had a big mid-major breakthrough in 7th in 1:42.32.

Cal made their impending win more certain with Marcin Tarczynski winning the B-Final in 1:41.97. Texas had three in the B-Final, with Austin Surhoff 12th in 1:43.05, Kip Darmody 13th in 1:43.09, and Cole Cragin in 16th in 1:44.71. Cragin did the same thing last year in this 200 back, with a good prelims swim and then just suffering through finals, though in 2011 it was done in the A-Final.

Cory Chitwood wins his 3rd-straight NCAA Title in the 200 back. (Photo Courtesy: ©Tim Binning/TheSwimPictures.com)

Men’s 100 Free

Texas’ Jimmy Feigen, after coming into college as the defending National High School Record holder in both sprint freestyles, waited nearly four years to win his first individual NCAA title. But now, as a senior, he took double NCAA Titles in the 50 and 100 frees, completing his sweep on Saturday with a 41.95 win in the 100.

As we’ve seen in many/most races of the meet, this 100 free final was significantly slower than last year’s. Feigen was the only swimmer under 42 seconds, and just barely at that (compared to four doing it last year).

Auburn’s Marcelo Chierighini, who has had a very difficult meet up until this point, swam to 2nd in 52.34.  He had outstanding turns in this race, and has really made his 100 free a far-cry better than his 50. That’s exactly what the Brazilians will need in London, as they’ve for some time been one leg short of an Olympic medal – and Chierighini is the latest hope to fill that leg. Perhaps his struggles in this meet are a sign that he hasn’t fully rested, with Brazil’s Olympic Trials coming up a month from now.

Vlad Morozov, the top seed after prelims, added three tenths to score 3rd in 42.44. He seemed to be set up to be faster in finals than he was in the morning. Stanford’s Aaron Wayne was 4th in 42.51, and Kentucky’s Tyler Reed in 42.60, which is a new school record.

Cal’s Tyler Messerschmidt couldn’t keep the freshman magic going and slipped to 8th in the final in 42.82, but that’s still more than enough to drive Cal closer to the title.

Texas’ Dax Hill won the B-Final in 42.63 – he swims very well in big-time finals races, but at the Olympic Trials if he wants to make the American team, he’ll have to figure out how to do it early as well.

Jimmy Feigen completed a sprint sweep for the first two NCAA Titles of his career. (Photo Courtesy: ©Tim Binning/TheSwimPictures.com)

Men’s 200 Breast

Let’s get one thing straight about Louisville. It’s a basketball school. It always has been a basketball school, and probably always will be a basketball school. Even on this huge weekend for the Cardinals swim team, with a top-10 NCAA finish in their sights, they will lose the headlines to basketball beating Florida and making the final 4.

But still, for swimming to steal any headlines at that school is a huge treat. And breaststroker Carlos Almeida absolutely should do that,  as he won the Cardinals’ first-ever NCAA Championship in swimming by taking this 200 breast in 1:51.88. And it was a buzzer-beater at that, out-touching Cal’s Trevor Hoyt (1:51.90), and Arizona’s Kevin Cordes (1:51.97) on the final touch.

Almeida’s time ties Ed Moses for the 4th-fastest swim (and swimmer) in history, while Hoyt now becomes 5th-best, and Cordes is the 8th-fastest in history (9th-best swim).

Texas continued to struggle, as another defending NCAA Champion (Eric Friedland) finished 8th – the second time on this final day that’s happened.

Cal picked up more big points to extend their lead thanks to 5th and 6th from Martin Liivamagi and Nolan Koon, though there was a huge 2-second gap between the two time-wise. Princeton’s Jonathan Christensen took 7th in 1:55.20.

Indiana’s Cody Miller recovered from a tough prelims swim to win the B-Final in 1:54.45, and Georgia freshman Nic Fink was 10th in 1:54.91. With 5 seniors in the A-Final, those two will have a big opportunity to move up next year.

Carlos Almeida holds up an "L" after winning the first NCAA Swimming Title in program history. (Photo Courtesy: ©Tim Binning/TheSwimPictures.com)

Men’s 200 Fly

Cal won this 200 fly. But it wasn’t who you think. The freshman Will Hamilton, who we’ve been hyping throughout this meet to constantly move up, move up, and move up again, and move up again. And today, he completed that legend with a win in the 200 fly in 1:40.94. That knocked off the NCAA Record holder Tom Shields, who was 2nd in 1:41.07.

Shields, the ultimate team player this season, was almost as happy for his teammate as he was in either of his two championships from Friday. This was his second runner-up finish in this event (he was 2nd as a freshman as well), and was likely enough to cap off a Swimmer-of-the-Year Award.

It seems, as we speculated in our 5 big questions, that Shields just ran out of steam after a brutal middle-day of this meet that included 7 total swims. But that didn’t matter for the Bears, as with the 1-2 finish they put themselves 82.5 points ahead of Texas, which was enough (DQ included) to guarantee them of a second-straight National Championship.

Florida’s Marcin Cieslak took 2nd in 1:41.36, which raises his standing as the second-fastest Gator in history (behind Shaune Fraser). Stanford’s Bobby Bollier had what was easily the best swim of his meet to finish 4th in 1:42.45, and Michigan’s Dan Madwed was 5th in 1:42.61.

After Alabama’s Alex Coci took 6th in 1:43.36 came a pair of swimmers who were toast for the meet. Stanford’s David Mosko and Texas’ Neil Caskey finished their careers in 1:44.75’s, both much slower than prelims. Caskey, who had a chance at this title, was emotionally shot after Texas fell far off of the team battle, and Mosko had a 1650 swim earlier in the afternoon that wore him out.

Shields had the lead coming into the final stroke of the 200 fly, but the freshman Will Hamilton got him as the Bears swept the top 2. (Photo Courtesy: ©Tim Binning/TheSwimPictures.com)

Men’s Platform

With focus shifting off of Texas and the larger team competition and back specifically to this diving competition, Arizona’s Ben Grado completed a magical senior season. One where he didn’t have a diving coach, then had one, then lost him again, and finally got him back. Grado was a rising gymnast once upon a time, and after a wrist injury moved to diving.  He completed that transition at this meet by winning with a monstrous 487.25, which put him more than 20 points ahead of the next-closest competitor.

Sophomore David Bonuchi took 2nd in 456.00, and the Texas pair of Matt Cooper (449.15) and Drew Livingston (427.50) going 3rd and 4th.

Men’s 400 Free Relay

Texas looked exhausted on the final day of this meet, but with the weight of uncertainty off of their shoulders on this 400 free relay, and the title already in Cal’s hands, the Longhorns absolutely let loose on the last event of the meet. The quartet of Dax Hill, Clay Youngquis, Austin Surhoff, and Jimmy Feigen won in a time of 2:49.83 to finish the meet with a national title in the relay. Feigen had a huge anchor of 41.32 to outrace a very tight, very competitive final.

Cal was 2nd in 2:50.34 (Shields anchored in 41.79). They tied there with Auburn – though the Tigers will probably look at their splits and feel like they could have done more.

USC reverted their relay to the lineup they used at Pac 12’s (with the freshman Cristian Quintero as the anchor and the senior Jeff Daniels as the 3rd leg). The move didn’t work out ideally, and they added a small bit to finish 4th in 2:50.56, with Stanford just behind in 2:50.63.

There was a huge gap after Stanford, but the top 5 relays were separated by only 8-tenths.

Final Team Standings

And there you have it. Cal, even after the huge graduations they had, scored 42.5 more points than they did last year, and nearly doubled their winning margin. What a fantastic meet for a team that nobody saw coming, that relied heavily on freshmen, and that will return largely intact next year. This makes back-to-back titles for the Golden Bears and Dave Durden.

Texas, Stanford, Arizona, and Michigan rounded out the top 5, with surprising Louisville taking 9th (just 1 point out of 8th) and Indiana, on strength of huge diving, in 10th. That’s Indiana with a redshirt from their best swimmer Eric Ress – they could move towards top 7 next season.
1. Cal Berkeley 535.5
2. Texas 491
3. Stanford 426.5
4. Arizona 396
5. Michigan 271
6. Auburn 254.5
7. Southern Cali 192
8. Florida 157
9. Louisville 156
10. Indiana 140
11. Georgia 106.5
12. Ohio St 106
13. Texas A&M 97
14. UNC 74.5
15. Virginia 65

Full Live Meet Results available here.