2022 Men’s NCAA Day 3 Ups/Downs: Texas Clings To Half-Point Projected Lead

2022 NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• March 23-26, 2022
• McAuley Aquatic Center, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Georgia (Eastern Daylight Time)
• Prelims 10AM /Finals 6PM
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• Live Results
• Championship Central
• Event Page
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Official Psych Sheets
• Virtual Championship Program
• SwimSwam Pick Em’s Contest
• Qualified relay teams

For those unfamiliar with swimming terminology, the concept of “Ups” and “Downs” is a good way to track which teams performed best at prelims. In prelims, swimmers qualify for one of two finals heats: the top 8 finishers make the A final and places 9 through 16, the B final. In finals, swimmers are locked into their respective final, meaning a swimmer in the B heat (spots 9-16) can only place as high as 9th or as low as 16th, even if they put up the fastest or slowest time of any heat in the final.

With that in mind, we’ll be tracking “Ups” and “Downs” after each prelims session. “Up” refers to swimmers in the A final, and “Down” to swimmers in the B final.

The University of Texas men came out of Thursday night’s finals session holding a slim 21-point advantage on Florida, with Cal lurking one point back of the Gators.

Texas has been swimming lights out, but was dealt a few blows on Day 2, including failing to record any diving points and ‘A’ finalist Cameron Auchinachie getting disqualified in the 50 free. To finish off the session, the Longhorns took third behind Florida and Cal in a scintillating 200 free relay.

SCORES THRU DAY 2

1. Texas, 180.0
2. Florida, 159.0
3. Cal, 158.0
4. NC State, 124.0
5. Arizona State, 111.0
6. Georgia, 100.0
7. Stanford, 94.0
8. Indiana, 78.0
9. Virginia, 70.5
10. Virginia Tech, 69.0
11. Ohio State, 56.0
12. Arizona, 48.0
13. Louisville, 46.0
14. Alabama / Harvard, 41.0
15. –
16. LSU, 36.0
17. Michigan, 24.0
18. Texas A&M, 20.0
19. Tennessee, 17.5
20. Purdue, 16.0
21. Columbia, 15.0
22. UNC, 11.0
23. Auburn, 8.0
24. Princeton, 5.0
25. Minnesota / SMU, 4.0
26. –
27. Utah, 2.0
28. Georgia Tech, 1.0

The Golden Bears’ strongest day of the meet comes on Saturday, but they started to make a move this morning by putting seven men up into ‘A’ finals and 12 total into scoring position. That includes putting two men into the championship heat of the 400 IM, 100 breast and 100 back.

In fact, Cal is projected to score 102 points in those three events alone, which is more than Texas’ projected total for all five swimming events (100.5).

The Longhorns were initially projected to score 102.5 points based on prelim results, but Alvin Jiang scratched the 100 back consolation final where he had finished 14th (45.17). Jiang will turn his focus to the 100 fly, where he was 13th this morning in 45.00.

With Jiang’s 100 back scratch, Virginia Tech’s Forest Webb and Auburn’s Aidan Stoffle avoid a swim-off and both move into the ‘B’ final after initially tying for 16th in 45.36.

The swim-off that did happen came in the 100 breast, where VT’s AJ Pouch (51.92) beat Louisville’s Denis Petrashov (52.44) to snag the 16th spot in the consolation final. Pouch actually matched the time he and Petrashov went in the heats exactly.

With Webb and Pouch earning second swims, Virginia Tech will pick up some valuable points tonight as the H20kies are currently in a tight battle for a top-10 finish.

DAY 3 UPS/DOWNS*

*not currently including diving

Credit to Andrew Mering for running the numbers.

PROJECTED SCORING BREAKDOWN

In outscoring Texas by 21.5 points (projected) this morning, Cal nearly erases their entire deficit to the Longhorns coming out of last night’s finals, leaving them just half a point shy of the team lead.

Finals placings, diving results and the 400 medley relay will all play a factor in changing the actual difference between the two teams at night’s end, but there’s no question the Bears had a big prelim showing that sets them up for a championship run over the next three sessions.

Florida is now projected to sit in a distant third after Friday night finals, but are still well clear of fourth-place NC State.

The battle for fifth is also heating up with Arizona State, Georgia, Indiana and Stanford all projected to finish the night within 12.5 points of one another. IU should get a big boost on diving as well.

DAY 3 SCORED PRELIMS

1. Cal, 122.0
2. Texas, 100.5
3. Florida, 65.0
4. Indiana, 58.0
5. NC State, 55.0
6. Louisville, 45.0
7. Georgia, 39.0
8. Stanford, 34.5
9. Arizona State, 30.0
10. Harvard, 25.0
11. Virginia Tech, 24.5
12. Ohio State, 21.0
13. Minnesota, 20.0
14. Alabama, 19.0
15. USC / Arizona / Missouri, 12.0
16. –
17. –
18. LSU / Tennessee, 11.0
19. –
20. Towson / Wisconsin/ Michigan, 9.0
21. –
22. –
23. Penn / Princeton, 7.0
24. –
25. Auburn, 6.0
26. Northwestern, 4.5
27. Georgia Tech, 3.0
28. Notre Dame / Virginia, 2.0

DAY 3 SCORED PRELIMS + ACTUAL SCORES

1. Texas, 280.5
2. Cal, 280.0
3. Florida, 224.0
4. NC State, 179.0
5. Arizona State, 141.0
6. Georgia, 139.0
7. Indiana, 136.0
8. Stanford, 128.5
9. Virginia Tech, 93.5
10. Louisville, 91.0
11. Ohio State, 77.0
12. Virginia, 72.5
13. Harvard, 66.0
14. Arizona / Alabama, 60.0
15. –
16. LSU, 47.0
17. Michigan, 33.0
18. Tennessee, 28.5
19. Minnesota, 24.0
20. Texas A&M, 20.0
21. Purdue, 16.0
22. Columbia, 15.0
23. Auburn, 14.0
24. Princeton / USC / Missouri, 12.0
25. –
26. –
27. UNC, 11.0
28. Towson / Wisconsin, 9.0
29. –
30. Penn, 7.0
31. Northwestern, 4.5
32. SMU / Georgia Tech, 4.0
33. –
34. Notre Dame / Utah, 2.0