2022 Men’s NCAAs: The Year of C’s, Curry, Curtiss, Crooks in the 50 Freestyle

2022 MEN’S NCAA SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, March 23 – Saturday, March 26, 2022
• McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta, Georgia
• Short Course Yards (25 yards), Prelims/Finals
• Official Psych Sheets
• Official Preview Index
• Pick ‘Em Contest

Men 50 Yard Freestyle 

• NCAA: 17.63 3/22/2018 Caeleb Dressel Florida 
• Meet: 17.63 3/22/2018 Caeleb Dressel Florida 
• American: 17.63 3/22/2018 Caeleb Dressel Florida
• U.S. Open: 17.63 3/22/2018 Caeleb Dressel Florida

By now, most people know who US Tokyo Olympian Brooks Curry is. What most people may not know is that two freshmen, Jordan Crooks and David Curtiss, are already seeded to make the A final of the men’s 50 freestyle at NCAAs.

Brooks Curry finished fourth in the 100 freestyle at the Wave II Olympics Trials last June to qualify for the Olympics to represent the United States. Curry swam on the prelims relay of the men’s 4×100 freestyle relay and led off in a time of 48.80. The relay ended up winning a gold medal in finals. Since then, Curry has continued to make headlines including swimming the #9 50 freestyle split of all-time at the 2022 SEC Championships. 

Although Curry may arguably be the most well-known name as of recently, he actually is the second seed in the event with a time of 18.67. Tennessee freshman Jordan Crooks is the top seed as he swam a time of 18.53 to win SECs. That time made him the fastest freshman ever as well as #5 all-time. 

Crooks is not the only fast freshman in the field already. NC State’s David Curtiss is the #4 seed after swimming a time of 18.74 at ACCs. That time has already placed him at #4 for freshman all time. Crooks was consistent at ACCs, swimming three 18.7’s.

Last year’s runner-up in the event, Bjorn Seeliger, of Cal is seeded third going into the meet. Seeliger went a 18.91 in prelims and a 18.71 in finals at last year’s meet. That was the biggest drop of all of last year’s A finalists. Seeliger also won the event at this year’s Pac-12 Championships swimming a time of 18.86 in prelims and a 18.84 in finals. He also led off the school’s 200 freestyle relay in a 18.73, his seed time for NCAAs. 

Florida’s Adam Chaney was third in the event last year swimming a 18.88 in finals. Chaney has already been faster, swimming a 18.81 at SECs. If he continues to improve, he has the potential to earn another spot in the closely packed field. 

Like Curry, Ohio State’s Hunter Armstrong also represented the US at the Tokyo Olympics. Armstrong represented the US in the 100 backstroke. Armstrong is the 10th seed coming into the meet after winning B1Gs in a 18.93. The biggest difference here is that Armstrong won B1Gs by 0.22, he will be with a much faster field here at NCAAs which may be able to motivate him more. 

Virginia Tech’s Youssef Ramadan was eighth in this event last year swimming a 19.08 in prelims and a 19.45 in finals. Ramadan was third at ACCs with a time of 18.87 which places him as the sixth seed here. Ramadan broke his own ACC record in the 100 butterfly and has been improving this year. If he is able to keep that improvement up, he should be able to slip into the A final here. 

Matthew Brownstead swam a 19.02 in prelims and a 19.01 in finals at ACCs. He led off Virginia’s American Record setting relay in an even faster time of 18.87. That time has him seeded ninth. He swam a 19.21 in both prelims and finals last year, and has shown his consistency. 

Darkhorse- Drew Kibler (Texas Senior): Kibler opted to swim the 50 freestyle this year instead of the 500 freestyle. Kibler is the 26th seed entering with a time of 19.19 and has a personal best of 19.08. He was 5th in the 500 freestyle last year, so it is interesting that Texas picked the 50 freestyle over the 500 freestyle here. It shows that the coaching staff must have been confident enough that Kibler can drop time to earn a spot in the A final (at least).