2022 NCAA Division I Men’s Championships: Day 3 Relay Analysis

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
• Official Psych Sheets
• Virtual Championship Program

Cal took over the lead in the team standings on Day 3 after winning the 400 medley relay with a pool record time of 3:00.36. With very little margin to make mistakes as they try to dethrone defending champions Texas, the Golden Bears were extremely cautious with their relay starts. After Destin Lasco’s lead off (44.64), Reece Whitley (50.64), Trenton Julian (44.44), and Bjorn Seeliger (40.64) had reaction time of .39, .27, and .31, respectively, by far the most conservative in the field. Cal used Whitley on the relay instead of Liam Bell, who had placed third in the 100 breast final tonight (50.50), one spot ahead of Whitley (50.84).

The most eye-popping split of the night was the leadoff backstroke from Luca Urlando, whose 43.35 broke Ryan Murphy’s NCAA, meet, American, U.S. Open, and pool records.

The second-fastest backstroke leadoff belonged to Kacper Stokowski of NC State (44.33), who was .29 off the time he swam to win the individual event earlier in the session. Also leading off with sub-44.5s were Florida’s Adam Chaney (44.43) and Indiana’s Brendan Burns (44.45), who had finished third and second, respectively, in the 100 back individual final.

Caspar Corbeau of Texas led the breaststrokers with 50.10 from a rolling start, which was the fastest by more than half a second. Cal’s Reece Whitley and USC’s Trent Pellini both split 50.64s, while Evgenii Somov of Louisville (50.81), Josh Matheny of Indiana (50.93), and Ron Polonsky of Stanford (50.98) were also under 51 seconds.

Andrei Minakov, who won the 100 fly final with a pool-record time of 43.71, went 43.58 on Stanford’s relay for the fastest butterfly split of the night. NC State’s Nyls Korstanje, fourth in the 100 fly final, went 43.88 as the only other sub-44 flyer. Tomer Frankel went 44.19 for Indiana. There were three more sub-44.5s: Dalton Lowe of Louisville (44.38), Florida’s Eric Friese (44.41), and Cal’s Trenton Julian (44.44).

Texas fifth-year Alvin Jiang, whom the Longhorns had used for the fly leg on the 2021 NCAA-champion 400 medley relay, did not swim with this year’s quartet. He swam the 100 back/100 fly double in prelims and made finals in both, but scratched the fly (he placed 13th in prelims with 45.00) and it was presumed that it was to rest up for the relay. Instead, Texas used Zac Van Zandt (44.79). It was probably the right move, as Jiang tied for 15th place in the fly final with 45.64, but it makes one wonder what real benefit Texas picked up from scratching Jiang.

(One other note about the fly splits: Missouri’s relay was disqualified for an early start from flyer Danny Kovac which, to anyone watching, was quite clear.)

With 40.52, Tennessee freshman Jordan Crooks was the fastest of the five swimmers who swam sub-41 100 free anchors. Bjorn Seeliger went 40.64 on the end of Cal’s relay to assure their win. Virginia’s Matt King (40.90), Florida’s Kieran Smith (40.96), and Arizona State’s Leon Marchand (40.98) were the three others.

400 Medley Relay Splits

Team Rankings Through Day 3

1. California – 320.5
2. Texas – 313
3. Florida – 272
4. NC State – 214
5. Indiana – 183
6. Arizona St – 167
7. Stanford – 159
8. Georgia – 150
9. (tie) Louisville / Ohio St – 108
10. –
11. Virginia Tech – 89.5
12. Alabama – 80
13. Virginia – 77.5
14. Harvard – 76
15. LSU – 65
16. Arizona – 61
17. (tie) Purdue / Texas A&M – 42
18. –
19. Tennessee 40.5
20. Michigan 34
21. Columbia 30
22. Minnesota 27
23. (tie) UNC / Southern California – 24
24. –
25. Auburn 22
26. Missouri 7
27. Princeton 7
28. (tie) Northwestern / Penn – 6.5
29. –
30. Notre Dame 5
31. (tie) SMU / Georgia Tech / Towson / Wisconsin – 4
32. –
33. –
34. –
35. Utah 2