2017 MEN’S NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, March 22 – Saturday, March 25
- IUPUI Natatorium – Indianapolis, IN
- Prelims 10AM/Finals 6PM (Eastern Time)
- Defending Champion: Texas (results)
- Championship Central
- Psych Sheet
- Live stream: Wednesday/Thursday Prelims & Finals, Friday/Saturday Prelims / Friday/Saturday finals on ESPN3
- Event Previews
- Live Results
The final tallies are in: 38 different men broke 19 seconds at some point during the 2017 men’s Division I NCAA Championships, together accounting for an incredible 81 swims of 18.99 or better.
64 of those swims came on relay starts and 17 of them from flat start swims – either individual races or relay leadoffs.
Florida’s Caeleb Dressel led the way with three different sub-18 swims – he was 17.71 on the prelims medley relay, 17.93 in the final and 17.99 in prelims of the 200 free relay. Dressel also has the three fastest flat start times of the meet with his twin 18.23s from leading off the 200 free relay in the final and winning the open 50, plus his 18.38 from the 50 free prelims.
Both Dressel and NC State’s Ryan Held went under 19 seconds in all 6 of their opportunities – two in the individual 50, two in the 200 medley relay and two in the 200 free relay. You can see how many times each swimmer broke 19 by switching to the second tab at the bottom.
The improvement curve in the 50 free has shot up nationally – as of last night’s 200 medley relay final, a 19.0 is officially a slow anchor. 13 of 16 teams had 18-second-or-better anchor legs, including all 8 of the A final teams. The teams with anchors above 19.0 finished 12th, 14th and 16th in the final.
There’s still one full day left, but no more 50-yard races, meaning this list is effectively complete for the year. You can check out the full database below, tracking every single 18-second swim of the 2017 Championships:
Correction: 19.0 is s slow division 1 college anchor. There are plenty of lower division and club teams who’d kill to have a 19.0 anchor on their relay
Really nice analysis thanks. Crazy how much faster the 50 has gotten in recent years (can say the same about many other events too)