Ohio State, Colorado Look To Repeat At Club Nationals

2017 Collegiate Club Nationals

• April 7th-April 9th
• McAuley Aquatic Center – Atlanta, Georgia
• 25y Course
• Meet Information
• Psych Sheet

The Collegiate Club Swimming and Diving National Championships get underway this Friday and will run from April 7th-9th. The Club Swim Team at Ohio State looks to defend their title on the men’s side along with the women of the University of Colorado at Boulder for the women.

Night one will begin with the 800 freestyle relay and will be followed by the first individual event of the night, the women’s 400 Individual Medley. Gina Blum, who won the 200 backstroke in 2016, did not compete in this event last year but is the top seed for the upcoming competition. Blum is seeded second in the 200 backstroke later in Friday’s session, just behind teammate Alaina Gossett, who she touched out for the championship last year. Additionally, Blum who took second in the 200 IM last year, is not slated to swim the event this year.

Highlighting the first night of individuals for the men is University of Florida’s Nicholas De La Osa, who took 3rd in the 500 freestyle last year but returns to Collegiate Club Nationals as the top seed looking to win the crown. In the final event of the first session, Club Swimming at Ohio State will look to defend their 400 medley relay championship, a title they ran away with by almost three full seconds last year over Florida.

On day two Taylor Wilson of Georgia Tech, who was third in the Men’s 50 butterfly last year, will look to win the title as the top seed entering this year’s meet with a seed time that would have finished first last year. Wilson is also seeded 3rd entering the 50 freestyle but is not entered in the 50 breaststroke, an event he was 14th in a year ago.

In the women’s 200 freestyle Julianna Prim won the event a year ago in a time of 1:53.02. Prim returns as the top seed in the same event, as well as in the 100 and 200 butterfly events.

On the final day of the meet, Catherine Cui of Ohio State, who finished 3rd in the 100 IM last year returns as the top seed. Cui is also the 2nd seed in the 200 breaststroke earlier in the week and the 3rd seed in the 100 yard breaststroke. In the penultimate individual event for the men, Daniel Spas of Florida looks to avenge the title he lost to Artem Movchan of Northeastern last year in the 100 freestyle. Both swimmers return as the top two seeds in the event and as the only two swimmers seeded under the 46.00 mark.

On the women’s side a year ago it was the team from The University of Colorado Boulder who took home the team title, winning over Ohio State. Boulder looks to defend their championship as they return swimmers like Blum and Gossett who scored highly in a number of events last year. The women of Ohio State may have something to say about a repeat for Colorado as they are seeded highly in a number of relays, specifically the 200 and 400 medley relays where they are seeded 1st and 2nd respectively.

On the men’s side, the Ohio State Buckeyes won the team title handedly last year over the University of Florida. Coming into this year, Ohio State lost key swimmers in Andrew Brower and Garrett Trebilcock, who were in the top three in a handful of events last year. Florida also lost a national champion from last year in Michael Baric. Both teams have a number of swimmers seeded highly and look to rise to the top in the relays, but it will be interesting to see how they replace such talented seniors.

Friday’s timed finals will begin at 4:30 at McAuley Aquatic Center on the campus of Georgia Tech.