Day 1 of the 2013 SMU Classic (men’s edition) had some truly memorable races, as swimmers from powerhouses like USC, Michigan, Florida, Louisville, and Purdue joined the home team Mustangs in a two-per-squad meet format.
The biggest story of the day was Vlad Morozov. He swam two individual races that resulted in two victories and a USC School Record.
His first win came in the 50 free, where he swam a 19.28 that is an NCAA Automatic Qualifying time, as well as the best collegiate time in the country this year. He beat great performances from Florida’s Bradley DeBorde (19.78) and Purdue’s Danny Tucker (20.03).
We all knew Vlad was a great sprint freestyler; but he carries so much value for this Trojan team because of how many different strokes he could swim. That was shown off later in the session when he won the 100 breaststroke in 52.73 to tie the USC Record held by Dillon Connolly. Michigan’s Richard Funk, who’s having a great year himself, was 2nd in 53.33.
If that wasn’t enough for the Russian Olympian, he also led off the USC 400 medley relay in a sterling 46.69 (though the relay was only 2nd, just behind Michigan): which ranks him 2nd on the all-time USC list behind only the legendary Lenny Krayzelburg. Morozov’s junior season is turning into a really special one, and he could be reaching toward the full 60 individual points at NCAA’s.
Nearly every race at this meet had multiple stars who showed off their talents. In the 400 IM, Florida’s Sebastien Rousseau put up a huge mid-year 3:42.91 for a resounding victory over Michigan’s Kyle Whitaker (3:46.89). That’s a big win for the South African, as only himself and Josh Prenot have been faster this season; Whitaker was the highest-ranked returning swimmer in the race from last year’s NCAA Championships, so Rousseau is very much in-the-mix for a national title in the event. Note that this is another very good in-season time for Florida, who has done a lot more of that this year than we’ve perhaps ever seen from them.
Louisville picked up their first win of the two-day meet when Joao de Lucca just barely out-touched Michigan’s Michael Wynalda 1:35.06-1:35.08. De Lucca had to run down his junior counterpart in the last 25 yards. Despite getting out-touched, Wynalda’s swim is a huge foreshadower of the pending championship season: in January of 2012, he was only going 1:39’s in this 200 free.
Florida’s Pawel Werner was 3rd in 1:36.00 and USC’s Dimitri Colupaev was 4th in 1:37.49. Colupaev’s teammate Cristian Quintero, who was pre-designated for the B-heat, was actually much quicker than him in 1:35.60.
Michigan’s Miguel Ortiz, a big factor in the pending success or lack-thereof for the Wolverines, had a big 46.77 to easily win the 100 back: just a tenth away from his season best. He was about half-a-second faster here than he was leading off Michigan’s medley relay, though his ability to maintain contact with Morozov was a key to helping the deeper Wolverines win that race.
In the final event of the day, the USC team of Colupaev, Alex Lendrum, Jack Wagner, and Cristian Quintero teamed up for a 6:27.08 win in the 800 free relay with Florida 2nd well-back in 6:29.11 and Michigan 3rd in 6:31.71. Though none of those were season-bests, that is a matchup of the three fastest 800 free relays in the country so far this year; Michigan’s inability to remain a little bit closer was probably their one disappointing result on a day of very fast swimming.
Day 2 of this meet will be Saturday and feature, among other things, Morozov in the 100 free.
Full day 1 results available here.
Team Scores
1 Michigan 166
2 USC162
3 Florida 153
4 Louisville 125
5 Purdue 116
6 SMU 115
Has he done a 200 IM any time in the past couple years? He could potentially put up an unbelievable time.
He’s Russian don’t forget. Lets start rooting for the Amercans (or French), LOL.
Seems like Morozov is falling a similar pattern to guys likes bosquet Adrian and cielo. What is he like 20? Jr nat record holder on to all American then bronze medalist as a sophomore and short course world champ. With Olympics 3 years away gonna be fun to watch that kid come along.
I agree; he his hitting all the benchmarks along the way. I would love to see him focus on the 200 IM, though. What other non-breaststroker IM’ers besides Phelps could put up a 52.7 in the 100 breast mid-season?
20..
But he has not showed a similiar time on long course already.. let´s see this year..
With those types of times in the off strokes, Morozov’s 200 i.m. should be very very good
He will probably do very fine in LC meets ….
he is not very tall… he will have to prove himselt yet on LC
Dozens of guys are Monsters on SC but do not deliver on LC;;
And the Bronze Medal he won at the olympics, was that Short Course? He is still extremely fast Long Course.
On a Relay?? Oh Ok.. with a 47.85 split… not individual LC medal material yet..
Takuro Fujii is also a Bronze Medalist.. but he never won an individual medal.
Being Good and having a Good team will grant you a relay medal.. but being extraordinary will grant you an individual one.
Morozov shows lot of potential.. but that´s far from proving that he will do very well on LCM..
Matt mclean has a LCM gold medal.. while Hayden just have a Bronze Medal on Olympics.. who is the better??
Just for the record.. Only Sun yang of all swimmers (male) won an medal on a relay and individual on “same” distance.. the 200.. having a pretty good ballanced team does not mean you will be able to face the big guys on his specialty game..
And Adrian.. just the 2.. who excelled on both..
turns and underwaters rule the short course format. let’s see how he performs in long course come this summer. i think he’ll do fine, but we’ll see.