Freshman David Curtiss Goes 18.7, 19.23 Won’t Cut it for ACC A-Final

2022 ACC SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• When: Tuesday, February 15th to Saturday, February 19th Prelims 10:00am | Finals 6:00 pm (Tuesday 11:00am/4:30pm)
• Where: McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta Georgia (Eastern Time Zone)
• Defending Champions
  • Women: University of Virginia (17x) (results)
  • Men: University of Louisville (1x) (results)
• Streaming: ACC Network
  • Tuesday (prelims/finals)
  • Wednesday (prelims/finals)
  • Thursday (prelims/finals)
  • Friday (prelims/finals)
  • Saturday (prelims/1650s/finals)
• Championship Central: Here
• Detailed Timeline: Here
• Psych Sheets: Here
• Live Results
• Wednesday Morning Heat Sheet

NC State freshman David Curtiss is now the fourth-fastest NCAA freshman in the history of the 50 yard freestyle and rides the top seed into prelims in what might be the fastest 50 freestyle field in conference championship history.

Curtiss, who came to NC State with bona fides in both short course and long course, now finds himself among a list of really fast names, led by the fastest ever Caeleb Dressel.

All-Time Fastest NCAA Freshman: 50 Yard Freetyle

1. Caeleb Dressel, Florida, 2015 – 18.67
2. Bjorn Seeliger, Cal, 2021 – 18.71 (21 years old)
3. Adam Chaney, Florida, 2021 – 18.76
4. David Curtiss, NC State, 2022 – 18.77
5. (TIE) Jordan Crooks, Tennessee, 2022/Jimmy Feigen, Texas, 2009 – 18.84

Last season was a huge season for freshman sprinters; besides Seeliger and Chaney, Virginia freshman Matt Brownstead swam 18.88 (#6 on the all-time list), Virginia Tech’s Youssef Ramadan swam 18.95 (#10 on the list), and Alabama’s Matt King swam 18.96 (#11 on the list).

Also joining that list on Wednesday if Tennessee freshman Jordan Crooks, who was the fastest swimmer in prelims in Knoxville in 18.84.

Pending the result of a swimoff between Virginia sophomore Matt King and Virginia freshman Jack Aikins, the fastest time to not make the A-Final in this 50 free is 19.23.

For comparison, the fastest time to not make the A-Final at last year’s NCAA Championship meet was 19.19.

Curtiss finished prelims a quarter-second better than the defending ACC Champion Matt Brownstead of Virginia (19.02), with a school record 19.02 from Haridi Sameh of Louisville qualifying 3rd in 19.04.

The 8th place time is substantially faster than any 8th place time at the ACCs in the past. Anecdotally, it’s not surprising – the ACC as a conference, with the rise of Sergio Lopez’s Virginia Tech group combined with the staying power of NC State, Louisville, and Virignia, is a deeper conference than in recent memory.

The Virginia men alone had five swimmers go 19.2 or better in prelims.

The performance is not just historically-good for the ACC though, it’s historically good for any conference. Here are the fastest 8th place times for each of the other Power 5 conferences:

The SEC’s 8th place finisher on Wednesday morning was 19.43 and the 9th place finisher was 19.49. The top seed at that meet, Tennessee’s Jordan Crooks, swam 18.84 – he too is a freshman.

It’s worth noting that we’re comparing prelims to prelims in this case. As depth creeps up in the conference, so too does pressure to swim fast in prelims to lock in those A Final, B Final, or C Final places and points for the evening.

But even with that, the top 8 places being almost as fast as last year’s NCAA Championships rewrites expectations going forward. With 13 swimmers at this meet being faster than the 19.46 that it took for an NCAA invite already, plus another 8 at SECs, qualifying is going to get very, very competitive, with hundredths, not tenths, being the difference between racing in March or not.