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
- Event Page
- SwimSwam Preview Index
- Official Psych Sheets
- Virtual Championship Program
- SwimSwam Pick Em’s Contest
Night 1 of the men’s NCAAs has concluded. Texas has the lead so far with a 10 points lead over Florida, and a 13 point lead over Cal.
- Texas 74
- Florida 64
- California 61
- NC State 57
- Stanford/ Arizona St 54
- Tie
- Louisville 46
- Georgia 34
- Alabama 30
- Virginia Tech 28
- Harvard/Virginia/Indiana 22
- Tie
- Tie
- Ohio St 18
- Michigan 14
- Arizona 12
- Auburn 6
- Utah 2
This meet is FAST.
Five out of the 10 fastest 200 medley relays times occurred tonight. Those five also include the two fastest ever from Florida and Texas. Both NCAA records were set as Texas broke the 800 freestyle relay record by over a second.
In addition, six out of the 12 fastest 50 backstroke splits were also performed tonight. To be more specific, the top three splits were done tonight from Cal’s Bjorn Seeliger (20.08), NC State’s Kacper Stokowski (20.16), and Florida’s Adam Chaney (20.19).
Outside of the backstroke splits, Eric Friese of Florida swam tied for the fastest 50 butterfly split of 19.36. Texas’s Caspar Corbeau swam the second fastest breaststroke split ever as he swam a 22.55 now sitting only behind Minnesota’s Max McHugh who split a 22.40 back in 2021.
Could Bjorn Seeliger win the 100 backstroke after the Ryan Murphy hype? Could he even break Murphy’s record?
Seeliger led off Cal’s 200 medley relay tonight in the fastest 50 backstroke ever, splitting a 20.08. Seeliger got some help from Murphy on backstroke starts and Murphy said that he thinks Seeliger would win the 100 backstroke. Seeliger’s 50 backstroke split tonight was even faster than Murphy’s fastest (20.20).
Seeliger is more known for being a sprint freestyler as he was second in the 50 freestyle and fourth in the 100 freestyle at last year’s meet. He has only swam the 100 SCY backstroke four times ever, including two of those being at Pac-12s earlier this month. He is the fifth seed coming into the 100 backstroke here with a time of 44.72, and Murphy’s record stands at a 43.49.
Cal vs. Texas
The two teams have battled it out and been either the winner or runner-up at every NCAA Men’s Championship since 2014. Based on this year’s psych sheets, it looks to be no different as the two teams are only separated by 7.5 points excluding diving.
Through night one, Texas has a slight lead over Cal of 13 points. Texas won the battle between the two teams on both the relays. Texas was second (1:21.36) and Cal was tied for third (1:21.69) in the 200 medley relay. Texas won (6:03.89) and Cal was fourth (6:06.90) in the 800 freestyle relay. The only split of either relays where Cal had the edge tonight was Seeliger’s 50 backstroke leadoff.
Although Texas had the edge on both relays, Cal actually dropped more time off of their seed time in the 200 medley relay. Cal dropped 1.57 compared to Texas who dropped 0.88 seconds. In the 800 freestyle relay though, Texas dropped 4.87 and Cal dropped 3.08 seconds from their seed times. Based on recent years, the two teams are the teams who score the most points in addition from their seeded points. Cal has improved with an average of +124.83 points compared to Texas which has improved by 69.83 points.
Based on the scored psych sheets, Texas was +16 tonight compared to Cal who was +29.
Can Florida actually win?
Florida swam an NCAA, Meet, US Open, and Pool record tonight in the 200 medley relay edging out Texas by 0.23. Based on the scored psych sheet (without diving), Florida is third overall with a total of 310.5 only behind Texas (351) and Cal (358.5). Florida has two divers at the meet compared to Texas who has four and Cal who has zero. Based on the scored psych sheets, Florida is four points behind their seed points after tonight.
Indiana and Ohio State 200 Medley Ouch
Ohio State won the 200 medley relay in a time of 1:22.13 to place them as the third seed coming into tonight.Tonight though, they swam a time of 1:22.98 gaining 0.85 seconds to finish 12th. The biggest difference between the two relays was that at Big Tens, Hunter Armstrong led off in a 20.45 compared to tonight where he led off in a 21.19. Hunter was with the heat heading into the wall at the turn, but came out behind.
Although Armstrong added time in his 50 backstroke split, he swam the fastest split on the Buckeyes 800 freestyle relay with a 1:32.18 on the second leg. Armstrong has scratched his individual 50 freestyle which was scheduled for tomorrow. He was the 10th seed (18.93).
Indiana was the sixth seed coming into the meet in the 200 medley with an entry time of 1:22.51. That time earned them a second place finish at the Big Ten Championships. Tonight, they added 0.80 seconds to slide down to a 15th place finish as they swam a time of 1:23.31. All four of their legs swam slower tonight than they did at B1Gs.
Jordan Crooks on 50 Fly
Tennessee freshman Jordan Crooks swam the butterfly leg for the Vols 200 medley relay tonight splitting a 20.15. Tonight’s relay for the Vols was a different line up than it was at SECs where they finished third with a time of 1:23.35. Tonight they swam a time of 1:23.68 to finish 17th. Crooks’s split was the second slowest 50 butterfly split of the top 17 teams.
SwimSwam picked him to finish 8th in the 50 free individually in spite of being the top seed. While we don’t have full context to know if that 20.1 is good for him or not, it’s not a blow-away split that immediately disproves the 50 free prediction.
Crooks swam the 100 butterfly at the SEC Championships where he finished third in a time of 45.33. There he was out in a 20.61 on his first 50 which includes a flat start compared to tonight’s flying start.
Is Dean Farris back?
Farris has not competed in an NCAA meet since 2019, but was on both Harvard’s 200 medley and 800 freestyle relays. Farris led off their 200 medley in a 20.36. That time is much faster than what he led off the relay in at Ivies (21.22) as well as what he led the relay off in back at 2019 NCAAs (20.73). His split tonight helped Harvard drop over a second and a half off of their seed time to finish ninth in the 200 medley relay.
Farris also was on Harvard’s 800 freestyle relay, splitting a 1:29.85 as their second leg. Farris holds the NCAA, American, and US Open records in the 200 freestyle as he led Harvard’s relay off in a 1:29.15 back in 2019. His split tonight was the fastest split off any of the legs in the field. He also was only one of two swimmers to swim a sub-1:30 split as Arizona State’s Leon Marchand anchored in a 1:29.96.
Farris is the 14th seed in the 100 backstroke (45.39) and 100 freestyle (41.97) as well as the 35th seed in the 50 freestyle (19.37).
This meet is fast …. unless you’re looking at the 800 free leadoffs. FFS, Blake Pepperoni and Townley were going sub-1:30 eons ago. What is it about the U.S. that we’re always going to suck in the 200 free compared to the rest of the world?
Farris is just toying with everyone. Expect something big.
My overreaction: KACPER Stokowski will break Ryan Murphy’s record, Barely behind Bjorn and he made up ground in the second 25, extend that out to a 100 and KACPER will take the crown
Also: Kieren Smith is going to struggle in this meet. Leading off in a 1:30.66 is nothing to gawk at based on where many expected him to be
He was equally bad (if you can call making the world team as a college student bad) at SC Worlds. Really, he peaked at NCAAs and OTs that year.
Where’s all of the Regan haters dumping on Kieran??? OMG – he’s a failure!!! Come on, it’s one race – we learned that Regan came through and Kieran will as well.
Texas has 4 divers and 17 swimmers? Is that right? Or did they drop another swimmer?
That’s actually what I’m seeing in Meet Mobile (assuming I’m counting correctly). Teams are limited to 18 competitors, with divers counting as half a competitor, so not exactly sure how that’ll work out at this point.
Rowdy Gaines overreacting to certain swims in less than 90 seconds.
Michigan men are duplicating the Michigan women’s malaise
Michigan women were only -13 from their seed for the whole meet, not too bad really.
Stanford in the top 5!
Top 120?
Haha knew there were some math geeks h
around here
Your factorial math is bad and you should feel bad.
5! = 5x5x5x5x5 = 3,125
That would be 5^5. 5! Is 5x4x3x2x1 = 120
5! ≠ 5^5
you have no idea what ur talking about
splitting .80 slower than your flat-start best is not ‘back’
was his 1st swim of the meet in 2019 and 2nd swim after a 50 back 45 minutes before, kind of (not totally) apples and oranges
Important to note as well that he swam a poor race. It is uncharacteristic of most athletes to come home in the last 100 with 50 splits of 22.8 and 24.0. It could be a sign that he is over tapered but I see this as a sign of him being too excited and if he swims smart can go faster from a flat start.
Most likely he probably just doesn’t quite have the same endurance. At the same time he showed better speed than ever in the 50 back, and that combined with being close enough in the 200 suggests he could be very competitive in the 100s.
He’s training for 100s and the 50 free. Of course he’s going to die.