2023 Men’s NCAAs Day 4 Ups/Downs: Cal Puts Foot Down

2023 NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• March 22-25, 2023
• Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center | Minneapolis, MN
• SCY (25 yards)
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheets
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• SwimSwam Pick ’em Contest
• Live Results

For those unfamiliar with swimming terminology, the concept of “Ups” and “Downs” is a good way to track which teams performed best at prelims. In prelims, swimmers qualify for one of two finals heats: the top 8 finishers make the A final, and places 9th through 16th make the ‘B’ final. In finals, swimmers are locked into their respective final, meaning a swimmer in the B heat (spots 9-16) can only place as high as 9th or as low as 16th, even if they put up the fastest or slowest time of any heat in the final.

With that in mind, we’ll be tracking “Ups” and “Downs” after each prelims session. “Up” refers to swimmers in the A final, and “Down” refers to swimmers in the B final.

TEAM SCORES THRU DAY 3

1. Cal – 315
2. Arizona State – 302
3. Texas – 292
4. Indiana – 259
5. Florida – 251
6. NC State – 246.5
7. Tennessee -144
8. Stanford — 112.5
9. Auburn/Virginia Tech — 96
10. –
11. Louisville — 71
12. Virginia — 67
13. Texas A&M — 65
14. Ohio State — 54.5
15. Georgia — 53
16. Mizzou – 50.5
17. LSU – 40
18. Alabama
19. Notre Dame – 34
20. USC –
21. UNC / Wisconsin – 21
22. –
23. Michigan – 24
24. Minnesota – 20
25. Utah – 14
26. Columbia – 12
27. Arizona – 10
28. SIU / Miami (FL) – 9
29. –
30. Penn State / Princeton / Pitt – 4
31. –
32. –
33. Georgia Tech – 3
34. Air Force / Towson – 2
35. –
36. Purdue – 1

The Cal men have historically been very strong on the final day of the NCAA Championships, and that held true on Saturday morning.

The Bears entered the day leading Arizona State by 13 points and Texas by 23, but staked its claim for a second consecutive title by putting seven swimmers through to ‘A’ finals and an additional three into the consols.

Cal went two up in the 200 back, 100 free and 200 fly, and project to score 136.5 points tonight based on where their swimmers finished, 48.5 more than Arizona State.

Among the highlights for the Bears this morning was the 1-2 finish in the 200 fly from Gabriel Jett and Dare Rose in the last heat, which sent the Cal cheering section into a frenzy.

ASU went 4/5, including 2/0 in the 200 back, and are the clear favorites for second after Texas only went 2/3.

Cal projects to score more than 30 points in three of tonight’s four individual finals (excluding diving and the 1650), while the Sun Devils are in position to exceed 20 points in three events. Texas, on the other hand, is lacking in the 100 free (1 point) and 200 fly (3 points).

Indiana had a strong morning, putting four up to position themselves for a top-four finish, with diving scores still to come. The Hoosiers project to outscore both NC State and Florida based on this morning’s results.

DAY 4 UPS/DOWNS

Credit to Andrew Mering for running the numbers.

Prior to diving

SCORED PRELIMS POINTS PER EVENT

SCORED PRELIMS

Florida projects to score 34 fewer points than they were seeded to based on the prelims, while the rest of the top contenders were close to their seed. Indiana was the only top-six squad in the positives at +5.

LSU and Notre Dame led the way in terms of score relative to seed—the two teams had three swimmers combined racing this morning and they all made it back.

PRELIMS SCORES RELATIVE TO SEED

SCORED PRELIMS + ACTUAL