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WATCH: Matt Biondi, Pablo Morales Set Records At 1987 Men’s NCAA Championships

How’s this for a blast from the past?

At the 1987 Men’s NCAA Championships, Matt Biondi put on an absolute clinic, while Pablo Morales led Stanford to its third consecutive national title to wrap up his collegiate career.

A half-hour highlight video, broadcasted on ABC featuring Al Trautwig and swimming great Mark Spitz, is available on YouTube (via the account of Richard Hughes), which you can watch at the bottom of this article.

The video shows Cal’s Biondi set new American Record in the men’s 50 free (19.16), 100 free (41.80) and 200 free (1:33.03), with the 100 free time still being fast enough to score at the 2023 NCAA Championships (would’ve been 12th in both prelims and finals).

Morales is seen winning the 200 fly in a new American Record of 1:42.60, and he also wins in the 100 fly in 46.47 in the video.

We’ve also got victories from Harvard’s David Berkoff (100 back), Army’s John van Salt (200 breast) and Ohio State’s Michael Wantuck (3-meter diving) featured.

There are also some interesting interview sections and behind-the-scenes footage of Biondi and Morales, and at the conclusion of the video, we see the Stanford men celebrate their championship by doing the traditional jump in the pool.

The meet was held at the University of Texas in Austin.

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Marcia Benjamin
1 year ago

I was there, covering it for The Daily Californian. What legends were at that meet!

SteveT
1 year ago

Was there and worked as a ‘drug test courier’, where we shepherded finals winners to drug testing. I drew Pablo’s 200 IM, so had a great opportunity to sit with him in the locker room with the nursing staff and I watching him try to down liters of water to finally be able to ‘produce’. It was hilarious watching his teammates come in and give him grief about missing dinner…

H20PoloFan2
1 year ago

Both of these Olympian’s were very good water polo players too. Club coaches frown on water polo to maximize $ and time with locking kids down to one sport. I think it leads to more burn out and less team emphasis. Just an opinion but cross training with other sports can help.

Springbrook
1 year ago

This is awesome, with record-setting swims by BIondi and Morales. But most amusing is the segment on shaving down. The segment is also a reminder that network television used to cover NCAA swimming. I certainly never thought I’d see Lynn Swann, the former Pittsburgh Steeler wide receiver, covering diving!

Ray Bosse
1 year ago

It is John VanSant not Van Salt that won the 200 Breast. Great back story to that swim that I have shared with some.

SSNP
1 year ago

That buzzer will give me nightmares, thanks for changing it in the 21st century

DP Spellman
1 year ago

Iowa, Iowa State, and UCLA all still had Men’s Swimming & Diving programs……and they were all pretty good too!

Suits were SO MUCH SMALLER and the “paper suits” were just starting to be developed.

Snarky
Reply to  DP Spellman
1 year ago

Small suits. When men were MEN!

Craig
1 year ago

8 beat kick? mentioned around 15 min mark.

About James Sutherland

James Sutherland

James swam five years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in 2018, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2019 he completed his graduate degree in sports journalism. Prior to going to Laurentian, James swam …

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