2016 MEN’S NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, March 23 – Saturday, March 26
- McAuley Aquatic Center – Atlanta, GA
- Prelims 10AM/Finals 6PM (Eastern Time)
- Defending Champion: Texas (results)
- Championship Central
- Live stream: Wednesday/Thursday prelins & finals, Friday/Saturday prelims / Friday/Saturday finals on ESPN3
- Live results
California’s Long Gutierrez has scratched out of the B final of tonight’s 100 fly, bumping his teammate Justin Lynch into the consols.
Gutierrez was 13th this morning in 45.99, just off his seed time of 45.80. He bows out, meaning the swim-off between Lynch and Auburn’s Arthur Mendes for 17th now has meaning in the team points battle. Lynch won that swim-off 45.65 to 45.90, becoming the first alternate and eventually the last B finalist after Guterrez’s scratch.
Though Gutierrez was faster than Lynch in prelims this morning, the move seems to make sense since Gutierrez is taking on the brutal 100 fly/200 free double today. He made the B final of both events – which fall back to back on the schedule – this morning, but he did gain about eight tenths of a second in the 200 while taking 14th.
Once Lynch won his swim-off, scratching Gutierrez would lose Cal his B final points but would add Lynch to the mix in the B final. That allows Cal to keep Gutierrez fresher for his 200 free while not forfeiting a scoring spot in the 100 fly.
Lynch will also likely swim the fly leg of the 200 medley relay at the end of the night, but that double comes with plenty of rest and didn’t seem to bother the Golden Bear sophomore much this morning as he was 20.3 on the relay with a relatively safe start.
Was Cal able to scratch Gutierrez after Lynch won the swim-off? Because if not, it could have come with some risk, and would be an interesting coaching move.
Scratch came first.
Smart play all around for Cal.