You are working on Staging1

Chris Swanson Becomes First Ever Penn Men’s NCAA Swimming Champion

2016 MEN’S NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

Penn senior Chris Swanson, in his last collegiate race, dropped a monster 24.38 in his final 50 to win the men’s 1650 freestyle on Saturday night. In the process, he ran down a three-second margin on South Carolina’s Akaram Mahmoud over just the last lap of the race and won by a narrow margin of 14:31.54-14:31.66.

Swanson’s victory marks the first ever by a member of the Penn men’s swimming & diving team, leaving Cornell as the only current Ivy League team without an event title.

Swanson’s win is also the first by an Ivy League male swimmer in over 25 years – since Princeton won the first two 200 medley relays in 1989 and 1990; and first individual since Harvard’s David Berkoff won the 100 back in 1989.

Swanson improved all the way from an 11th-place finish last year to become the event champion this year, dropping nearly 20 seconds in the process.

The only other swimmer from a current Ivy League program to win the 1650 free was Columbia’s Tony Corbisiero in 1983, though Yale swimmers have won 7 titles in the similar 1500 short course meter free (most recently in 1960).

In This Story

18
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

18 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Lamos
8 years ago

12th fastest Miler of all time, and the 9th-fastest American in the event.

Faster than:

Peter Vanderkaay
Matt McLean
Michael Klueh

That’s an impressive list.

Jay Ryan
8 years ago

BRIAN MCDONALD, I remember Bobby Hackett and Tony Corbisiero taking 2nd and 5th in the 1650 at Harvard in 1980, but let’s not that forget Tony won the NCAA in 1983 with a 14:46.29 for Columbia. Still a top-eight time by today’s standards!!!

Brian
Reply to  Jay Ryan
8 years ago

JAY – Yes – I keep in touch with Tony and he did win in 83 – sorry for not mentioning that great victory! He also had the American Record in the 1000 for many, many years!

Ivy League
8 years ago

Best part was his post-race, grammatically correct interview

John Atkinson
8 years ago

Congratulations Chris to you, coach and the entire Penn program. What a spectacular career you’ve had at Penn.

Roger Kahn
8 years ago

Super congratulations to Chris Swanson and the Penn Swimming program……”who are those guys”? Roger Kahn ’77

Ken Halbrecht
8 years ago

Pretty cool having Tony and David be the first to congratulate Chris!

Brian McDonald
8 years ago

Huge kudos to Chris Swanson (Penn) and Kei Hyogo (Yale) who finished eight to earn All-America honors. Great to see comments from David Berkoff (Harvard) – NCAA 100 Back Champ in 1987 and 1989. I believe that 1987 was the last time two Ivy swimmers were in the top eight, with Princeton’s Richard Hughes in the final with David. Prior to that,Tony Corbisiero (Columbia) was fifth in the 1650 in 1980 with Harvard’s Bobby Hackett 2nd. I believe that Chris is the first Ivy men’s individual champ since David. 1989 was a great year for the League with David grabbing an individual win and Princeton winning the first 200 medley relay championship, which they defended in 1990. What a great… Read more »

Munnstar
8 years ago

Stud swimmer since 12. TYCC TBAY ASC and KAH20 looking down on you young man so great.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

Read More »