Five Big Questions for Night 1 at Men’s NCAA’s

Let’s look at the 5 big questions that we’ll be looking to have answered in the first finals session of the 2012 Men’s NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships:

1. Is Cal a contender? Cal will have more scorers than anyone else in tonight’s finals session, with a total of 10 scoring swims. They gave Tom Shields a break in prelims by letting him sit off of the 200 free relay. They still barely snuck in at 8th (it was close), but when they add Shields and a 19.0 anchor to this relay, it drops half-a-second. Based on morning times, that’s enough to leapfrog four teams in front of them and give them a top-4 finish at least. They’re absolutely now a contender for the top 2, though I’m still not ready to declare that they can catch Texas. Remember that on day 2, they’ve got doubles from both Shields and Mathias Gydesen.

2. Can Arizona Rally? Arizona had a rough morning in their individual swims, but they swam extremely well in their relays. The good news for the Wildcats is that they have outstanding leadership – one of Cory Chitwood‘s teammates described his leadership thusly mid-season: “When Cory talks, everyone shuts up and listens.” He isn’t going to score as many points as he should be in the 200 IM tonight (he’s in the B-Final), but that doesn’t mean that he can’t have a huge influence on the team.

3. Who’s Going to Step Up in the 50? Jimmy Feigen right now is seeded way ahead of the field in the 50 free. He’s the only swimmer better than a 19.30. Will USC’s Vlad Morozov step up and go under 19? Can Ohio State’s Jason Schnur, the top seed and Big Ten Champ, live up to his billing? And can this morning’s big breakout Steve Cebertowicz match his blazing, 3rd-seed from the morning?

4. What is Nolan going to swim in the 200 IM? We’re still waiting to see collegiate David Nolan match the speed of high school David Nolan. He had three average swims in the prelims, but he didn’t seem to be anywhere near rested at Pac-12’s. We haven’t seen Nolan’s best yet this season, and we’ll know he’s about there if he can dip down to a 1:41-anything in the finals.

5. How much damage can Stanford do in the 500 free? This 500 freestyle final was fast. As one of our readers pointed out earlier today, it took a 4:17.45 to make the B-Final this season; last year a 4:17.45 would’ve been the 7th-best time in the morning. Stanford capitalized by getting four swimmers into the final: two in the A (Bobby Bollier and Chad la Tourette) and two in the B (David Mosko and Drew Cosgarea). Capitalizing would be Mosko holding on and winning the B-Final, and Bollier moving up into the top 5. That would leave them with at least a temporary lead in the meet.