Indiana Posts 2nd-Fastest 400 Medley Relay Ever, Crack 3:00 Barrier

2019 MEN’S NCAA SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, March 27 – Saturday, March 30
• Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center, Austin, Texas
• Prelims 10 AM / Finals 6 PM (Central Time)
• Defending champion: Texas (4x) (2018 results)
• Psych Sheet
• Live Stream
• Live results

Leveraging (virtually) the same quartet as last year, the Indiana Hoosiers took home their second straight 400 medley relay NCAA title, clocking the #2 time in history in the process.   Behind field-leading splits from Ian Finnerty and Zach Apple, Indiana finished in 2:59.70, bettering the field by nearly two full seconds, just short of the 2:59.22 NCAA and U.S. Open record from Texas’ 2017 squad.

A comparison of the splits:

Indiana’s first three legs were all faster than last year’s winning relay, particularly Finnerty, whose 49.60 breaststroke (the second fastest 100 breast split history by our quick scan) gave Vini Lanza plenty of clean water to work for his butterfly leg.  Lanza dropped an excellent 44.21 split that bodes well for his individual 100 fly tomorrow, before handing off to Apple, who nearly matched Blake Pieroni‘s split from last year with a 40.64 (the only A-final swimmer under 41.00).  Not to be forgotten, Gabriel Fantoni swam a very quick 45.25 leading off, just off his lifetime best time.

Notably, the second and third place relays from Cal and Texas, respectively, were less than one tenth off the American Record.  Cal’s relay of Daniel Carr, Reece Whitley, Andrew Seliskar, and Ryan Hoffer finished in 3:01.56, while Texas’ quartet of Austin Katz, Charlie Scheinfeld, John Shebat, and Tate Jackson touched in 3:01.58.