2022 NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- March 23-26, 2022
- McAuley Aquatic Center, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Georgia (Eastern Daylight Time)
- Prelims 10AM /Finals 6PM
- Short Course Yards (25 yards)
- Live Results
- Championship Central
- Event Page
- SwimSwam Preview Index
- Official Psych Sheets
- Virtual Championship Program
- SwimSwam Pick Em’s Contest
The 2022 Men’s DI NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships kick off tonight, so let’s take a moment to highlight the 17 swimmers from mid major programs who made it to the big meet this year. For those who may be unsure “mid major” refers to those NCAA Division I conferences outside the Power 5 (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC). This year, a considerable 17 swimmers qualified for NCAAs, representing 11 different programs and 7 conferences.
The most represented conference is the Ivy League, which had 5 of its teams combine to send 9 swimmers to the championships. Leading the way is Harvard, who had 5 swimmers entered. They’re led by Dean Farris, who will attempt to repeat the fireworks of his 2019 NCAAs performance. Harvard also has a pair of butterfliers in Umitcan Gures and Jacob Johnson, plus a pair of freshmen who qualified in the 1650 free (Arik Katz & Shane Washart).
Another well represented team is SMU, who have three swimmers entered in the meet. The Mustangs feature a duo of 400 IMers, Wyatt Fields and Colin Feehery, plus Caleb Rhodenbaugh, who qualified in the 200 breast.
In terms of swimmers to be looking out for in finals, Dean Farris of course leads the list. Farris won the NCAA titles in the 100 back and 100 free at the 2019 NCAAs. While he’s appeared to have been a bit off so far this season, a return to his peak form is a scary prospect for the other swimmers in his events.
Matt Fallon, a Penn freshman, is the #2 seed in the 200 breast. He’s also the #8 performer all-time in the event. As such, Fallon is the top-seeded mid major swimmer at these championships.
Another highly seeded swimmer is Princeton’s Raunak Khosla. Khosla is seeded 11th in the 200 IM, 12 in the 400 IM, and 17th in the 200 breast. Wen Zhang, an Air Force junior, has had a phenomenal season, getting down to 1:32.21 in the 200 free, which has earned him the 8th seed in the event.
Here is the full list of all 17 mid major qualifiers for the 2022 NCAAs:
Air Force
- Wen Zhang (500 free, 200 free, 100 free)
BYU
- Tanner Nelson (500 free, 400 IM, 1650 free)
Columbia
- Demirkan Demir (100 breast, 200 breast)
George Washington
- Djurdje Matic (50 free, 100 fly, 200 fly)
Harvard
- Dean Farris (50 free, 100 back, 100 free)
- Umitcan Gures (50 free, 100 fly, 200 fly)
- Jacob Johnson (200 IM, 100 fly, 200 fly)
- Arik Katz (500 free, 1650 free)
- Shane Washart (500 free, 1650 free)
Navy
- Caleb Mauldin (100 back, 100 free, 200 fly)
Penn
- Matt Fallon (200 IM, 100 breast, 200 breast)
Princeton
- Raunak Khosla (200 IM, 400 IM, 200 fly)
SMU
- Colin Feehery (200 IM, 400 IM, 200 breast)
- Wyatt Fields (200 IM, 400 IM, 200 back)
- Caleb Rhodenbaugh (100 breast, 200 breast)
Towson
- Brian Benzing (200 IM, 100 breast, 200 breast)
Yale
- Noah Millard (500 free, 200 free, 1650 free)
In terms of relays, Harvard has qualified all 5 to compete at the meet. Additionally, UNLV, although they didn’t qualify an individual swimmer, got an ‘A’ cut in the 400 free relay, qualifying them to race the event at this meet.
I wish swimming had something like the NIT – where we could see a lot of “mid majors” given chances for a big time meet after conferences. There are whole conferences that never really send swimmers to the NCAA Championships, but still have impressive swimmers who could easily be top 8 or top 3 at a D2 or D3 level.
CSCCA meet was intended to be like the NIT but has turned in to P5 teams taking all their non-NCAA swimmers. I don’t have a problem with that but it would be cool to see a mid major focused championship!
As an athlete who competed at the CSCAA meet, this is correct. I’d just like to add that there were a fair amount of mid-major schools represented as well. Most mid-major swimmers made the B final and relays swam against the P5 schools at night. One cool thing that stood out though was watching a breaststroker from the University of Delaware take gold in the 50 breast!
P.S.
The meet would have even more mid-major programs had some of them not went to ECACs in Navy!
Two questions:
Is this an average number of mid-major swimmers over the years?
When SMU was at their peak in the 80s and 90s would we have considered them mid-major? Or have they been “mid-majorized” over the years?
SMU were members of the Southwest Conference at the time, which was considered a “major” then (Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, Arkansas, for example, were all in the conference).
Major vs. mid-major is essentially a resource designation. The more modern and specific and less-judgy designation is really “Power 5” and “Group of 5” at the football level, but because the swimming Division I is bigger, that doesn’t work as well.
Basically, the list of mid-majors includes teams that aren’t in the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, and Pac-12, because those schools don’t have access to the same resources (football $$) as teams in the Power 5 do.
It’s not a perfect delimitation when applied to swimming, but the highest-ranked school… Read more »
RAUNAK TO THE MOON
One more spring for Eddie & the Cruisers. Nothing is forever, so let’s enjoy all things Eddie Reese one more time this week.
And let’s go all you NCAA meet men qualifiers, the ladies dropped some real dynamite in Atlanta last week. Be inspired, bring your best, make it your moment.
Raunak Khosla is 17th in 200 fly, not 200 breast
With all the head coaching jobs already open and the many jobs that are speculated to be opening, will any of the coaches from these teams be likely candidates? Seems impressive to have an NCAA qualifier at the mid-major level, would that be enough for a power 5 AD to give them a look?
Who are you referring to?
I’m looking for someone who does what it takes to win
As if the majority of Power 5 programs don’t rely heavily on Foreign athletes
“7 of the 8 podium relays also included international swimmers” – SwimSwam article discussing the Men’s 200 Medley results from the championships tonight.