NC State Breaks Own Month-Old American Record in the 200 Free Relay (1:14.13)

2024 MEN’S NCAA SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• March 27-30, 2024
• IUPUI Natatorium, Indianapolis, Indiana
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200 YARD FREESTYLE RELAY — TIMED FINAL

• NCAA Record: 1:13.35 — Florida (J. Liendo, A. Chaney, E. Friese, M. McDuff), 2023
• Meet Record: 1:13.35 — Florida (J. Liendo, A. Chaney, E. Friese, M. McDuff), 2023
• American Record: 1:14.44 — NC State (Q. McCarty, D. Salls, N. Henderson, L. Miller), 2024
• U.S. Open Record: 1:13.35 — Florida (J. Liendo, A. Chaney, E. Friese, M. McDuff), 2023
• Pool Record: 1:14.59 — Texas (B. Ringgold, J. Conger, T. Jackson, J. Schooling), 2017
• 2023 Champion: 1:13.35 — Florida (J. Liendo, A. Chaney, E. Friese, M. McDuff), 2023

Top 8: 

1. Florida (J. Liendo, A. Chaney, J. Smith, M.McDuff) — 1:13.49 *Pool Record*
2. Cal (J. Alexy, B. Seeliger, L. Bell, D. Lasco) — 1:13.86
3. Arizona State (J. Dolan, I. Kharun, C. Peel, J. Kulow) — 1:13.95
4. NC State — 1:14.13 *American Record*
5. Tennessee — 1:14.38
6. Auburn — 1:15.05
7. Virginia Tech — 1:15.32
8. Notre Dame — 1:15.42

NC State finished 4th in the 200 free relay tonight with a time of 1:14.13. Though they came in 4th, it was a historic performance for the Wolfpack, as they took down their 2nd American Record in a relay at this meet. Following their AR in the 200 medley relay last night, NC State clipped their own AR in the 200 free relay tonight, bettering the 1:14.44 they had swum at the ACC Championships last month, which had stood as the American Record.

Fifth year Noah Henderson led off in 18.93, and was followed by senior Luke Miller in 18.23, and a pair of freshmen in Jerry Fox and Quintin McCarty, who split 18.44 and 18.53 respectively. NC State was the only scoring team tonight to have multiple freshmen on their relay. Texas had 3 freshmen on their relay, but came in 19th.

Here is a split comparison between NC State tonight and their previous American Record performance from ACCs last month:

Coincidentally, both the lead-off and anchors from both relays are the exact same split. Tonight Henderson led off in 18.93, while at ACCs, McCarty led off in 18.93. McCarty anchored in 18.53 tonight, while Miller anchored in 18.53 at ACCs. That means that the 0.31 seconds of improvement NC State saw with their swim tonight came in the middle two legs. Swapping out Larry Salls, who was on the ACC relay, with Jerry Fox looks like the right call, as Fox was faster tonight than Salls was at ACCs. But the most improvement came at the hands of Miller, who was a full 0.3 seconds faster tonight than he was at ACCs.