UNLV freshman Pavel Semochkin has scratched out of the 2016 men’s NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships, which means that Michigan’s Ian Rainey, the former first-alternate to the meet, has earned an invite.
Semochkin was the 29th and final swimmer to earn an invite by way of a time in the 100 yard butterfly – his season-best and seed time was a 46.46. He also had optional entries in the 100 back (32nd seed) and 200 back (47th and final seed).
Semochkin is a Russian by birth, and two weeks after the NCAA Championships, Russia will hold its National Swimming Championships (April 16th-23rd in Moscow). He’s the second Russian swimmer to skip NCAAs, and while the other, Purdue’s Marat Amaltdinov, cited preparations for Russian Nationals as the reason, a spokesperson from UNLV is working toconfirm the reason for Semochkin’s absence.
The beneficiaries will be the Michigan Wolverines, who now earn an invite as the 30th seed in the 400 IM (3:45.61). He’ll also bring along optional entries in the 500 free (54th seed – 4:21.85) and 1650 free (35th seed – 15:09.78). His seed times in the 400 IM and 500 free are both lifetime bests, done at this year’s Big Ten Championships, while his 1650 seed time is two-tenths shy of his personal best from last year’s Big Ten Championship meet.
With Rainey’s addition, Michigan now will take 11 selected swimmers to NCAAs in individual events.
The updated alternates list and meet documents:
- Official Psych Sheet
- Official Invited Swimmers by Team
- List of institutions eligible for relays
- Official Meet Alternate List
Alternates:
- Dustin Tynes, Ohio State
- James Peek, Duke
- Hunter Cobleigh, Cal
- Steffen Hillmer, Ohio St.
- Nicholas Hogsed, Arizona
- Matthew Grauslys, Notre Dame
- Andrew Appleby, Ohio State
- Austin Quinn, Virginia
- Jason McCormick, Florida St.
That’s 2 Wilton Wahoos getting into NCAAs from a scratch? Pretty sure Verity Abel and Ian both swam there,
Ha! Great observation!