Day 2 is in the books at USA Short Course Nationals, and the USC Trojans appear to be in prime position for a great spring semester. Matt Grevers was the big individual winner on the night, picking up double victories in the 100 backstroke and fly.
Though team scores are typically irrelevant in meets like this, the fact that there are several top college squads here make them at least mildly interesting.
Top 5 Team Scores
- Cal 608.5
- Ohio State 512.5
- USC 484.5
- Michigan 310.5
- SwimMAC Carolina 305
Though USC is dominating in the event win column, the depth of Ohio State and Cal, especially in terms of B relays, is giving them a big boost in total points.
Women’s 200 medley relay
The Cal and USC women entered this meet with the NCAA’s two best 200 medley relays. This morning in prelims the two relays but up the two top marks in the country, with USC edging their opponents from Northern California by .01 seconds. In finals, the Golden Bears were the victors and took the National title, and the poll position headed towards NCAA’s, with a time of 1:36.79. Colleen Fotsch was the big catalyst for Cal on the butterfly leg, as the only butterflier in the field who went under 23-seconds (22.88). After leaving the block in a big hole, she made up a lot of ground on USC’s Lyndsay De Paul, the best college butterflier in the country this year. Liv Jensen erased the rest of the deficit with a sub-22 freestyle split (21.86), which was a full second faster than USC got from their anchor.
The Trojans got another great swim from freshman Kasey Carlson, who had by far the fastest breaststroke split in the field (26.79) on the way to a second-place 1:37.31 finish for the relay.
Men’s 200 medley relay
In the men’s 200 medley, the top two relays both broke the meet record, with Josh Schneider’s SwimMAC Carolina squad taking the top spot in 1:25.12. They got out to a big lead thanks to Nick Thoman’s 21.64 backstroke split. For runners-up Cal (1:25.39), Nathan Adrian, who won the individual 50 free on day 1, swam a monster 18.48 split on the anchor.
But how about the third-place USC relay? They easily set a season-best time of 1:26.88 with a relay composed of three freshmen (Vlad Morozov, Nick Karpov, and Chase Bloch) and one junior (breaststroker Dillon Connolly). This year at NCAA’s will probably belong to Cal, but this Trojan relay is going to be monstrous over the next 4 years.
Women’s 400 IM
The USC Trojans, and Katinka Hosszu, continued their wildly successful run at Nationals thanks to a victory in the 400 IM. Hosszu’s time of 4:00.03 is an NCAA automatic qualifying time, by over 3 seconds the best NCAA time in the country this year, and a meet record: breaking Dagny Knutson’s mark. Her swim was so dominant that after the first 50, nobody was ever within a body length of her despite competing against American and NCAA record holder Julia Smit and Cal’s Caitlin Leverenz. Hosszu in the 400 IM at NCAA’s this spring is about as sure of a bet as you’ll get in swimming.
Men’s 400 IM
With Lochte sitting the race out, the men’s 400 IM was wide open. Robert Margalis, who trains at the FAST post-grad training center, killed any suspense about who would win the men’s 400 IM early in his swim. He pulled away from runner-up Jack Brown to easily win in 3:40.37: a very good, but not great, time.
Brown finished second in 3:46.94. Matthew Elliot, from the Peoria Area Water Wizards, was the top junior finisher in third place with a fantastic mark of 3:47.28, and Michigan’s Kyle Whitaker finished fourth as the top collegian in 3:48.27: a personal best this season.
Women’s 100 fly
USC’s Lyndsay De Paul continued her hot streak by winning the women’s 100 fly in 51.46. This just nipped her prelims time as the top NCAA time in the country this year, and gave the USC program their 7th National Title of the meet. De Paul finished well ahead of defending NCAA Champion Elaine Breeden from Stanford, who was second in 52.31. Amanda Sims from Cal completed the California Collegian sweep of the medals by taking third in 52.40.
De Paul, a senior, has an outside chance of taking a run at Natalie Coughlin’s US Open record of 50.01 set at the 2002 NCAA Championship meet, and possibly becoming the first woman ever to break the 50-second barrier.
Men’s 100 fly
Matt Grevers, who usually fancies himself as a backstroker, got a big win in the men’s 100 fly. A swimmer of his size is unsurprisingly dominant in short course races, because he is able to get so much speed, distance, and power off of the walls. His time of 45.07 broke the meet record, held by Tucson Ford teammate Masayuki Kishida. It’s a little disappointing that he is not swimming in Dubai, as he is one of the more popular members of the US National Team. Many were similarly disappointed when he failed to qualify for this summer’s Pan Pacific Championships.
Tom Shields, who won the NCAA title in this event last year as a freshman, was the runner-up in this race in a time of 45.33. He’s already four tenths ahead of his pre-NCAA time from last season, when he had an awesome taper and cut off nearly a second. If he hits his taper that well this year, he could come within at least a few tenths of, if not break, Austin Staab’s U.S. Open/NCAA record (44.18) in March.
Women’s 200 free
15-year old Missy Franklin from the Colorado Stars broke through with her first career National Championship in the women’s 200 free. She and 16-year old Jasmine Tosky from Palo Alto were in a dead heat through the first 150 yards of the race, though both trailed Sara Isakovic at that point. Franklin really put on the burners in the closing 50 with a final split in 26.07, better than anyone else in the race. This was just enough to pull out the win in 1:44.23. Tosky also had a great finish to out-touch Isakovic 1:44.63-1:44.69. Tosky and Franklin will be the two youngest members of the USA delegation at the World Championships.
Men’s 200 free
Ryan Lochte, again swimming in briefs to everyone else’s high-tech jammers, was left searching for his second meet title after finishing fourth in the 200 free in 1:35.42. In the leadup to the World Championships in two weeks, many are looking for a strong Lochte performance against the likes of German Paul Biedermann in this event. While he’s obviously not at full form for this meet, two weeks out from a taper meet I would’ve expected at least a 1:34 from him.
On this night, nobody broke into the 1:34 range, with Gator Swim Club’s Rex Tullius winning the event in 1:35.03. Michael Klueh, who won the title in the 500 free on day 1, took second in 1:35.14. Klueh, who specializes in longer distance races, used his endurance to put out the best closing kick in the race, as he moved from seventh to second over the final 50 yards.
Women’s 100 breast
Though Jessica Hardy has spent a good deal of her training time lately focusing on sprint freestyle (which resulted in her second place in the 50 yesterday), she showed on day 2 that you never forget your first love. She won the women’s 100 breaststroke in a time of 58.41, the sixth-fastest yards swim in history. Hopefully at World’s she swims at least the 100 breaststroke so that we can see another great Hardy-Soni-Jones shootout like we got at Pan Pacs.
Annie Chandler, last year’s NCAA champion, continued her post-graduate success by taking second in 58.63. Jillian Tyler, a Canadian senior at Minnesota, was the only other swimmer under a minute with a time of 58.78. Tyler, who is better short course than long course, will skip World’s to focus on her college training, but would be a contender in Dubai if she were swimming.
Earlier this season at the Minnesota Grand Prix, Tyler put up the fourth-best time ever in this event at 58.22.
Men’s 100 breast
Mike Alexandrov, who only recently changed his competition citizenship to the USA, won his third consecutive 100 breaststroke national championship (2009 short course, 2010 long course), and reaffirmed his position as one of the world’s best short course breaststrokers of all time.
Alexandrov already held the American record in this event at 51.56, though that is a time that has always been surrounded by controversy. That’s because at the time, American records could be set by swimmers who COULD represent the USA in international competition, even if they didn’t. Alexandrov COULD have represented the USA at that time, but chose instead to swim for his native Bulgaria, as he had dual citizenship. The rule has since been changed, but USA-Swimming held firm to its policy of grandfathering in old records despite some raised eyebrows.
There is no more controversy about who the fastest American short course breaststroker ever is. Alexandrov broke his own mark with a time of 51.35. Only one swimmer, Damir Dugonjic, has ever been faster (50.86) and that time was swum in a rubber suit.
Overlooked in the fanfare surrounding Alexandrov’s record was two other great swims, one each from Marcus Titus (51.90) and Clark Burckle (51.98). The top collegiate finisher was Dillon Connolly from USC, who was 6th in 53.00: the best NCAA time this season.
Women’s 100 back
USC’s Presley Bard put program victory 8 on the board in the women’s 100 back with a time of 51.82. This is the second-best NCAA time in the country this season and a career best for the Indiana transfer (exluding a 51.71 relay leadoff). English swimmer Gemma Spofforth, who won three NCAA 100 back titles, finished second in 52.13. Olivia Smoliga, a 16-year old who trains with the Glenview Titans in Illinois, finished third in 52.44.
Only a sophomore at Glenbrook South High School, Smoliga has already broken the Illinois State record previously held by Melissa Marik (later of Auburn fame). This time is also under Natalie Coughlin’s old high school National Record which has been lowered a second-and-a-half in a span of 6 months. Between her, Rachel Bootsma (the current national record holder), and Missy Franklin, who all have at least one full high school season left, American backstroking is about to be taken to unheard of levels. Add to that Cindy Tran and Deborah Roth, who at only 18 years old placed 4th and 5th in today’s race, and it’s going to take a near-heroic effort to even qualify for the Olympics in a backstroke race for the 2016 Olympics.
Men’s 100 back
Matt Grevers doubled up on the day by adding the men’s 100 back title to his fly win earlier in the day. His mark of 44.82 was another meet record and neared Lochte’s all-time best of 44.60. David Russell was second in 45.58, and Nick Thoman, the short course meters World Record holder, was third in 46.34. David Plummer, who was this summer’s breakout performer as the long course 100 back national champion, has yet to prove himself as successfully in a short course meet, and finished fourth in 46.41.
Eric Ress was the top NCAA finisher in 46.71, which is third best in the nation this season behind only Cory Chitwood’s time from the Texas Hall of Fame Invite and Andrew Elliot’s medley relay leadoff from day 1.
Women’s 800 free relay
USC won yet another relay with a time of 7:07.11. This includes a 1:44.68 leadoff from Katinka Hosszu. Cal finished second in 7:09.14, and Indiana was third in 7:09.69.
Men’s 800 free relay
USC picked up their fifth win of the day, to match their five wins from day 1, in a time of 6:22.61. Clement Lefert led the relay off in a time of 1:34.14, which would have easily won the individual 200 earlier in the session. This is also the fastest mark in the nation this season by 5 seconds ahead of second place finisher Ohio State (6:27.81).
Results available here and at Omegatiming.com
Margalis was faster in 2003 when he won NCAA’s. So 7 years later, still not doing a best time in his best event and look who he has to beat….not an easy task.
I would say 3:40 is very impressive for a national championship. He won by 6 seconds! Clary’s time from NCAA’s last year was also only 2 seconds faster. He’s the 4th fastest american ever behind Clary, Lochte, and Phelps. I’d say that qualifies as great.
Don’t forget Tom Dolan from 1995 NCAA’s and Erik Vendt from ’03…
Those three you mentioned have just set the bar so high lately, that a 3:40 just doesn’t seem as impressive as it used to. Still a very good time, but the fact that there are three active swimmers who would’ve easily beaten him if they were tapered (which he likely is) takes away from it a little.
USC is not fully tapered, there is no way they are.
I think Beisel could get pretty close to Hosszu. Florida has not shown any cards yet, and USC is pretty much fully tapered.
Just wanted to note that foreign swimmers are not a part of the scoring at this meet. In relays which contain 1 or more foreign swimmer (as well as individuals), points were not added to the team score. Obviously, these scores are, as mentioned above, irrelevant.
Very good point Debbie. The advantage there goes to Ohio State, which is why they’re currently second…their team is almost all Americans.
Hence the “as close as you get in swimming” qualifier. Nobody’s been close to her yet this year…the Stanford girls are too young to compete with her. I think Crippen is the only one who’s going to be in the race, assuming she’s mentally in the meet.
Right, it was a great time for him. But overall, for a National Championship time, it didn’t blow anyone’s socks off.
Great factoid on the Alexandrov times at short course nationals…He’s kind of like the Lenny Krayzelburg of breaststroke…
Not sure you can call Hosszu a sure thing with the competition she’s facing. Very good chance though haha. I would actually call Margalis’ time great. He was 3:45 at this meet last year, and this may be his lifetime best. In the men’s 200, plenty of people went 1:34s… in prelims and relay lead-offs. 100 breast for Worlds should be Soni and Lawrence (Dubai)/Beard (Shanghai). Alexandrov has had the fastest time at every short course Nationals in the 100 breast: 2007 – B-final, since he was an American citizen (held the American record), but still represented Bulgaria – and he won the last three years.