West Virginia’s David Dixon Time Trials a 1:42 200 Fly on Day 1 of Big 12s

2022 BIG 12 SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, February 23-Saturday, February 26, 2022
• The Aquatic Center at Mylan Park – Morgantown, WV
• SCY (25 yards)
• Defending Champions:
  • Women: Texas (9x)
  • Men: Texas (25x)
• Women’s Big 12 Record Book
• Men’s Big 12 Record Book
• 2021 Big 12 Champs Results
• Championship Central
• Psych Sheet
• Live Results
• Live Streaming: Big 12 Now On ESPN+

University of West Virginia senior David Dixon kicked off his racing at the Big 12 Championships on Wednesday with a time trial in the 200 yard butterfly.

He swam a 1:42.64 in the race, which would have qualified him for the 2020 and 2021 NCAA Championships, but not the 2019 meet.

This year, it ranks him 29th so far in the NCAA. With around 26-30 swimmers typically invited per men’s event, and the Big 12, Big Ten, and Pac-12 200 butterflies still to be raced, Dixon will have to drop that time at least another half-a-second on Saturday if he wants to assure himself a trip back to the NCAA Championships.

Dixon is a 5th year senior at West Virginia, taking advantage of the NCAA waiver for athletes who raced through the COVID season last year. He has qualified for the NCAA Championships in each of his prior four seasons at West Virginia, including last year, where he finished 12th in the 200 fly nationally. That earned him Honorable Mention All-American, the 25th in school history to earn All-America status.

200 butterfly time trials on the first day of Big 12 Championships are occasionally famous. In 2015, Texas’ Jack Conger swam a 1:39.31 in the 200 fly at a Big 12 day 1 time trial. That was, at the time, the fastest any swimmer had ever been in the race. It didn’t count as an NCAA Record, because the NCAA doesn’t accept time trial swims as records.

Only Texas’ Carson Foster and Sam Artmann have been faster int he 200 fly among Big 12 swimmers than Dixon’s swim on Wednesday, and Foster is likely to opt for the 200 backstroke on Saturday instead. That gives Dixon a shot at the Big 12 title in this event after placing 3rd last season.