Wisconsin sophomore Andrew Teduits after his win in the 200 Backstroke on night 3 of the 2013 Men’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships.
The 200 Backstroke as reported by the Machine, Braden Keith:
In the next final, Wisconsin’s Drew Teduits kicked off a streak of history on this last session that is at least the most exciting that I can recall having watched. Teduits went out much harder than he normally does in this race (47.60 on the front-half), and using his incredible underwater fought off a third-50 charge from Stanford’s David Nolan to take the NCAA title in 1:38.27.
That’s significant for a few reasons. First of all, for the sophomore, it’s a first title after not even qualifying for NCAA’s last season. Beyond that, for a Wisconsin program with a long and proud swimming history, that is their first event title since Fred Westphal won the 50 free in 1959! The last time the Badgers won an NCAA title in men’s swimming, it only took a 22.3 in the 50 free! They didn’t even measure hundredths! And now we’re seeing guys split 17′s! That’s hard to wrap your mind around.
He’s now the 6th-best 200 yard backstroker of all-time (behind only Clary, Lochte, Murphy, Godsoe, and Vyatchanin), and given where he’s come this year, he should easily drop the tenth he needs to drop the last two guys on that list. Coming into championship season this year, he’d never been better than 1:42.76, and coming into this season never under 1:43.0. What an impressive breakout year for Teduits.
Nolan missed his third win of the meet, with a 1:39.31 for 3rd place. Cal’s Jacob Pebley took 3rd in 1:39.71; he was the only freshman in the A-Final, though there were a bunch in the B-Final.
Eastern Michigan senior Jacob Hanson took 4th in 1:39.87. That’s the highest-finish at this meet from a mid-major swimmer, and is unofficially a “Mid-Major” record in the event.
Indiana’s Eric Ress was 5th in 1:39.92, making 5 guys better than 1:40 in this race. Only two did it in last year’s final, for comparison.
Texas’ Kip Darmody dropped almost half-a-second for 6th in 1:41.02, followed by Stanford’s Matthew Swanston (1:41.43) and Texas’ Austin Surhoff (1:41.89).
Virginia’s Luke Papendick won the B-Final in 1:41.50. That’s another school record for him in this event, knocking .06 off of his mark from prelims.
