2016 Men’s NCAA Championships: Day 4 Prelims Live Recap

2016 MEN’S NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

After an electric day 3 at the 2016 NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships that saw all-time records broken in the 100 fly, 100 back, and 200 free, day 4 will present more opportunities for records and some closure to key storylines as the 2015-2016 college season officially comes to a close in Atlanta.

On the record front, Ryan Murphy will chase his own record in the 200 backstroke, Caeleb Dressel will chase Vlad’s record in the 100 free, and teammates Jack Conger and Joseph Schooling will both be after Conger’s American Record, with the current NCAA Record holder Dylan Bosch lurking as the 5th qualifier.

In the day’s other two individual events, Texas’ Clark Smith will look for redemption in the 1650 free after missing the final in the 500 and scratching the 200; and the Will LiconJosh Prenot battle will see its rubber-race on Saturday in the 200 breast, after Licon won the 200 IM and Prenot won the 400 IM.

Every individual defending champion from the final day of the meet.

Note: The early heats of the 1650 free will begin at 3:45 Eastern Time, with the fastest heat to be swum with finals.

200 Back – Prelims

California’s Ryan Murphy and Jacob Pebley started off the session with a 1-2 finish in the 200 backstroke, qualifying at 1:37.80 and 1:39.14, respectively. The top 9 swimmers were all under 1:40 this morning, leaving Louisville’s Grigory Tarasevich (1:39.96) out of the A final. This was the fastest 200 backstroke preliminary session in history. Last year anyone under 1:40 in the morning qualified for the A final.

Texas’ Ryan Harty and Tennessee’s Sean Lehane each dropped over a second from their seed times to qualify third and fourth at 1:39.17 and 1:39.24. NC State’s Hennessey Stuart finished fifth at 1:39.38.

Jake Taylor of BYU, Patrick Mulcare of USC, and Connor Oslin of Alabama rounded out the A final.

Top 8 Qualifiers:

  1. Ryan Murphy, California – 1:37.80
  2. Jacob Pebley, California – 1:39.14
  3. Ryan Harty, Texas – 1:39.17
  4. Sean Lehane, Tennessee – 1:39.24
  5. Hennessey Stuart, NC State – 1:39.38
  6. Jake Taylor, Brigham Young – 1:39.42
  7. Patrick Mulcare, USC – 1:39.68
  8. Connor Oslin, Alabama – 1:39.92

100 Free – Prelims

  • NCAA Record: 40.76, Vlad Morozov, 2013
  • American Record: 41.07, Caeleb Dressel, 2016
  • U.S. Open Record: 40.76, Vlad Morozov, 2013
  • Pool Record: 41.75, William Copeland, 2008
  • 2015 Champion: 41.56, Kristian Gkolomeev, Alabama

NC State and Texas both managed to put two sprinters into the A final. Simonas Bilis and Ryan Held are first and fourth for NC State while John Murray and Brett Ringgold are sixth and eighth.

Florida’s Caeleb Dressel made 41.73 look easy this morning, qualifying second ahead of Alabama’s Kristian Gkolomeev in third. Dressel out-touched Michael Chadwick in the final heat, only picking up his tempo on the final length. Chadwick qualified fifth at 41.94.

Georgia’s Michael Trice also qualified for the A final, posting the seventh fastest time of 42.35.

Top 8 Qualifiers:

  1. Simonas Bilis, NC State – 41.59 (Pool Record)
  2. Caeleb Dressel, Florida – 41.73
  3. Kristian Gkolomeev, Alabama – 41.76
  4. Ryan Held, NC State – 41.78
  5. Michael Chadwick, Missouri – 41.94
  6. John Murray, Texas – 42.32
  7. Michael Trice, Georgia – 42.35
  8. Brett Ringgold, Texas – 42.36

200 Breast – Prelims

  • NCAA Record: 1:48.66, Kevin Cordes, 2014
  • American Record: 1:48.66, Kevin Cordes, 2014
  • U.S. Open Record: 1:48.66, Kevin Cordes, 2014
  • Pool Record: 1:51.96, Mike Alexandrov, 2008
  • 2015 Champion: 1:49.48, Will Licon, Texs

Will Licon and Josh Prenot set themselves up for a great race tonight in the 200 breaststroke. Licon posted the fastest time of 1:49.43 this morning, but Prenot shut his race down in the last 50 to qualify second at 1:51.45. Licon’s time is the fourth fastest performance in history, and .05 faster than his winning time from last year, but Prenot looked really strong last night in the 400 IM. It should be a fun race tonight between the two.

Anton Mckee of Alabama and Brandon Fiala of Virginia Tech both qualified third and fourth at 1:52’s. The NCAA Champion in the 100 breaststroke, Fabian Schwingenschlogl, qualified fifth at 1:53.31.

Yannick Kaeser, Carlos Claverie, and Tanner Kurz rounded our the A final.

Top 8 Qualifiers:

  1. Will Licon, Texas – 1:49.43 (Pool Record)
  2. Josh Prenot, California – 1:51.45
  3. Anton McKee, Alabama – 1:52.53
  4. Brandon Fiala, Virginia Tech – 1:52.82
  5. Fabian Schwingenschlogl, Missouri – 1:53.31
  6. Yannick Kaeser, Virginia – 1:53.96
  7. Carlos Claverie, Louisville – 1:54.05
  8. Tanner Kurz, Indiana – 1:54.62

200 Fly – Prelims

  • NCAA Record: 1:39.33, Dylan Bosch, 2014
  • American Record: 1:39.31, Jack Conger, 2015
  • U.S. Open Record: 1:39.31, Jack Conger, 2015
  • Pool Record: 1:41.07, Hidermasa Sano, 2008
  • 2015 Champion: 1:39.62, Joseph Schooling, Texas

Texas’ flyers easily qualified for the A final this morning with a 1:40.04 from Jack Conger for first and a 1:41.16 from Joseph Schooling for third. Georgia also managed to sneak two swimmers into the A final. Gunnar Bentz finished fifth this morning at 1:41.57 and Pace Clark qualified eighth at 1:42.07.

Michigan’s Dylan Bosch, the 2014 NCAA Champion in this event and NCAA record holder, qualified second with a time of 1:40.70.

Andrew Seliskar of California, Christina McCurdy of NC State, and Hugo Morris of Auburn all qualified for the final with 1:41’s.

Top 8 Qualifiers:

  1. Jack Conger, Texas – 1:40.04 (Pool Record)
  2. Dylan Bosch, Michigan – 1:40.70
  3. Joseph Schooling, Texas – 1:41.16
  4. Andrew Seliskar, California – 1:41.29
  5. Gunnar Bentz, Georgia – 1:41.57
  6. Christian McCurdy, NC State – 1:41.59
  7. Hugo Morris, Auburn – 1:41.64
  8. Pace Clark, Georgia – 1:42.07

400 Free Relay – Prelims

  • NCAA Record: 2:46.03, Auburn, 2009
  • American Record: 2:47.02, Texas, 2009
  • U.S. Open Record: 2:46.03, Auburn, 2009
  • Pool Record: 2:48.39, Arizona, 2006
  • 2015 Champion: 2:47.06, USC

NC State dominated the morning session of the men’s 400 freestyle relay this morning, posting a top time of 2:47.36. Florida and California were the only other schools this morning to finish under 2:50.

Indiana, Auburn, Georgia, Alabama, and Texas managed to sneak in with low 2:51’s.

Top 8 Qualifiers:

  1. NC State – 2:47.36 (Pool Record)
  2. Florida – 2:48.70
  3. California – 2:49.67
  4. Indiana – 2:50.01
  5. Auburn – 2:51.01
  6. Georgia – 2:51.29
  7. Alabama – 2:51.30
  8. Texas – 2:51.40

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Swimmer
7 years ago

Indiana was 2:50.1 this morning. Not 2:51. For the sake of accuracy.

scswiming
7 years ago

why is Conger’s 2fly American record not the NCAA record?

Admin
Reply to  scswiming
7 years ago

scswiming – previously, you couldn’t set NCAA Records in a time trial. They changed that rule this year. Read more about it here: http://swimswam.com/ncaa-will-abolish-conger-rule-allow-records-to-be-set-in-time-trials/

PsychoDad
7 years ago

I love Gkolomeev’s technique much more than Dressel’s. Dressel’s gallop with breathing every other on 100 does not look smooth. Not too optimistic about his trial chances if he swims 100 LC that way. Also dissapointed with Visserings breaststroke. Too low and not smooth at all. Love S….gel’s breastroke though. Hoping for first Conger’s tittle tonight but it will not happen if he falls behind first 100. Hook’em!

Bignowhere
Reply to  PsychoDad
7 years ago

Gkolomeev is about 6 inches taller than Dressel. Not too surprising he looks longer and smoother in the water. Short guys can only keep up with higher turnover. I am not worried about Dressel OT chances. He will be fine.

Back2Back
Reply to  PsychoDad
7 years ago

There is something to the ‘gallop’ discovered in Lezak’s Beijing comeback in the 400 Free Relay (best race of all time in my view…). If you’ve got the strength to carry it off there seems to be something of an advantage (think kinesthesiology). I watched that comeback over France so many times (slo mo) – and Jason’s ability to pull himself out of the water on at least 10 of those final strokes “climbing up” was remarkable…

Watch Dressel and see if you see same tonight…

PsychoDad
7 years ago

Licon’s 1:49 is the easiest looking 1:49 you can get. I loved 3 strokes first lap and then 4 strokes next 2,3 laps. He is going to be faster tonight, like low 1:48 fast.

PsychoDad
7 years ago

This

WolfPack
7 years ago

Great morning pre lims sessions by NC State. Showing once again why such many consider them to be best sprinting swimming program in the NCAA. Two guys also in the top 8 A final of the 100 yard freestyle and also the top seed going into final session in the 400 yard freestyle relay. Its is going to be a good way to finish off the NCAA meet by the Wolfpack

Back2Back
Reply to  WolfPack
7 years ago

By scoring, in this meet, the top sprinting and freestyle program is Texas so far… This is where it counts right?

E GAMBLE
7 years ago

I don’t understand why Conger is picked as the favorite over Schooling. Joe is defending champion. Joseph always seems to get his hands on the wall first. Go Joe!

Tom
Reply to  E GAMBLE
7 years ago

Based on Conger’s Open and American record of 1.39.31 SCY 200 fly and his 1.54.54 LCM 200 fly at nationals. And also the fact he would love to finally beat Schooling head to head at the big meet…

sven
Reply to  E GAMBLE
7 years ago

Schooling seems to be more clutch in individuals. Conger is a monster relay swimmer, though (not that Schooling isn’t). If Conger could get in the same mindset for his individuals as he’s in on relays, I’d say he’s a lock for the 200 fly tonight.

Those aren’t predictions, just my observations. 200 fly could go either way tonight.

ole 99
7 years ago

It should be a great race between NCS and Texas to finish the meet. NCS was at 2:47.36 this morning. Conger and Schooling can average in 41.5 range between them and Murray/Ringgold/Haas can be 42.0 with a relay start. They should be very close. Wish they were swimming next to each other.

About Tony Carroll

Tony Carroll

The writer formerly known as "Troy Gennaro", better known as Tony Carroll, has been working with SwimSwam since April of 2013. Tony grew up in northern Indiana and started swimming in 2003 when his dad forced him to join the local swim team. Reluctantly, he joined on the condition that …

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