2019 Men’s NCAA Championships: Cal Dominates Day 4 Up/Down

b2019 MEN’S NCAA SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

With two swimmers in the A-final of each event tonight, California will have eight championship final swims tonight, more than twice as many as any other school.  In what has been a near-perfect meet for Dave Durden’s squad, the Golden Bears got both strong performances from their top-seeded swimmers and significant time drops from guys who were seeded outside of scoring position (Ryan Hoffer in the 100 free, Carson Sand in the 200 breast) are also the top seed in the 400 freestyle relay.

Notably, Texas is the only other squad that has two swimmers in an A-final of a single event.  The Longhorns started off hot, with two A-finalists and two B-finalists in the 200 backstroke, but an underwhelming 100 freestyle (Townley Haas stuck in the B-final, and Tate Jackson out entirely) effectively ended the team title race.  However, the Longhorns still have the second-most swims in tonight’s final session, including three A-finalists.

Indiana and NC State are essentially locked into third and fourth place, respectively, following the morning events.  Both schools have 3 swimmers “up” and 1 swimmer “down”, along with an A-final appearance in the 400 freestyle relay.

Some other interesting tidbits from further down the list in the team race:

  • Louisville now has a definitive leg up on Florida, thanks to an A-final appearance in the 400 free relay and an extra B-final swimmer
  • Harvard is on track for their first top 10 finish since 1963
  • Pending Michigan’s 1650 performance, Ohio State could finish ahead of Michigan for the first time since 1985
  • Georgia, who is all the way down in 19th place, will get a big boost tonight with A-final appearances from Camden Murphy and James Guest.  

For those unfamiliar with swimming terminology, the concept of “Ups” and “Downs” is a good way to track which teams performed best during prelims. In prelims at the NCAA Championships, swimmers and divers qualify for one of two finals heats: the top 8 finishers make the A final, and places 9 through 16, the B final. In finals, swimmers are locked into their respective final, meaning a swimmer in the B heat (spots 9-16) can only place as high as 9th or as low as 16th, even if they put up the fastest or slowest time, or score the most diving points, of any heat in the final.

With that in mind, we’ll be tracking “Ups,” and “Downs” after each prelims session. “Up” refers to swimmers in the A final, “Down” to swimmers in the B final.

DAY 3 – A/B FINALISTS*

*Platform diving not included

Individual Relays 200 Back 100 Free 200 Breast 200  Fly 400 Free Relay
California 8/2 1/0 2/0 2/0 2/1 2/1 1/0
Texas 3/5 1/0 2/2 1/2 0/0 0/1 1/0
NC State 3/1 1/0 1/0 1/1 0/0 1/0 1/0
Indiana 3/1 1/0 0/0 1/1 1/0 1/0 1/0
Georgia 2/1 0/0 0/1 0/0 1/0 1/0 0/0
Minnesota 2/0 0/0 0/0 1/0 1/0 0/0 0/0
Louisville 1/2 1/0 0/1 0/0 0/1 1/0 1/0
TA&M 1/2 0/0 0/0 0/0 1/0 0/2 0/0
Ohio State 1/1 1/0 0/0 0/0 1/0 0/1 1/0
Florida 1/1 0/1 1/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/1
Hawaii 1/1 0/0 1/0 0/0 0/1 0/0 0/0
Georgia Tech 1/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 1/0 0/1 0/0
Arizona State 1/0 1/0 1/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 1/0
Harvard 1/0 0/1 0/0 1/0 0/0 0/0 0/1
Alabama 1/0 0/1 0/0 1/0 0/0 0/0 0/1
Towson 1/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 1/0 0/0
Virginia 1/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 1/0 0/0
Tennessee 0/2 0/1 0/1 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/1
Arizona 0/2 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/2 0/0 0/1
Michigan 0/2 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/2 0/0 0/1
Florida State 0/1 1/0 0/0 0/1 0/0 0/0 1/0
Missouri 0/1 0/1 0/0 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/1
Wisconsin 0/1 0/0 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0
USC 0/1 0/0 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0
Denver 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0
Stanford 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/1 0/0 0/0
Carolina 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/1 0/0
Tech 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/1 0/0
Kentucky 0/0 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/1

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Swimmer
4 years ago

Cal swimming takes down Texas swimming AND diving.It was a combo of Cal winning it and Texas blowing it.

Admin
Reply to  Swimmer
4 years ago

Keep in mind that Cal had divers at this meet too. They didn’t score, but neither did all of Texas’ swimmers. So, it’s still fair to say “Cal swimming & diving took down Texas swimming & diving.”

running start to touch backstroke flags
4 years ago

Cal was the best swimming program in 2018 too. Nice repeat Bears.

Hot Take
4 years ago

Hot Take – Townley’s 500 race strategy effectively ruined the rest of his final NCAAs. Racing a race like that wipes someone of even his talent out.

Swimmer
Reply to  Hot Take
4 years ago

He had a great 350

googoodoll
4 years ago

If it weren’t for diving there would be no swimmin at Tennessee! Except for the Lady Vols!

Bearly Breathing
4 years ago

Imagine when Cal gets a strong diving team. Now with their own proper facility it’s possible.

Swimming4silver
Reply to  Bearly Breathing
4 years ago

its crazy to think they didn’t have a Diving facility until three years ago.

Back2Back
Reply to  Swimming4silver
4 years ago

They still talk incessantly about the NCAA Swimming Championships. Kinda like the NCAA Track Championships – no Field.

Rsquad
Reply to  Bearly Breathing
4 years ago

They can only get a strong diving team if they give divers scholarships which will take away swim scholarships. It’s not like they had/have an unfair advantage— money is just put elsewhere.

swim fan
Reply to  Rsquad
4 years ago

Cal didn’t have a tower until the new facility opened last year. That is the what is meant by a proper facility.

swim4fun
4 years ago

Funny…100 free is reason Cal lost last year

running start to touch backstroke flags
Reply to  swim4fun
4 years ago

They won the swim meet last year too. Texas won diving last year.

About Morgan Priestley

Morgan Priestley

A Stanford University and Birmingham, Michigan native, Morgan Priestley started writing for SwimSwam in February 2013 on a whim, and is loving that his tendency to follow and over-analyze swim results can finally be put to good use. Morgan swam competitively for 15+ years, primarily excelling in the mid-distance freestyles. While …

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