2019 Men’s NCAA Championships: Day 1 Timed Finals Live Recap

2019 MEN’S NCAA SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, March 27 – Saturday, March 30
• Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center, Austin, Texas
• Prelims 10 AM / Finals 6 PM (Central Time)
• Defending champion: Texas (4x) (2018 results)
• Psych Sheet
• Live results

It’s the night we’ve all been waiting for: the start of the 2019 NCAA men’s swimming & diving championships.

After last year’s thrilling five-team battle for the team title, things somehow look even closer this season. Texas will fight for a fifth-consecutive national title as a team, with Cal and Indiana even more primed than last year to challenge the streak.

Tonight’s meet begins with timed finals of the 800 free relay. And there are no shortage of storylines. NC State, winners of the past two NCAA titles in this event, are swimming from an early heat after a lackluster ACC performance left them outside the top 8 seeds. If they choose to use versatile star Coleman Stewart on this relay, we have a legitimate chance to see a team win the title from an early heat.

Texas has loaded up on the 200 free in recruiting the past several cycles, and should pair American record-holder Townley Haas with elite recruit Drew Kibler. Meanwhile Indiana returns three-quarters of its relay from last year, adding star Auburn transfer Zach Apple.

The race-within-the-race is the battle for individual accolades. Ever since the NCAA moved this relay to its own session on Wednesday night, we’ve seen the top athletes use the leadoff leg to go after records and all-time great swims in the 200 free. Tonight, we could see Haas challenge the 1:30 barrier again, along with Cal’s Andrew Seliskar, and perhaps Apple or Harvard’s Dean Farris. Any of that bunch could challenge for the fastest relay split in history, as could NC State’s Justin Ress, among many others.

Here’s a look at the historic times to keep an eye on tonight:

• American record 200 free (flat start/leadoff): 1:29.50, Haas
• Fastest 200 free relay split in history (flying start): 1:30.22, Farris

Keep refreshing this page for live, event-by-event recaps of all the action from Austin. And follow @SwimSwamLive on Twitter for even more up-to-the-second highlights.

800 FREE RELAY – Timed finals

• NCAA Record: NC State (Vazaios, Held, Molacek, Ress), 2018 – 6:05.31
• American Record: Texas (Haas, Newkirk, Roberts, Katz), 2018 – 6:07.59
• U.S. Open Record: NC State (Vazaios, Held, Molacek, Ress), 2018 – 6:05.31
• Meet Record: NC State (Vazaios, Held, Molacek, Ress), 2018 – 6:05.31
• 2018 Champion: NC State (Vazaios, Held, Molacek, Ress) – 6:05.31

Top 8 Finishers:

1. Texas – 6:05.08
2. NC State – 6:06.63
3. Cal – 6:07.31
4. Indiana – 6:07.35
5. Florida – 6:09.14
6. Louisville – 6:11.36
7. Harvard – 6:11.73
8. Virginia – 6:12.28

Heat 2 started the fireworks. Harvard’s Dean Farris smashed the American record in the 200 free leading off – he took advantage of a totally clear pool to go 1:29.15 in a smashing swim. Farris gave up the 200 free individually to focus on the 100 back, and that decision looks like a mixed bag already. Farris would be a legitimate title contender in the 200 with this swim… but now has a chance to go after a different event where he could also pull off a win with a huge swim.

NC State took over after the Farris show, though – they went 6:06.63, getting a huge 1:30.61 split from Coleman Stewart. He was the swing swimmer on this relay – if NC State used him, we knew they were going after a repeat national title. If they didn’t, they were gearing up more for the other four.

Justin Ress went 1:31.89 and Jacob Molacek 1:31.91 on that relay, and Andreas Vazaios led off in 1:32.22.

But in the next heat, Texas took a different approach from Harvard. Instead of leading off with (former) American record-holder Townley Haas, they used him on their anchor leg. Freshman Drew Kibler led off in 1:32.06 to keep Texas in the hunt. Austin Katz was 1:31.45 and Jeff Newkirk 1:31.91 before Haas hit the pool. He went out in a blistering 20.01 to his feet in the first 50 and though he did die off a little by the end of the race, he had the lead by the 100-mark and wasn’t going to be caught. Haas split 1:29.66 – the fastest relay split in history. Interestingly enough, that title of Fastest Relay Split used to be held by Farris – so the two essentially swapped records tonight.

Texas went 6:05.08, breaking American, U.S. Open and NCAA records in a dominant showing in front of a boisterous home crowd.

Cal took the early lead in that heat on a 1:30.14 leadoff from Andrew Seliskar. That’s one of the faster swims in history, as only three men have broken 1:30. Cal wound up third in 6:07.31 – they held off Indiana in their heat, but couldn’t beat NC State’s time from the prior heat.

Indiana finished 4th overall. Zach Apple pushed Seliskar on the lead off, going 1:30.34. The rest of the Hoosier relay was 1:32s as IU went 6:07.35.

Florida held up its solid swimming from SECs with a fifth-place finish. Maxime Rooney went 1:31.60 on a spirited anchor leg trying to run down Cal and IU, while freshman Kieran Smith was 1:31.64. Florida went 6:09.14, bettering its SEC time by almost a second and a half.

Louisville finished 6th (Zach Harting was 1:31.14) and Harvard wound up 7th.

Virginia improved from seed dramatically (6:16.00 to 6:12.28) to take 8th. All four legs were between 1:32.7 (Cooper Wozencraft) and 1:33.5 (their leadoff leg). And all four return for next year.

Tennessee scratched out of this relay despite coming in with the 18th seed. That allows them to use star sprinter Kyle Decoursey on the other four relays. He swam this relay at SECs and sat out of the 400 medley.

Team Scores

The big win from Texas put the Longhorns in control in team points early – they lead, with NC State second. The top 5 teams in this relay were the exact top five teams from last year’s final team scores, though in a slightly different order.

Obviously, the win puts Texas in a good position. Indiana’s team points hopes take a little bit of a hit, even though they swam pretty well time-wise. They were second in this relay last year, spurring their stellar early-meet run.

Cal moves way up from last year – they were 6th at this point last season, and taking 3rd has to be considered a pretty big plus for the Golden Bears.

1. Texas – 40
2. NC State – 34
3. Cal – 32
4. Indiana – 30
5. Florida – 28