2023 Men’s NCAA Championships: Day 1 Relay Splits Analysis

2023 NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

The opening night of the 2023 Men’s NCAA Championships was simply sensational.

Not only did we see new NCAA and U.S. Open Records fall in both relays (plus an American Record in the 800 free relay), but we also had some of the fastest splits of in history.

In the 200 medley relay, Leon Marchand dropped the fastest 50 breaststroke split ever in 22.27, a swim that surpassed the 22.39 mark established by Minnesota’s Max McHugh two heats earlier.

Alabama’s Derek Maas also went 22.39, giving tonight’s race the three fastest breast splits in history.

We also saw Nyls Korstanje deliver the second-fastest fly split ever in 19.15 for record-setting NC State, followed by Jordan Crooks‘ 19.27 for Tennessee, which ranks third behind the 18.94 he produced at SECs.

On freestyle, Florida’s Josh Liendo followed up his SEC 200 free relay split of 18.02 with a blistering 18.03, while an incredible 10 teams had a split that was 18.50 or faster.

200 MEDLEY RELAY – FULL SPLITS

Top 8:

  1. NC State — 1:20.67
  2. Arizona State — 1:21.07
  3. Florida — 1:21.14
  4. Cal — 1:21.24
  5. Indiana — 1:21.52
  6. Tennessee — 1:21.59
  7. Louisville — 1:22.43
  8. Virginia — 1:22.51

Backstroke Lead-offs

Swimmer School Time
Bjorn Seeliger Cal 20.29
Kacper Stokowski NC State 20.36
Adam Chaney Florida 20.38
Dalton Lowe Louisville 20.56
Brendan Burns Indiana 20.60
Jack Dolan Arizona State 20.61
Matt Brownstead Virginia 20.76
Matt Menke Alabama 20.88
Kryzsztof Radziszewski Pitt 20.89
Bradley Dunham Georgia 20.93
Eric Storms Missouri 20.93
Leon MacAlister Stanford 20.95
Bjoern Kammann Tennessee 20.97
Carson Foster Texas 21.01
Aidan Stoffle Auburn 21.04
Ethan Gogulski Texas A&M 21.04
Tommy Janton Notre Dame 21.04
Forest Webb Virginia Tech 21.04
Wes Jekel Wisconsin 21.11
Alex Quach Ohio State 21.29
Will Grant Harvard 21.38
Casey Stowe Minnesota 21.53
Wyatt Davis Michigan 21.72

Breaststroke Splits

Swimmer School Split
Leon Marchand Arizona State 22.27
Derek Maas Alabama 22.39
Max McHugh Minnesota 22.39
Van Mathias Indiana 22.53
Denis Petrashov Louisville 22.79
Reid Mikuta Auburn 22.84
Michael Houlie Tennessee 22.91
Mason Hunter NC State 22.95
Aleksas Savickas Florida 22.98
Will Myhre Wisconsin 22.98
Liam Bell Cal 22.99
Will Chan Texas 22.99
Noah Nichols Virginia 23.00
Ron Polonsky Stanford 23.05
Brendan Fitzpatrick Michigan 23.22
Andres Puente Bustamante Texas A&M 23.24
Cooper Van Der Laan Pitt 23.25
Kris Pitshugin Georgia 23.29
Karl Helmuth Ohio State 23.43
Jared Simpson Harvard 23.55
Sean Faikish Notre Dame 23.92

Butterfly Splits

Swimmer School Time
Nyls Korstanje NC State 19.15
Jordan Crooks Tennessee 19.27
Tomer Frankel Indiana 19.56
Andrei Minakov Stanford 19.67
Max McCusker Arizona State 19.74
Eric Friese Florida 19.75
Dare Rose Cal 19.85
Connor Foote Texas A&M 19.92
Gal Cohen Groumi Michigan 19.93
Caspar Corbeau Texas 19.94
Umitcan Gures Harvard 20.01
James Ward Ohio State 20.09
Cason Wilburn Notre Dame 20.11
Constantin Bensch Wisconsin 20.16
Max Edwards Virginia 20.25
Abdelrahman Elaraby Louisville 20.28
Wesley Ng Georgia 20.32
Nate Stoffle Auburn 20.42
Kaiser Neverman Minnesota 20.57
Mateo Miceli Alabama 20.64
Marcin Goraj Pitt 20.68

Freestyle Splits

Swimmer School Time
Josh Liendo Florida 18.03
Jack Alexy Cal 18.11
David Curtiss NC State 18.21
Chris Guiliano Notre Dame 18.28
Kalle Makinen Auburn 18.37
Gui Caribe Tennessee 18.44
Dillon Downing Georgia 18.44
Jonny Kulow Arizona State 18.45
Bence Szabados Michigan 18.48
August Lamb Virginia 18.50
Ruslan Gaziev Ohio State 18.53
Tim Korstanje Alabama 18.79
Michael Eastman Louisville 18.80
Gavin Wight Indiana 18.83
Koko Bratanov Texas A&M 18.83
Ben Wiegand Wisconsin 18.84
Lucas Farrar Minnesota 18.94
Danny Krueger Texas 19.00
Rafael Gu Stanford 19.02
Ryan Linnihan Harvard 19.03
Flynn Crisci Pitt 19.07

In the 800 free relay, Texas’ record-setting swim was led by sophomore Luke Hobson, whose 1:29.63 lead-off leg ties him for fourth all-time in the individual 200 free.

Behind Hobson, five more swimmers were in the 1:31s leading off, though surprisingly, ASU’s Grant House, the top seed in the 200 free with his 1:30.67 from Pac-12s, only ranked sixth in 1:31.92.

Cal’s Gabriel Jett was second in a best time of 1:31.35, his first time going sub-1:32.

On the flying splits, Marchand made history once again by recording the fastest leg ever in 1:28.42, dipping under the previous fastest time of 1:29.15, set by Dean Farris in 2019 (though it was a lead-off, no one had ever been quicker than Farris with a relay takeover).

Destin Lasco was also sub-1:30 for Cal, while three more swimmers were in the 1:30s.

800 FREESTYLE RELAY – FULL SPLITS

Top 8:

  1. Texas — 6:03.42
  2. ASU — 6:05.08
  3. Cal — 6:06.41
  4. Indiana — 6:07.97
  5. Florida — 6:08.79
  6. NC State — 6:09.38
  7. Stanford — 6:11.49
  8. Auburn — 6:11.64

Lead-off Splits

Swimmer School Time
Luke Hobson Texas 1:29.63
Gabriel Jett Cal 1:31.35
Luke Miller NC State 1:31.55
Macguire McDuff Florida 1:31.56
Charlie Hawke Alabama 1:31.87
Grant House Arizona State 1:31.92
Chris Guiliano Notre Dame 1:32.08
Murilo Sartori Louisville 1:32.50
Rafael Miroslaw Indiana 1:32.51
Andrei Minakov Stanford 1:32.54
Gal Cohen Groumi Michigan 1:32.55
Michael Bonson Auburn 1:32.77
Max Berg Kentucky 1:33.00
Patrick Hussey UNC 1:33.11
Luis Domingez Calonge Virginia Tech 1:33.43
Bar Soloveychik Minnesota 1:33.56
Koko Bratanov Texas A&M 1:33.60
Bradley Dunham Georgia 1:33.67
Marcin Goraj Pitt 1:33.91
Tim Connery Virginia 1:34.01
Grant Bochenski Missouri 1:35.00

Flying Splits

Swimmer School Time
Leon Marchand Arizona State 1:28.42
Destin Lasco Cal 1:29.53
Carson Foster Texas 1:30.15
Jack Dahlgren Missouri 1:30.45
Coby Carrozza Texas 1:30.50
Van Mathias Indiana 1:31.62
Bartosz Piszczorowicz NC State 1:31.77
Lucas Henveaux Cal 1:31.90
Julian Smith Florida 1:31.92
Julian Hill Arizona State 1:31.96
Kaique Alves Alabama 1:32.02
Tomer Frankel Indiana 1:32.06
Brendan Burns Indiana 1:32.06
Mason Mathias Auburn 1:32.07
Jake Mitchell Florida 1:32.08
Ron Polonsky Stanford 1:32.15
Jake Magahey Georgia 1:32.27
Baylor Nelson Texas A&M 1:32.51
Luke Maurer Stanford 1:32.73
Eitan Ben-Shitrit Michigan 1:32.76
Ryan Husband Auburn 1:32.77
Patrick Sammon Arizona State 1:32.78
Zach Hils Georgia 1:32.88
Hunter Tapp NC State 1:32.94
Victor Martin Roig Kentucky 1:32.97
Carles Coll Marti Virginia Tech 1:33.04
Denis Loktev Louisville 1:33.07
Noah Bowers NC State 1:33.12
Peter Larson Texas 1:33.14
Jack Hoagland Notre Dame 1:33.17
Youssef Ramadan Virginia Tech 1:33.21
Alfonso Mestre Florida 1:33.23
Guy Brooks Louisville 1:33.34
Michael Eastman Louisville 1:33.34
Jack Wright Virginia 1:33.46
Danny Schmidt Auburn 1:33.60
Patrick Callan Cal 1:33.63
Mitchell Norton Georgia 1:33.87
Jack Aikins Virginia 1:34.00
Preston Forst Stanford 1:34.07
Alec DeLong Notre Dame 1:34.16
Christopher Morris Minnesota 1:34.25
Louis Dramm UNC 1:34.28
Cam Auerbach Alabama 1:34.28
Tomas Sungaila UNC 1:34.39
Clement Secchi Missouri 1:34.43
Kacper Piotrowski Alabama 1:34.49
Kaiser Neverman Minnesota 1:34.55
Collin Fuchs Texas A&M 1:34.76
Noah Rutberg UNC 1:34.78
Eduardo Moraes Michigan 1:34.79
Wojciech Dutkowiak Pitt 1:34.84
Wyatt Davis Michigan 1:34.95
Cason Wilburn Notre Dame 1:34.98
Calvin Windle Missouri 1:35.13
Nicolas Garcia Virginia Tech 1:35.28
Zane Rosely Kentucky 1:35.34
Sebastien Sergile Virginia 1:35.44
Connor Foote Texas A&M 1:35.45
Guy Frimis Pitt 1:36.04
Dominc Toledo Pitt 1:36.11
Mason Wilby Kentucky 1:36.13
Alberto Hernandez Minnesota 1:36.45

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24x YCMA National Champ
11 months ago

IU’s 50 free leg is named Gavin Wight. No R

Last edited 11 months ago by 24x YCMA National Champ
IU Swammer
11 months ago

Van Mathias is a relay beast. Hope he can reproduce that fire in his individual races.

ReneDescartes
11 months ago

Wyatt Davis clearly slipped on his start on the 200 medley relay.

Austinpoolboy
11 months ago

Kreuger off. Near bottom. Ugh

SSNP
11 months ago

Krueger – 19.00, flop

Andy Hardt
11 months ago

Apropos of nothing, but interesting that there’s no overlap between the freestyle (18.03-19.07) and butterfly (19.15-20.68) splits, and no overlap between the backstroke (20.29-21.72) and breaststroke (22.27-23.92) splits. There’s some overlap between fly and back, but not a whole lot. Even as blazingly fast as the top splits are, even the very worst splits at the entire meet are not really that far behind.

Bud
Reply to  Andy Hardt
11 months ago

Well, breaststroke is quite expected to be slowest by a margin- if you’ve got breaststrokers going faster than your 50 back you probably don’t belong at NCAAs and definitely not on a 4×50 relay.
Fly and free would be more reasonable for an overlap but still a strecth

Last edited 11 months ago by Bud
Notguerra
11 months ago

Burns was 1:31.7

BearlyBreathing
11 months ago

Patrick Callan’s split is incorrect

About James Sutherland

James Sutherland

James swam five years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in 2018, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2019 he completed his graduate degree in sports journalism. Prior to going to Laurentian, James swam …

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