Reported by Lauren Neidigh
MEN’S 500 FREE
Clark Smith, Texas, 4:11.30
Grant Shoults, Stanford, 4:12.
True Sweetser, Stanford, 4:12.97
Texas senior Clark Smith stayed in control of the 500 free, following up on his fast morning performance with an even faster 4:11.30 to win tonight. That’s not as fast as his 4:08.8 from this meet last season, but it’s still significantly faster than he was at last season’s NCAA championships. His teammate Townley Haas, the defending NCAA champion, also swam in tonight’s final. Haas was 5th in 4:14.36.
The Stanford men continued to impress after their big morning swims, with 3 of them earning NCAA ‘A’ cuts. All 3 of them finished in the 4:12-range, led by freshmen Grant Shoults (4:12.03) and True Sweetser (4:12.97), who took 2nd and 3rd respectively. Just outside of the top 3 was Cardinal junior Liam Egan, who finished 4th in 4:12.99. Shoults, Sweetser, and Egan were all under the previous school record. James Murphy, another Stanford freshman, also swam
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Does anyone have splits??
So with rest starting at the beginning of the week, just like every other big time D1 school in the nation, and multiple kids going 4:12-4:13, were gonna focus on the average performance by clark smith. early prediction: he doesnt make A final at ncaas…
Nice swim for Clark, I’m looking forward to see what he can do at NCAAs. He had a bad meet last year so we don’t really know what he’s capable of.
According to swim swam a weeks rest = no rest?
Oh damnit are we really doing this again
Watch him swim 4:17 on a full taper
I don’t think he’s going to choke this time, he went through the Olympic Trials and the Olympics and preformed decently well, he should be able to handle the pressure this time around. If he doesn’t then… well that’ll suck.
I also want to say I love the way he swam the 400 at the Olympic Trials, he was in an outside lane in a stacked field and just went after it. Maybe it wasn’t the smartest way to swim it but he’s got guts.
NIce swim for Clark “drama” Smith.
Clearly a very special talent but so erratic that he’s a nightmare for swim fans who like making predictions. Now I stay very quiet about him.
I believe it’s Clark “Olympian” Smith.
“Olympic Gold Medalist” Clark Smith ain’t too bad, either.
The guy has one bad meet and he’s erratic and a nightmare for swim fans. I hope you understand how ridiculous you sound.
Anyone who is a “real” swimmer with a long career has at least one stinker of a meet. Clark’s happen to be at men’s NCAAs, something swim fans nearly hold up as a religious experience….. Come on. Clark’s proven himself, like 1000s of talented swimmers over our history. You suffer losses, big ones, and then you get back up, dust yourself off, and swim faster. I think Clark’s going to be a big swim star over the next 4 years. He’s got grit. We all know he’s doing the work—WE’VE SEEN THE PRACTICE VIDEO. When diving deep on an athlete and their future success, I look for training grit, the ability to come back from bad swims or meets, and… Read more »
You don’t have to tell me Mel, I already know. The top end Texas guys were focused on Trials in 2016. The NCAA meet in March didn’t even really matter that much in the greater scheme of things. It’s understandable for Clark Smith to not have been perfect there. Clark is an unbelievable talent and I predict that he will break the WR in the 400 free in the next 3 years or in Tokyo 2020.
100% Agreed. Pretty sure he rebounded quite well after that meet, you know, making the Olympic Team and all…
Way to make it about yourself there with the predictions thing, typical fantasy sports mindset.
Clark Smith went through the absolute pressure-cooker of US Olympic Trials and made the team. He then acquitted himself just fine on the relay on the biggest swimming stage in the world in Rio. I think Clark has gotten past the issues he had at NCAAs last spring.
lol right? They don’t coddle you in the US and gift you Olympic spots you don’t deserve like in France. You get what you earn so there’s more pressure.
Again, NCAA champion and Olympic gold medalist – I hope my children will be so unpredictable. Bob, Mon Cheri, you are French. You guys do not need to taper for drama.
How many Olympic golds do you have?
I grew up swimming against Clark and I don’t think Bobo is completely wrong. He has always seemed to struggle in higher pressure situations or times that he didn’t think he could win dating back to when he was a kid. That being said, I think that’s what makes sports (swimming included) beautiful. These athletes are not robots who will always preform to their fullest talent regardless of the circumstances. Instead, we as fans get to watch true humans compete, and to me that’s much more exciting and interesting than making solid predictions.
why was he so slow (frelatively) on the relay the night before?