2019 Men’s NCAA Championships: Day 3 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 Stream
• Live results

It’s day 3 at the men’s NCAA Championships, and Cal is threatening to run away with the meet.

Texas will need a big day to keep things, close, though they do have some serious firepower of their own.

In the 400 IM, Abrahm Devine of Stanford is the defending champ and the top qualifier out of prelims. He should drop time and challenge the 3:34.5 pool record in this event, though he has Virginia’s Brendan Casey and Cal’s Sean Grieshop on his heels.

Indiana leads the 100 fly. Vini Lanza was 44.68 this morning, but will face off with NC State’s Coleman Stewart and Cal’s Ryan Hoffer tonight. Stewart is the returning 100 back champion and could be in the hunt for two titles tonight individually. Hoffer is coming off a 50 free win last night and appears in the midst of a breakout meet.

The 200 free is the marquee matchup. Three-time defending champ Townley Haas takes on Cal’s Andrew Seliskar in a race that could be the make-or-break factor in both the team race and the battle for Swimmer of the Meet. Haas won the 500 free and Seliskar the 200 IM last night, both setting meet records. Seliskar is the top seed, with Mizzou’s Mikel Schreuders close behind. All will chase the American record set by Harvard’s Dean Farris two nights ago.

Indiana has American record-holder Ian Finnerty in the 100 breast. His top threats are right beside him. Minnesota freshman Max McHugh put up what is believed to be the fastest freshman swim in history with a 50.30 this morning, and is the top seed by three tenths. Meanwhile USC’s Carsten Vissering moved up in the all-time ranks with a 50.68 this morning.

Finally, Stewart looks to repeat as 100 back champ, and moved to #2 all-time with a 44.06 this morning. But he faces a huge struggle with Harvard’s Farris (44.14 this morning) along with Texas’s John Shebat (44.79 this morning). And Cal’s Daniel Carr looks to back up his 44.86 from a re-swim after his starting wedge wasn’t properly removed and interfered with his turn in prelims.

We’ve also got the top 8 divers in the 3-meter springboard finals, along with a 200 medley relay that looks to be anyone’s game, with Alabama leading prelims.

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.

400 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – Finals

• NCAA record: Chase Kalisz, Georgia (2017) – 3:33.42
• American record: Chase Kalisz, Georgia (2017) – 3:33.42
• U.S. Open record:Chase Kalisz, Georgia (2017) – 3:33.42
• Meet record: Chase Kalisz, Georgia (2017) – 3:33.42
• 2018 Champion: Abrahm DeVine, Stanford – 3:35.29

Top 8 Finishers:

1. Abrahm DeVine, Stanford – 3:36.41
2. Sean Grieshop, Cal – 3:37.03
3. Mike Thomas, Cal – 3:37.52
4. Brendan Casey, Virginia – 3:38.43
5. Trenton Julian, Cal – 3:39.83
6. David Schlicht, Arizona – 3:41.77
7. Kieran Smith, Florida – 3:43.12
8. Mark Andrew, Penn – 3:43.76

Stanford’s Abrahm DeVine was patient through the butterfly and took the lead on backstroke, never giving it back en route to his second-straight national 400 IM title.

Things got interesting late, with Cal’s Sean Grieshop charging home like an animal, but DeVine had built enough of a lead to keep Grieshop at bay. DeVine was about a second off his swim from last year, but remains the #2 performer all-time behind American record-holder Chase Kalisz.

Grieshop was a wicked 49.33 on freestyle, charging home to go 3:37.03. That should leave the Cal sophomore just outside the top 10 performers of all-time in the event, and represents a huge breakthrough season – Grieshop’s best time coming into the season was 3:42.0.

Mike Thomas went 3:37.52 for third place in another big showing for the Golden Bears. That’s a lifetime-best for Thomas, who pushed DeVine early and stayed near the front through the breaststroke leg.

Virginia’s Brendan Casey cut a half-second from his prelims swim to take fourth – UVA is far outperforming what they did last year in coach Todd DeSorbo’s first season, and they’re now running 10th in team points.

Cal’s other entrant was Trenton Julian, now a two-event scorer after winning the 500 free B final. He was 3:39.83 tonight, the last man under 3:40.

After a bit of a dropoff, it was Arizona’s David Schlicht in 6th (3:41.77) and Florida freshman Kieran Smith besting Penn’s Mark Andrew for 7th, 3:43.12 to 3:43.76.

In the B final, Michigan junior Tommy Cope broke away with a huge 59.9 breaststroke split to win the heat in 3:40.09, his lifetime-best by far. (Cope was 3:41.40 this morning, also a lifetime-best at the time). It was a Wolverine 1-2, with Ricardo Vargas going 3:42.32.

With no scorers from Texas,Indiana or NC State, Cal expanded its lead to 72 points in this event. Texas is second, 33 ahead of Indiana.

Team Scores:

1. Cal – 259
2. Texas – 188
3. Indiana – 155
4. NC State – 136
5. Florida 89

100 BUTTERFLY – Finals

• NCAA Record: Caeleb Dressel, Florida (2018) – 42.80
• American Record: Caeleb Dressel, Florida (2018) – 42.80
• U.S. Open Record: Caeleb Dressel, Florida (2018) – 42.80
• Meet Record: Caeleb Dressel, Florida (2018) – 42.80
• 2018 Champion: Caeleb Dressel, Florida -42.80

Top 8 Finishers:

1. Vini Lanza, Indiana – 44.37
2. Coleman Stewart, NC State – 44.46
3. Miles Smachlo, Michigan – 44.84
4. Maxime Rooney, Florida – 44.99
5. Camden Murphy, Georgia – 45.03
6. Zheng Quah, Cal – 45.06
7. Ryan Hoffer, Cal – 45.14
8. Chatham Dobbs, Arizona – 45.39

A thriller of an A final went right down to the wire, with no clear leader until the final touch. He didn’t lead for much of the race at all, but Indiana’s Vini Lanza roared back to go 44.37 and win the event. That makes him the #7 performer of all-time.

NC State’s Coleman Stewart also had a nice closing lap and a nice drop, going 44.46. He should be #8 all-time in this event, and will chase double top-2 performances in the 100 back later tonight.

Michigan’s Miles Smachlo emerged from an outside lane to steal the bronze, going 44.84. Smachlo has been a big-meet swimmer this year after upsetting Lanza for the Big Ten title.

Florida’s Maxime Rooney was fourth in 44.99, leading SEC rival Camden Murphy of Georgia. Cal’s Zheng Quah was sixth as the entire top 6 dropped time from this morning and finished within six tenths of one another.

Cal’s Ryan Hoffer led early but faded late. He wound up gaining a tenth from this morning and taking 7th in 45.14. Meanwhile Chatham Dobbs of Arizona fell to 8th in 45.39.

In the B final, Louisville’s Nicolas Albiero charged hard to win in 45.14. He was 7th of the 8 swimmers at the 50 turn, but blazed home in 23.81, with only a 2.5-second difference between his first and second 50s – that’s an awfully tight splitting for a fly or breaststroke race. He had the fastest second 50 of anyone in his heat by more than half a second. Albiero is also an A finalist in the 100 back later tonight.

Cal’s Pawel Sendyk was 10th overall in 45.30. Once again, Cal opened up a bigger lead with no Texas scorers. They now lead by more than 100 points.

Team Scores:

1. Cal – 259
2. Texas – 188
3. Indiana – 175
4. NC State – 157
5. Florida – 104

200 FREESTYLE – Finals

• NCAA Record: Dean Farris, Harvard (2019) – 1:29.15
• American Record: Dean Farris, Harvard (2019) – 1:29.15
• U.S. Open Record: Dean Farris, Harvard (2019) – 1:29.15
• Meet Record: Dean Farris, Harvard (2019) – 1:29.15
• 2018 Champion: Townley Haas, Texas – 1:29.50

Top 8 Finishers:

1. Andrew Seliskar, Cal – 1:30.14
2. Zach Apple, Indiana – 1:31.55
3. Drew Kibler, Texas – 1:31.76
4. Townley Haas, Texas – 1:31.80
5. Paul DeLakis, Ohio State – 1:32.01
6. Zach Harting, Louisville – 1:32.24
7. Jeff Newkirk, Texas – 1:32.46
8. Mikel Schreuders, Missouri – 1:32.75

In the most stunning upset of the meet so far (and perhaps in recent memory), Cal’s Andrew Seliskar denied Texas’s Townley Haas a historic four-peat of the 200 freestyle. Seliskar went out very fast in the middle of the pool, while Haas didn’t seem to have his trademark burst early in the race. It was actually Indiana’s Zach Apple who led early, but Seliskar passed him up late to go 1:30.14. That exactly ties Seliskar’s lifetime-best from the 800 free relay leadoff two nights ago.

Apple wound up second in 1:31.55, six tenths faster than his prelims swim, but slower than he went in this race last year (1:31.1) and much slower than his 1:30.3 leadoff leg from the 800 free relay.

Texas’s Drew Kibler had a big swim to move up to third overall, going 1:31.76, and Haas fell all the way to fourth in 1:31.80.

Meanwhile Ohio State’s Paul DeLakis cut a few tenths and went 1:32.01 for fifth. Louisville flyer Zach Harting was 1:32.24 for sixth and Texas’s Jeff Newkirk 1:32.46 for seventh. Missouri’s Mikel Schreuders, the second qualifier out of prelims, faded all the way to 8th in 1:32.75.

Florida’s Khader Baqlah swam a great race out of the B final, getting out front and riding momentum into a 9th-place finish of 1:32.18. Arizona State’s Grant House went 1:32.29 one lane over to take 10th overall.

Team Scores:

1. Cal – 311
2. Texas – 236
3. Indiana – 198.5
4. NC State – 160
5. Florida – 113

100 BREASTSTROKE – Finals

• NCAA Record: Ian Finnerty, Indiana (2018) – 49.69
• American Record: Ian Finnerty, Indiana (2018) – 49.69
• U.S. Open Record: Ian Finnerty, Indiana (2018) – 49.69
• Meet Record: Ian Finnerty, Indiana (2018) – 49.69
• 2018 Champion: Ian Finnerty, Indiana – 49.69

Top 8 Finishers:

1. Ian Finnerty, Indiana – 49.85
2. Carsten Vissering, USC – 50.30
3. Max McHugh, Minnesota – 50.52
4. Reece Whitley, Cal – 51.11
5. Zane Backes, Indiana – 51.35
6. Caio Pumpitis, Georgia Tech – 51.38
7. Evgenii Somov, Louisville – 51.77
8. Jordan O’Brien, Missouri – 52.11

It was the three-man breaststroke race we’d all been waiting for, and it didn’t disappoint. USC’s Carsten Vissering led early, but Indiana’s Ian Finnerty charged back late to repeat as 100 breast champ. Finnerty didn’t quite better his 49.6 American record, but did shatter the pool record (Kevin Cordes’ 50.04, formerly an American record) and hit just the second swim ever under 50 seconds.

Vissering wound up second in 50.30 – he now ties Minnesota freshman Max McHugh for the fourth-fastest performer of all-time. McHugh was 50.30 in prelims, but 50.52 here with a better front half but about a half-second slower on the second 50.

Cal freshman Reece Whitley was fourth in 51.11, bettering his lifetime-best from high school. With Finnerty and Vissering graduating, McHugh and Whitley will be the fastest returners with a chance at a multi-year rivalry. Also in that mix is Indiana freshman Zane Backes, who went 51.35 for fifth tonight.

Georgia Tech’s Caio Pumpitis was sixth in 51.38, a few tenths faster than this morning. Louisville’s Evgenii Somov matched his 7th-place finish from a year ago with a 51.77 (he was 52.0 last year) and Missouri’s Jordan O’Brien went 52.11 for eighth.

In the B final, Stanford’s Hank Poppe wasa 51.93 to win, besting Missouri State’s Blair Bish (51.95).

Cal’s lead is back under 100, but Indiana really made a charge on Texas for second in this event. IU is now 13.5 back of the Longhorns.

Further back, Missouri vaulted to 7th, with Arizona and Harvard tied for 8th. There’s a fierce battle for the last few spots in the top 10, with six teams within 20 points from 7th place to 12th place.

Team Scores:

1. Cal – 326
2. Texas – 242
3. Indiana – 232.5
4. NC State 160
5. Florida – 113

100 BACKSTROKE – Finals

• NCAA Record: Ryan Murphy, Cal (2016) – 43.49
• American Record: Ryan Murphy, Cal (2016) – 43.49
• U.S. Open Record: Ryan Murphy, Cal (2016) – 43.49
• Meet Record: Ryan Murphy, Cal (2016) – 43.49
• 2018 Champion: Coleman Stewart, NC State – 44.58

Top 8 Finishers:

1. Dean Farris, Harvard – 43.66
2. Coleman Stewart, NC State – 43.98
3. Mark Nikolaev, Grand Canyon – 44.33
4. John Shebat, Texas – 44.71
5. Ryan Harty, Texas – 45.05
6. Nicolas Albiero, Louisville – 45.08
7. Daniel Carr, Cal – 45.21
8. Javier Acevedo, Georgia – 45.24

It was a thriller of a 100 backstroke, with Harvard’s Dean Farris and NC State’s Coleman Stewart becoming the second and third men ever under 44 seconds. Farris went out like a rocket, and though Stewart closed hard on the last 50 (and the last kickout in particular), Farris held on for the win in 43.66. That’s shockingly just two tenths off the American record set by Ryan Murphy in 2016. Since that time, no one else has been within six tenths of that record.

Stewart closed in 22.60 to go 43.98. He becomes the third-fastest performer all-time in what’s been a stellar night for him. Stewart earned two NCAA runner-up honors tonight with a tough 100 fly/100 back combo.

Grand Canyons’ Mark Nikolaev went 44.33 and should move to #5 all-time in the event, leapfrogging Texas’s John Shebat, who was 44.35 two years ago but hasn’t bettered that time since. Shebat was fourth in this heat at 44.71 as the top four swimmers are among the six fastest ever to swim the event.

Texas went 5-6, with Ryan Harty taking the latter spot in 45.05. Louisville’s Nicolas Albiero also swam the 100 fly/100 back double that Stewart did, taking 9th in the fly and 6th in the back (45.08).

Cal’s Daniel Carr, who had to earn his spot in this heat through a re-swim after a start wedge was errantly left in his lane in prelims, was seventh in 45.21. Georgia’s Javier Acevedo rounded out the A heat in 45.24.

(Playing out the point swing on that Carr qualification, he wound up scoring 12 points for Cal after originally projecting to score zero with his interfered-with prelims time. Texas lost Austin Katz, who was bumped from 16th to 17th. If you project Katz to have matched his best swim this week – a 44.94 in prelims of the 400 medley relay – he’d have been 10th overall for 7 points. So the point swing ultimately projects to about 19 in favor of Cal: a +12 for Cal and a -7 for Texas).

In the B final, Florida freshman Kacper Stokowski won the heat in 44.90, touching out Indiana’s Gabriel Fantoni‘s 44.96.

The top 5 stabilize a little there – Cal continues to lead, though only by 67 now. Texas is projected to score 29 diving points and Indiana 17. IU currently trails Texas by 31.5. NC State has fallen out of the hunt a bit, sitting 56.5 points behind Indiana.

Further back, Harvard continues to battle for a top 10 spot, which would be a huge accomplishment for a program we projected merely borderline top 15. They are 7th, with Missouri, Alabama and Arizona rounding out the top 10 and Virginia, Michigan, Ohio State, Stanford, Texas A&M and USC all within striking distance.

Team Scores:

1. Cal – 338
2. Texas – 271
3. Indiana – 239.5
4. NC State – 183
5. Florida – 122

3-Meter Diving – Finals

Top 8 Finishers:

1. Andrew Capobianco, Indiana – 461.65
2. Briadam Herrera, Miami – 432.75
3. Grayson Campbell, Texas – 415.75
4. Colin Zeng, Tennessee – 400.00
5. Jonathan Suckow, Columbia – 396.55
6. Noah Vigran, Stanford – 372.10
7. Jordan Windle, Texas – 359.65
8. Matthew Wade, Tennessee – 351.60

Indiana’s Andrew Capobianco had a massive finals showing, blowing out the 3-meter dive field by almost 30 points. Capobianco was just 8th last year, though he was running pretty good in qualifying. He also struggled yesterday with a 24th-place finish, but redeemed himself with his first-ever NCAA title tonight.

Tennessee’s Colin Zeng fell behind early and switched up his last two dives to absurdly high degrees of difficulty, trying to run down Capobianco. The move had the opposite effect, as he fell to fourth. Miami’s Briadam Herrera was second and Texas’s Grayson Campbell passed up Zeng on the final dive.

Texas’s Jordan Windle had a rough dive through the middle, and though he recovered fairly well, he could only climb back up to 7th overall. That leaves Texas with 28 diving points tonight. Indiana will get 20 with Capobianco’s win.

Columbia gets on the board with Jonathan Suckow‘s fifth-place finish, and Stanford freshman Noah Vigran was sixth. He wasn’t the only freshman in the top 8: rookie Matthew Wade was 8th in a good event for the Volunteers.

Diving did pull Texas to within 40 of Cal, which is a big feat considering Cal at one point led by over 100. Cal is definitely the heavy favorite to win the meet at this point, but things aren’t over – tomorrow’s prelims will probably decide the meet, based on how many scoring swims each team qualifies.

Indiana pulls further away from NC State as the race for 3rd looks mostly settled. The rest of the top 10 remains unchanged, though Stanford is now just one point out of the tie for 9th between Alabama and Arizona. Alabama should get a surge out of the upcoming 200 medley relay, where they are seeded first. Arizona has a relay in the B final, but Stanford DQ’d their relay this morning and will be done scoring for the night.

Team Scores:

1. Cal – 338
2. Texas – 299
3. Indiana -259.5
4. NC State – 183
5. Florida – 122

200 MEDLEY RELAY – Finals

• NCAA Record: Texas (2017) – 1:21.54
• American Record: Cal (2017) – 1:21.88
• U.S. Open Record: Texas (2017) – 1:21.54
• Meet Record: Texas (2017) – 1:21.54
• 2018 Champion: USC – 1:21.82

Top 8 Finishers:

1. Alabama – 1:22.26
2. Cal – 1:22.43
3. NC State – 1:22.47
4. Texas – 1:22.58
5. Louisville – 1:23.23
6. Tennessee – 1:23.56
7. Florida State – 1:23.81
8. USC – 1:23.82

So far, this meet has been a four-team affair, especially in the relays. All three relays over the first two days had some permuation of Cal-Texas-Indiana-NC State in the top 4. But Alabama broke that streak with a resounding 200 medley relay win in a blazing 1:22.26.

‘Bama was outstanding. Zane Waddell staked them to a solid lead with a 20.41 backstroke split, only two tenths off the fastest split in history. Laurent Bams was 23.24 on breast, Knox Auerbach 20.30 fly and Robert Howard surged home with a clutch 18.22 anchor leg to seal the win.

It was a good thing Howard was on, too. Because Cal was soaring near the end, coming from the middle of the pack over the final two legs. Daniel Carr was 20.92 on back and Reece Whitley 23.68 on breast. (Though Whitley is a great breaststroker, his split was 7th of 8 A finalists, and he’s clearly more geared to the 200 at this point than the 50). But Pawel Sendyk blasted a field-best 19.66 on fly and handed off to Ryan Hoffer, who is becoming the foremost sprint terror in the NCAA. For the second night in a row, Hoffer blasted a massive anchor leg to lift Cal to second place. Tonight he was a field-best 18.17 as Cal went 1:22.43.

That was a narrow touchout over NC State’s 1:22.47. The Wolfpack had an 18.26 anchor from Justin Ress, maybe the only time you’ll see an 18.2 split get run down on a relay. Coleman Stewart went 20.66 on back (second only to Waddell) and Nyls Korstanje was 20.06 on fly for the Pack.

Texas got a big 19.8 fly split from John Shebat to surge into the hunt late. Freshman Charlie Scheinfeld was also clutch, going 23.06 for the second-best split of the entire field. But Tate Jackson‘s 18.8 anchor dropped them from second to fourth over the final 50.

Louisville was fifth in 1:23.23. Zach Harting led the way with a 20.11 fly leg. They were three tenths up on Tennessee, which had an 18.46 on the end from Kyle Decoursey and a 19.9 fly leg, courtesy of Braga Verhage.

Florida State finished 7th, struggling on breaststroke but getting a 19.7 fly from Kanoa Kaleoaloha. And USC, last year’s champs in this race, finished 8th, though Carsten Vissering had the field’s best breaststroke split at 22.88. (He was 22.5 at this meet last year).

Indiana barreled to the B final win in 1:23.27. Bruno Blaskovich anchored in 18.57 – he was left off the relay in prelims and the 19.1 anchor leg kept IU out of the A heat. Ian Finnerty was 23.1 on his leg for IU, and Vini Lanza 20.03 on fly. Florida was second, getting a 21.0 back split from Kacper Stokowski and a 20.6 fly leg from Kieran Smith. Both are freshmen, as is anchor Will Davis.

Dean Farris led off for Harvard and was 20.73 on back. But Harvard took 13th as a team.

Team Scores After Night 3:

1. Cal – 372
2. Texas – 329
3. Indiana 277.5
4. NC State – 215
5. Louisville – 149

Louisville passed up Florida (136) for fifth place with that big medley relay finish. The Cardinals are on a tear, and also have a great shot to place high in the 400 free relay tomorrow. Cal still leads by a large margin – they’re up 43 over Texas with one day to go. Indiana is now 51.5 behind Texas as the top three are fairly spread out into the final day.

NC State feels locked into fourth, though they could still make up a 61.5-point margin on Indiana with a huge final day.

Alabama soars to 7th overall with 110 points, 26 back of Florida. Harvard (98) is 8th and Missouri (88) 9th, with Tennessee (82) the last team in the top 10.

Virginia (78) is lurking along with USC (75) and Arizona (72). Thing are absurdly close from 8th essentially down to 20th – we had a hard time projecting teams in that range pre-meet, and we’re finding out why. Most margins between teams in that range are around five or six points, meaning every swim tomorrow is going to matter in determining essentially the entire finish order outside of the top few programs.