2022 NCAA Division I Men’s Championships: Day 1 Relay Analysis

2022 NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships

• March 23-26, 2022
• McAuley Aquatic Center, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Georgia (Eastern Daylight Time)
• Prelims 10AM /Finals 6PM
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• Live Results
• Championship Central
• Official Psych Sheets
• Virtual Championship Program

Team Rankings Through Event 2

1. Texas – 74
2. Florida – 64
3. California – 61
4. NC State – 57
5. (tie) Stanford / Arizona St – 54
6. –
7. Louisville – 46
8. Georgia – 34
9. Alabama – 30
10. Virginia Tech – 28
11. (tie) Harvard / Virginia – 22
12. –
13. Indiana – 22
14. Ohio St – 18
15. Michigan – 14
16. Arizona – 12
17. Auburn – 6
18. Utah – 2

Two events into the meet and we have already down a pair of NCAA records. Florida downed the NCAA U.S. Open, and pool records in the 200 medley relay and Texas lowered their own NCAA, U.S. Open, American, and pool records in the 800 free relay.

Harvard’s Dean Farris blasted off in heat 2 of the medleys with a 20.36 backstroke leadoff, setting the Crimson off for a heat win by 1.2 seconds. In the very next heat, that eye-popping swim was bettered by both Cal’s Bjorn Seeliger and NC State’s Kacper Stokowski, who clocked a 20.08 and a 20.16, respectively. Adam Chaney led off the Florida relay in the final heat with 20.19. Seeliger, Stokowski, and Chaney all topped Ryan Murphy’s record of 20.20 and now rank first through third on the all-time list. Farris moved up to seventh. Louisville’s Nic Albiero (20.59) and Alabama’s Matthew Menke (20.60) became the 11th and 12th-fastest 50-yard backstrokers of all-time.

All told, eleven backstrokers broke 21 seconds and fully ten of the 12 fastest 50 backstroke leadoffs of all time were swum tonight.

In the breaststroke where five swimmers went under 23 seconds, Caspar Corbeau of Texas led the field with 22.55. He made up a .46 deficit to pass Florida and take over the lead at the halfway point in the final heat. That ranks him second all-time behind Max McHugh’s 22.40. Alabama’s Derek Mass (22.80) and Carles Coll Marti of Virginia Tech (22.98) were also in that final heat. USC’s Trent Pellini split 22.69 and Cal’s Liam Bell swam a 22.71 in the previous heat.

Eleven butterflyers, led by Eric Friese of Florida, cracked the 20-second barrier. Friese tied Joseph Schooling for the fastest-ever split with 19.36. Stanford’s Andrei Minakov, who had already owned the second-fastest split of 19.49, improved his time to 19.42 and now ranks third behind Schooling/Friese. NC State’s Nyls Korstanje joined the top-10 all-time with a 19.55. Michigan’s Gal Cohen (19.77) and Wesley Ng of Georgia (19.79) were also under 19.8.

Four freestyle anchor legs broke 18.5 and another three swam 18.6s. Cameron Auchinachie of Texas became the fourth-fastest anchor of all time with 18.08. Only Caeleb Dressel of Florida and USC’s Vlad Morozov have broken 18 seconds; Kristian Gkolomeev went 18-flat while at Alabama. Auchinachie now ranks fourth.

Florida’s Will Davis swam an 18.38 to hold off Auchinachie in the final heat and secure the win for the Gators. Ohio State’s Sem Andreis (18.46) and Virginia Tech’s Youssef Ramadan (18.61) were also in that heat. Arizona State’s Grant House anchored with 18.47 to finish third in the previous heat behind Cal and NC State.

200 Medley Relay Splits

Drew Kibler put Texas out front in the final heat of 800 free relays with a 1:30.54 leadoff leg. Florida’s Kieran Smith was close on his tail with 1:30.66, and Matt Sates of Georgia was only another .12 behind Smith in the same heat. The trio were the only sub-1:31s of the 25 leadoff swimmers.

The seven fastest flat-start times of the evening came from the final heat. After Texas, Florida, and Georgia, it was Arizona State’s Grant House (1:31.01), Stanford’s Andrei Minakov (1:31.49), Cal’s Trenton Julian (1:31.57), and NC State’s Luke Miller (1:31.62).

We were expecting to see a quite a few more 1:29 rolling splits than we did this year. Only American record-holder Dean Farris of Harvard and Arizona State freshman Leon Marchand, a relative newcomer to yards, broke the 1:30 barrier with their respective splits of 1:29.85 and 1:29.96, respectively. Farris swam the second leg for Harvard, taking them from fifth at the 200 to first at the 400 in heat 2, but Ohio State eventually got the heat win. Marchand took ASU from eighth to fifth in the final heat with his 1:29.9.

Luca Urlando of Georgia (1:30.58) and Luke Hobson of Texas (1:30.84) were the only two sub-1:31s.

800 Free Relay Splits