2023 Men’s NCAAs Day 3 Ups/Downs: Arizona State Makes A Push (Updated With Diving)

2023 NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• March 22-25, 2023
• Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center | Minneapolis, MN
• SCY (25 yards)
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheets
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• SwimSwam Pick ’em Contest
• Live Results
• Day 3 Prelims Results (PDF)
• Day 3 Prelims Live Recap

For those unfamiliar with swimming terminology, the concept of “Ups” and “Downs” is a good way to track which teams performed best at prelims. In prelims, swimmers qualify for one of two finals heats: the top 8 finishers make the A final, and places 9th through 16th make the ‘B’ final. In finals, swimmers are locked into their respective final, meaning a swimmer in the B heat (spots 9-16) can only place as high as 9th or as low as 16th, even if they put up the fastest or slowest time of any heat in the final.

With that in mind, we’ll be tracking “Ups” and “Downs” after each prelims session. “Up” refers to swimmers in the A final, and “Down” refers to swimmers in the B final.

TEAM STANDINGS – THRU DAY 2

1. Cal – 184
2. Texas – 165
3. ASU – 154
4. NC State – 151.5
5. Florida – 145
6. Indiana – 99
7. Tennessee – 87
8. Stanford — 74
9. Auburn — 57
10. Louisville — 55
11. Virginia — 53
12. Virginia Tech — 52
13. Texas A&M — 44
14. Georgia — 36
15. Ohio State — 31.5
16. Alabama – 26
17. LSU – 22
18. Wisconsin – 19
19. Notre Dame – 17
20. UNC – 15
21. USC – 14
22. Michigan – 12
23. Arizona / Mizzou – 10
24. –
25. Miami (FL) – 9
26. Princeton – 4
27. Georgia Tech – 3
28. Pitt – 1

It was a mammoth morning for Arizona State, as the Sun Devils put seven swimmers into an ‘A’ final, punctuated by the swim-off win for Patrick Sammon that put the team three up in the 200 freestyle.

Julian Hill‘s win in the first circle-seeded heat was met with a raucous cheer from the ASU swimmers and coaches, and the team finished things off with impressive showings from Jack Dolan and Owen McDonald in the 100 back.

As expected, Leon Marchand cruised to the top seed in the 400 IM for the Sun Devils, while Grant House battled to win the last heat of the 200 free and put himself into the top eight as well.

Cal and Texas, currently 1-2 in the team race, weren’t far behind ASU, however, both putting six swimmers up into ‘A’ finals.

The Longhorns are lacking in sprint prowess, specifically the 100 fly and 100 back, but made up for it by going 3/0 in the 400 IM and 2/0 in the 200 free.

Florida and Indiana had strong sessions as well, and the Gators project to overtake NC State in the fight for fourth tonight.

Stanford is in position to narrow the gap to Tennessee in the race for seventh, while Auburn and Virginia Tech aim to tighten their grip on a spot in the top 10 with Louisville only putting one swimmer into a final.

**Diving Update**

Texas matches ASU at 7/2 as the Longhorns go 1/2 in the 3-meter diving event.

Indiana put three up on 3-meter, making them 6/3 for the prelim session and putting them ahead of ASU in the scored prelim standings. The Hoosiers are now projected to move into fifth, two points back of Florida and one ahead of NC State.

DAY 3 UPS/DOWNS

Credit to Andrew Mering for running the numbers.

SCORED PRELIMS POINTS PER EVENT

SCORED PRELIMS

All told, we could be entering tonight’s 400 medley relay with the top three teams within 35 or so points of one another.

SCORED PRELIMS + ACTUAL

As has become a trend at this meet, Texas was the top performer relative to seed based on prelims points, projected to go +43.5, while Cal (+29.5) and Indiana (+25.5) also had big showings.

Jake Newmark led Wisconsin to a big plus relative to psych sheet points yesterday in the 500 free, but him missing the 200 free final hurts the Badgers as they finish a projected -21 on the session.

PRELIMS SCORES RELATIVE TO SEED

Swimming only